PHOENIX MERCURY RE-SIGN SHEY PEDDY

PHOENIX – The three-time WNBA Champion Phoenix Mercury today welcomed back another key member of its 2021 WNBA Finals squad, re-signing guard Shey Peddy.

Mercury General Manager Jim Pitman: “Every team need a player like Shey Peddy, who will step into any role asked of her, plays hard on every possession, is not afraid to defend the other team’s best player, or to take the big shot – or free-throws – when her team needs her to. Shey is loved by her teammates and our fans, and we feel fortunate she will continue to be a member of the Phoenix Mercury. Welcome back, Shey.”

One of the league’s best on-ball perimeter defenders, Peddy has become a key piece of the Mercury’s backcourt rotation over the last two seasons. After two different stints with the Washington Mystics in 2019 and 2020, Peddy was waived in the WNBA Bubble by Washington and was signed by Phoenix due to a slew of midseason injuries to the Mercury. All Peddy has done since then is appear in all 56 possible games for Phoenix (43 regular season, 13 playoffs), including all 32 regular season and 13 playoff contests a season ago.

Peddy is coming of a 2021 season in which she averaged career highs in scoring (5.4), assists (2.5), rebounds (2.3) and minutes (17.5). Peddy scored a career-high 18 points on Sept. 8 at Atlanta in what was her second career start, knocking down three free throws with 3.8 seconds remaining in a game Phoenix trailed by two, securing a 76-75, win for the Mercury.

“Playoff Peddy” secured her spot in Mercury lore in 2020, making a buzzer-beating three in a Round 1 single-elimination game against Washington, eliminating her former team. Then, in 2021, in a series-deciding Game 5 of the Semifinals on the road against Las Vegas, Peddy stepped to the line in the closing seconds of a tie game and made two free throws to clinch the Mercury’s fifth trip to the WNBA Finals in franchise history.

Peddy is now committed to play her fourth WNBA season, third with the Mercury. The Temple graduate holds career averages of 4.1 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists, while shooting a 96.2 percent clip (51-of-53) from the free-throw line. Peddy is the only player in WNBA history with a career free throw percentage greater than 96 percent (min. 50 attempts), and set a WNBA and NBA record last season for the most consecutive free throws without a miss to begin a career, opening her career with a 37-for-37 mark at the charity stripe before her first miss last season.

Peddy was initially selected by the Chicago Sky with the 23rd overall pick in the 2012 WNBA Draft, but made her WNBA debut in 2019 with the Mystics. The former Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year as a senior played nine games with Washington in the WNBA Bubble during the 2020 season before signing with the Mercury.

Led by the 2021 Olympic gold-medal winning quartet of Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner, Skylar Diggins-Smith and Tina Charles and coming off the club’s fifth WNBA Finals appearance in franchise history, the three-time WNBA Champion Phoenix Mercury return to Footprint Center this summer, tipping off the season with Fry’s Food Stores Opening Night on Friday, May 6, against the Las Vegas Aces.

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