PHOENIX – The three-time WNBA Champion Phoenix Mercury have signed guard Moriah Jefferson, the team announced today.
Mercury General Manager Jim Pitman: “We are very excited to welcome a free agent of Moriah’s caliber to the Mercury. She is coming off a career year where she demonstrated that she’s a shooter, scorer and creator for both herself and teammates. Adding a ballhandler with youth and versatility was a priority for us this offseason and we’re looking forward to the impact she will provide in her role.”
Jefferson, originally selected by the San Antonio Stars with the second overall pick in the 2016 WNBA Draft, is a six-year veteran who has split time with the Minnesota Lynx, Dallas Wings, the Las Vegas Aces/San Antonio Silver Stars. Most recently with Minnesota, Jefferson appeared in 30 games (all starts), averaging 10.8 points, a career-high 4.9 assists and 2.5 rebounds in 26.5 minutes of action. On June 28 against Dallas, Jefferson registered her first career triple-double in a 92-64 win against her former team, which cut her after the first game of the regular season. Jefferson’s 13 point, 10 rebounds (career-high) and 10 assist triple-double marked the first triple-double in history for the Lynx and was just one of nine across the league during the 2022 season. The UConn product has played in 140 career contests (107 starts), averaging 9.1 points, 2.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.
The four-time NCAA Champion led the Huskies to a 151-5 record and finished her collegiate career as the program’s all-time leader in assists (659) and second in steals (353). As a senior, Jefferson recorded 204 assists (fourth-highest single-season total in school history), led the team in assists (5.5) and steals (2.6), scored in double figures 28 times, and shot 59.2 percent from the floor (58.3 percent from three-point range) in NCAA Tournament play. Jefferson is one of five Huskies in history to earn the Nancy Lieberman Award as the nation’s top point guard (2015, 2016) and one of only five players in the award’s history to claim the honor multiple times (Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Skylar Diggins-Smith, and Sabrina Ionescu).