PHOENIX – There was a time in Brittney Griner’s life when a mid-season coaching change was difficult to deal with.
Her 10-month detention in Russia has a way of changing perspective.
The Phoenix Mercury announced Sunday the firing of head coach Vanessa Nygaard after a 2-10 start to the season and elevated assistant coach Nikki Blue to the top spot. Griner — who recently earned her ninth All-Star selection — said she’s taken these changes in stride as the franchise tries to right its season.
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“It doesn’t surprise me that much anymore,” Griner said Monday after practice. “I’m not too shocked about the change or the different circumstances. You have to adapt. I’ve learned to adapt more.
“This adaptation is not that important in the grand scheme of things.”
Mercury’s rocky start and coaching change is the latest challenge in Griner’s return to the WNBA after her ordeal in Russia with drug-related charges caused her to miss the entire 2022 season. The 6-foot-9 coach and her teammates faced what the NBA called an “instigator” at a Dallas airport earlier this month and also dealt with a groin injury that caused him to miss three games.
Griner said she appreciated everything Nygaard had done for her over the past one-and-a-half seasons, but she was also excited that Blue would get her first opportunity as an NBA coach. Blue joined the Mercury coaching staff last season and has 15 years of coaching experience in the WNBA and college.
“Sometimes you have to shake things up a little,” Greiner said. “I think that’s what we did.”
Nygaard coached the team last season and went 17-31. It wasn’t an easy year and a half for Nygaard, last season she lost Grenier to the entirety of her detention in Russia. But the losses kept piling up even after her return, so Mercury decided to make a change.
“The last straw is we’re 2-10,” said Mercury general manager Jim Pittman. “This is not good enough. Our organization, our fans, expect a lot from Phoenix Mercury.
“I want to thank Vanessa for all the things she’s done for our organization. She’s been able to weather a lot of adversity over the past year and a half, but at the end of the day, professional sport is a results-oriented business and we’re 2-10.”
There is hope that Mercury still has time to turn its season around. The 32-year-old Griner — who returned Saturday from a hip injury — has been productive on the individual level, averaging 19.1 points per game on 62% shooting. She also averages 6.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks.
“A lot of teams don’t have veterans like Brittney Grenier or Diana Taurasi,” said Bleu. “It’s nice when something like this happens in the organization, for these veterans to be a calming agent and a calming piece.”
Griner said her job is to play better and help superstar Mercury try to compete for a playoff spot. As for her off-court challenges, she’s glad that the Dallas airport has caused the WNBA to partially reassess the use of charter flights and other travel options.
Graner’s detention in Russia remains a divisive political issue in the United States, especially after her replacement with notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
“I will say this – I think we really should have had the option of using a different airline, a more private airline, or a charter flight,” said Greiner. “It’s a shame it hit rock bottom because I feel like waiting for something to happen, and then making a change — you don’t know what that thing will be.
“We’ve all seen what can happen in this world,” she added. “When you’re playing the wait-and-see game, you’re really playing with fire, you’re playing with people’s lives. So I’m glad they finally came around and let us do it. It’s just a shame it took so long, honestly.”
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