Phoenix Mercury waive Alexis Prince, activate Murjanatu Musa's contract
The Mercury waived forward Alexis Prince and activated forward Murjanatu Musa’s contract in a corresponding roster move on Monday.
PHOENIX — The Phoenix Mercury waived Alexis Prince and activated Murjanatu Musa’s contract on Monday.
The Mercury’s roster is now at the league-maximum 12 players after the corresponding roster moves were made.
Musa, a 6-foot-2 forward from Nigeria, will be a 25-year-old rookie for Phoenix, becoming the fifth rookie on the Mercury’s roster.
Musa had yet to arrive in Phoenix and did not report to training camp because she was playing in France for Tarbes Gespe Bigorre in the LFB playoffs.
Musa’s team finished the regular season with the No. 8 seed but advanced all the way to the finals, winning the first game before losing the series by dropping the next two.
“I think we kind of look at a little bit of everything. We want roster balance. That’s why we’re excited about her,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said of Musa on May 11. “We’d like to see her in person. I don’t know when that’s gonna happen.
“Our hope is that she can play next to our best players. She kinda reminds me of (Natasha) Mack. She can get in and out of (the) pick and roll. She’s tough. She’s athletic. She’s physical.”
During the French playoffs, Musa averaged 14.9 points, 11 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 2.1 steals in 33.4 minutes per game.
Phoenix Mercury waive Alexis Prince in corresponding roster move
To make room for Musa, the Mercury waived Prince on Monday.
In Saturday’s season-opening win over the Seattle Storm, Prince had two points (on 1-for-3 shooting), eight rebounds, an assist and three turnovers in 22:03.
After Sevgi Uzun and Alexa Held, Prince was the third substitute off the bench for the Mercury in Saturday’s win, checking in with 4:16 left in the first quarter. Prince was a +5 in the Mercury’s 22-point victory.
When Prince was named to the Mercury’s opening night roster, she implied the Mercury would be making more cuts.
“It feels good to know that I got past the first cut initially, but it’s been what I’ve been working for for the past couple years, so yeah it feels good,” Prince said on May 15.
In both preseason games, Prince was included in the first substitutes to come off the bench for the Mercury, also coming in during the first quarter of both contests.
But after Prince scored 10 points (on 4-for-7 shooting) and added four rebounds in 15 minutes in the preseason opener against the Las Vegas Aces, her second preseason game saw her shoot 1-for-8 from the field and finish as a game-worst -18 over 19 minutes in a loss to the Golden State Valkyries.
Prince was also drafted by the Mercury in 2017 and played in 18 games for the team that season.
After later spending training camp with the Chicago Sky in 2021, she spent the past several years playing overseas in Turkey, Spain and Israel.
Phoenix Mercury roster
Here is the Mercury’s roster after they waived Prince and activated Musa’s contract on Monday:
G Monique Akoa Makani
G/F Kahleah Copper
G Alexa Held
G Kitija Laksa
G Sevgi Uzun
G Sami Whitcomb
F Natasha Mack
F Murjanatu Musa
F Satou Sabally
F Alyssa Thomas
F Kathryn Westbeld
C Kalani Brown