Phoenix Mercury training camp Day 5 observations: Meet Monique Akoa Makani
After a stellar season in France, Monique Akoa Makani is looking to make the Mercury's opening night roster.
PHOENIX — Monique Akoa Makani has only been at two practice sessions but has already made her presence felt at Phoenix Mercury training camp.
The 5-foot-11 combo guard from Cameroon is looking to make her first WNBA roster after signing a rookie scale contract with the Mercury in March.
Akoa Makani, 24, arrived in Phoenix from France on Saturday and participated for the first time at training camp on Tuesday.
“Honestly, it’s been amazing,” Akoa Makani said about her first few days in Phoenix. “The group lives very well. So since it’s my first experience, everybody welcomed me pretty well. It’s been really easy to be able to adapt to the group.”
Akoa Makani had a stellar season in France playing for Charnay Bourgogne Sud. She averaged 14.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 3.1 steals, while shooting 44.8% from two, 41.8% from three and 87.8% at the line.
The Cameroonian international’s play helped Charnay to a third-play finish in France in the regular season to qualify for the playoffs.
And she wasn’t done there. With the season on the line, Akoa Makani came up with her biggest performance when it mattered the most.
In the second game of the quarterfinals after Charnay lost the first-leg, 68-57, Akoa Makani had 22 points (on 7-for-18 shooting), 10 assists, four rebounds and eight steals to lead Charnay to a 119-118 aggregate victory.
But despite her playoff heroics, Akoa Makani made the difficult decision to leave her French club in the middle of the team’s playoff run to report to Mercury training camp.
“Honestly, it was a hard decision to take, but I was talking with my coaching staff back there, and I also spoke with my teammates and everybody was like, ‘(Monique), that’s a great opportunity, just go,’” Akoa Makani said.
“And nobody really was trying to make me stay there, so I was like, ‘Alright, I won’t stop myself to get there.’ It was pretty easy at the end. It was pretty easy.”
Where Akoa Makani fits into Nate Tibbetts’ system
On Tuesday, Akoa Makani played point guard in five-on-five full-court action in a lineup with Sevgi Uzun, Lexi Held, Alexis Prince and Kalani Brown.
On Thursday, she played on a team with Kahleah Copper, Satou Sabally and Alyssa Thomas in four-on-four half-court scrimmaging.
“It was great,” Akoa Makani said about playing in a group with Thomas, Copper and Sabally on Thursday.
“Honestly, they are great players, and all I can do is just be quiet and try to learn and be patient with myself also. And I think they were really patient with me, so yeah it was really great.”
Akoa Makani has also impressed with her work ethic. After doing media obligations on Thursday, she quickly returned to the court to get more shots up, working on pull-up 3-pointers.
And it should come as no surprise that she wants to work on that part of her game.
Akoa Makani is a player that would fit nicely into coach Nate Tibbetts’ high-volume 3-point offense.
At the beginning of last season, Tibbetts routinely said he wanted his team to take 35-40 3-pointers per game.
Once Brittney Griner returned from injury, the Mercury’s 3-point volume dropped slightly as they attacked the rim with Griner, but the team still averaged 26.1 attempts from deep per game in 2024.
With Griner now gone, the Mercury will look to play Thomas in a “position-less” point-forward role similar to Draymond Green’s role in Golden State with the point-forward’s job to get the ball to 3-point shooters, such as Akoa Makani, Sami Whitcomb and Helena Pueyo (if she makes the roster).
Possible scheduling problem looms for Akoa Makani and Mercury
In addition to playing in France for Charnay, Akoa Makani has also represented Cameroon at the senior level.
She played for the Cameroon National Team at 2023 AfroBasket Women and also took part in the qualifiers last year.
But if Akoa Makani does make the Mercury’s opening night roster, she’ll be faced with a scheduling predicament.
With 2025 AfroBasket Women taking place from July 25 to Aug. 3, if Akoa Makani chooses to represent her country, she’ll miss a handful of Mercury games.
“It depends,” Akoa Makani said Thursday when asked if she’ll play at 2025 AfroBasket Women. “It’s something we’re gonna talk about with coaches, but right now I’m just focused on playing well and trying to make the team and after we’ll talk about it.”