The three-time WNBA Champion Phoenix Mercury today acquired the rights to power forward Angelica (Angel) Robinson from the Seattle Storm in exchange for Noelle Quinn, the team has announced.
“Parting with a great person and professional like Noey is never easy, and we thank her for her contributions the last season-plus,” said Mercury General Manager Jim Pitman. “This trade gives us flexibility this season while also adding a great asset. Angel is a proven winner on the international stage, and she has great size and skill.”
The 6’6” Robinson is a 29-year-old post player who most recently spent the 2015-16 alongside DeWanna Bonner with Nadezhda Orenburg in Russia. A starter on the team that finished as both the EuroLeague and Russian League runner-up to Sandy Brondello, Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner’s UMMC Ekaterinburg squad, Robinson averaged 8.8 points, a team-best 8.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in EuroLeague play. Born in the United States but a naturalized Montenegrin, she is a member of the women’s national team for Montenegro.
A University of Georgia graduate, Robinson was selected in the second round (20th overall) of the 2010 WNBA Draft by the Los Angeles Sparks. She finished her career in Athens with the fourth-best career blocks total in school history, and the fifth-most rebounds, and was just the 31st player in the program’s history to reach the 1,000-point mark.
A 10-year WNBA veteran, Quinn was signed by the Mercury as a free agent before the 2015 season, and has appeared in 47 of a possible 48 contests in her time with Phoenix.
The Mercury returns home to Talking Stick Resort Arena on Wednesday, June 29, at 7 p.m., to take on the Connecticut Sun. The Mercury and the X-Factor, the WNBA’s best fans, will celebrate Diana Taurasi becoming just the third player in league history to reach 7,000 career points, and by far the fastest, which happened Friday at Washington.