Two-time WNBA scoring champion and 2014 WNBA Champion re-signs with Mercury

She’s a WNBA Champion, a two-time WNBA scoring champion, two-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, six-time All-Star and last August she said, “Mercury ‘til I’m done.” Already one of the most dominant players in WNBA history, the Phoenix Mercury are excited to announce Brittney Griner will continue to add to her legacy here in the Valley after signing a multi-year contract today.

“We’ve had the opportunity to watch BG transform into one of the most dominant players in the WNBA since we drafted her in 2013. In a Mercury uniform, she has become a WNBA Champion, Olympic gold medalist, a multiple time All-Star, a two-time scoring champion and has re-written the league’s record books for blocked shots. A force on the court, her work in the Phoenix community is what makes her such a special person. We are thrilled to continue to watch her career grow here in Phoenix.”

– GM Jim Pitman

Since being selected with the No. 1 overall pick by Phoenix in the 2013 WNBA Draft, Griner owns six All-Star game appearances (2017-19, 2013-15; no All-Star Game held in 2016 due to Olympics), two WNBA scoring titles (2017, 2019), two WNBA Defensive Player of the Year awards (2014, 2015), five All-WNBA Team selections (2017-19, 2014-15) and six All-WNBA Defensive Team nods (2014-19). She has appeared in the postseason in all seven of her WNBA seasons, including six trips to the WNBA Semifinals, and was part of the Mercury’s 2014 Championship team. Over the course of Griner’s seven-year career, the Mercury has compiled a 137-101 record, the third best in the WNBA during that span (Minnesota, Los Angeles).

In just seven years, Griner has taken over virtually every team and league record for blocked shots. The 2016 Olympic gold medalist owns the WNBA records for blocks in a single-game (11), blocks in a playoffs game (11), blocks in a single-season (129), single-season block average (4.04), and career block average (3.0). She has led the league in blocks per game in each of her seven professional seasons, a WNBA record, and her averages in 2013 (3.00), 2014 (3.79), 2015 (4.04) and 2016 (3.15) represent four of the best seven seasons in WNBA history. She currently ranks third on the WNBA’s all-time blocks list with 636 in 212 career games, the only player in the top-15 with less than 300 career games played.

Griner has changed the landscape of the WNBA as the only player to dunk in a regular season or playoff game since turning pro. The 6-8 center owns 12 career regular season dunks, one playoff dunk and five All-Star Game dunks. Entering the 2020 WNBA season, the rest of the league has combined for only three regular season dunks in the WNBA’s 23 seasons. Griner put on a show for fans in Las Vegas last summer when she threw down three dunks in the 2019 WNBA All-Star game, becoming the first player in league history to record more than one dunk in an All-Star Game.

Griner is coming off another dominant season in 2019 after averaging 20.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 31 games, while shooting 56.4 percent from the field. She became the fourth player in WNBA history (first true center) to average 20+ points in three consecutive seasons (Cynthia Cooper, Diana Taurasi, Angel McCoughtry), and joined Anthony Davis, Tim Duncan, Elton Brand, Jermaine O’Neal and Shaquille O’Neal as the only WNBA/NBA players since 2000 to average at least 20 points, seven rebounds and three blocks per game in three-straight seasons (no other WNBA player has ever averaged such numbers more than once in a season).

Last week, Griner led Team USA to a perfect 3-0 record during Olympic qualifiers, averaging a team-high 15.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game. During the current WNBA offseason, the Houston native is once again playing for UMMC Ekaterinburg in Russia, where she has led the team to a 25-1 record, and averaged 18.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 22 games played.

Professional basketball returns to The Madhouse May 2020 as the Phoenix Mercury bring their quest for a record-tying fourth WNBA Championship to Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the original home of the Phoenix Suns. Join superstars Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner, Skylar Diggins-Smith and the X-Factor at one of basketball’s loudest venues.

Tickets for Fry’s Food Stores Opening Night on Sunday, May 17, can be purchased by calling 602.252.WNBA or by visiting Ticketmaster.

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