There’s an old saying in sports: offense wins games, but defense wins championships. Even in today’s pace-and-space era, that mantra still holds, and Phoenix Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts has built his team around it. Few expected the Mercury to reach the Finals this season, yet their relentless defense powered them past two WNBA heavyweights. Now, with the season in the books, Tibbetts has hinted at a potential locker room shake-up as the franchise eyes its next step forward.

This shakeup is generally to fully commit to the style of play that led to the Phoenix Mercury shocking the New York Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx. Speaking to the media during the exit interviews, Nate Tibbetts said, “Well, to be great in this league, you got to be able to do both, right? This year, we made a big step in the right direction defensively.” But the Mercury aren’t stopping here, and HC Tibbetts himself stressed what they will focus on this offseason.

“You can’t always control if the ball goes in or out, but you can control how you defend. Part of the reason why we got to the finals was because of our defense. And then we ran into a really good team, and we didn’t get as many stops as we needed. But defensively, it something that Nick and I talk about finding defensive players. That’s something we’ll look at this offseason,” Tibbetts concluded.

As things stand, the Phoenix Mercury kind of has a clean slate for their roster planning. They have just one player signed to a contract for next year. While this might seem like a scary scenario, it also gives them cap space and flexibility to plan and sign players that fit the mold. Moreover, almost the entire league is going to be a free agent, so there will be plenty of opportunities. If the Mercury just plan to bring back this season’s roster, it might not be enough for a few reasons.

The first reason is definitely the age factor. Right now, Alyssa Thomas, who is widely considered their best player and defender, is 33 years old. Similarly, DeWanna Bonner will be 38, Sami Whitcomb will be 37, and Kahleah Copper will be 31 by the time next season comes. That stretches their average age of players. While Sami and Alyssa did have one of the best years of their career, DeWanna and Kahleah did have a significant dip. To counter that, the Mercury would surely want to get the average age of their roster down.

While the Mercury might have a lot of salary cap space and options to targets to choose from and improve their defense from 100.4 to less, getting quality players may not be as easy as it seems.

Why 2026 Free Agency Can Be Tricky For Nate Tibbetts’ Phoenix Mercury?

While an increased salary cap can be a big boost, there are some risks associated with that as well. For starters, all the core players from the 2025 WNBA season will ask for bigger cheques given the runners-up status. That will surely take out the biggest chunk of their salary cap. And as we have seen from examples in other sports, whenever there is a big spike in the salary cap, the role players are paid handsomely as well. This can limit Mercury’s options to add quality depth to its roster.

Another factor that could work against them is the addition of two more expansion teams. Not only would they get their share of picks from the expansion draft, but they could also splash big money on star players. Being a new team in the league, they don’t have that much pressure to win and compete for championships. Therefore, they can spend more on star players and disrupt the market for the rest of the league. Phoenix Mercury’s GM, Nick U’Ren, has already admitted to the uncertain situation the team faces in the offseason.

Then there’s the limited ability to add players in the draft picks. Phoenix only has one draft pick for the 2026 WNBA draft, which too a second-round pick. This will significantly reduce their chances of adding a star player like Angel Reese, who is upset with the Sky. They would have either have to add another team to the trade or rely on sign-and-trade options for the next season.

For those reasons, the Phoenix Mercury could face challenges in bolstering their bench. As the recent Finals showed, depth can be the difference between contending and falling short. With several roster changes on the horizon, it will be worth watching how the front office navigates the offseason to add quality pieces without disrupting team chemistry.