By Felisa Cárdenas
ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism
Special to PhoenixMercury.com
When color printers were first coming out, most young girls printed a picture of their celebrity crush to hang in their lockers or decorate their school binders with.
Meanwhile, Nirra Fields, the 22-year-old rookie on the Phoenix Mercury, was printing out a goal list: Go to college, get a scholarship, and then play in the WNBA.
“I had this big picture of Candace (Parker), because Candace was really big back then during my generation when I was watching,” Fields said.
It’s that color printed picture of Parker that she hung on her bedroom wall and her goal list that she credits for helping her get to this moment.
“I always looked at those goals and always understood what I’m working for and everything I do, every single day, all my choices are going to lead to this opportunity to play here,” Fields said. “And it’s really crazy that I thought about it when I was younger and now it’s actually happening.”
Fields’ college coach Cori Close, head women’s basketball coach for the UCLA Bruins, believes that had the WNBA not been in existence the dream would never have been born in Fields in Montreal.
Fields is the youngest girl with six older brothers who left her home in Canada, came to the United States and attended five high schools in four years all in the pursuit of her dream.
She took a step closer to checking off the third goal on her childhood list when she was picked in the 2016 WNBA Draft in the third round, 32nd overall pick to the Phoenix Mercury.
“I didn’t even watch the draft, I was so nervous,” Fields said. “I really didn’t think I was going to get drafted.”
But upon hearing her name called, Fields knew that she was really being given a rare opportunity.
“It has been everything I’ve kind of worked toward and to see it pay off, it’s just fun,” she said.
Close believed that Fields’s name would come across the board at some point in the draft.
“A lot of people get drafted, not many people make teams, make rosters as rookies,” Close said. “I was really impressed that she could go make a roster as a rookie.”
When asked how she’s adjusting to Phoenix, Fields cracks a smile and laughs because she didn’t heed the warnings she got about the Arizona summer heat.
But when it comes to adjusting from college to pro ball, Fields notes that the WNBA game moves faster.
“Definitely the speed of the game is a lot quicker, players are a lot smarter and just kind of understanding the game better so I can be prepared on the court,” she said. “And I’m more aware of reads and I’m more aware of what I need to do on offense and defense, and how to get the team going, stuff like that.”
While Fields hasn’t had many opportunities to play yet, Sandy Brondello, head coach of the Mercury, notes the skills Fields brings to Phoenix.
“Being coachable when you’re a rookie, that always helps, it’s a great attribute to have,” Brondello said. “We’re not trying to change her, we’re trying to fit her game because she’s a very talented individual, into the system that we have.”
During practice, you can find Fields at the half court line ready to play as soon as Brondello gives the go.
As soon as Brondello calls for the next five girls to rotate in and run the play, most of the players walk to the baseline of the court and watch the action.
Not Fields.
She’s on the sideline listening to the feedback from Brondello and then returning to watching the guard who runs the next play.
“She just has a focus,” Close said. “She knows how to stay locked in and she’s invested in the basketball experience and she doesn’t check out.
“She is invested moment by moment.”
Helping Fields with the adjustment to the professional league is fellow Bruin, Noelle Quinn.
“We’ve got that UCLA bond and she’s kind of taken me under her wing,” Fields said.
That bond is evident when Quinn walks over to talk adjustments to the play they just ran in practice before being rotated back in to run it.
“You have to know the game on another level in order to be a really productive point guard,” Fields said. “Noelle has really helped me in that.
“If I’m on the court and I miss something, she’ll come over and talk to me and let me know, ‘OK, this is what you have to do’ or ‘This is what you need to do on this play,’ and she’s really helped me step-by-step along the way.”
Quinn and Fields see the game differently, according to Close. Quinn is “a pass-first, distributing guard and Nirra’s the opposite, so I think having a person who sees it through a different lens, being really able to mentor and correct Nirra is such a great advantage.”
As for girls who want to play in the WNBA one day, Fields said it comes down to understanding that it’s a process.
“The end goal of you being in the WNBA is the result of you putting in the work and understanding that the process is the most important thing,” Fields advises. “I would just say be consistent in working hard, be consistent in trying to get better and eventually you’ll get to a point where you can one day play in the WNBA.”