Wings vs Mercury Betting Odds: Will Coaching Change Spark Last-Place Phoenix?
Phoenix fired Vanessa Nygaard following league-worst 2-10 start
The Phoenix Mercury would like to press reset on their 2023 season. At 2-10, the Mercury are sitting last in the WNBA, with WNBA, with both an aging roster and coaching staff in flux. That pales compared to the Dallas Wings, whose outlook looks promising thanks to two of the league’s brightest young stars.
After opening as 7-point favorites, the Wings are down to -4 (-102) heading into Tuesday’s matchup at Footprint Center. The projected total moved from 169 to 170, with the Under receiving shorter odds at -105. Read on for our Wings vs Mercury betting odds preview.
Change in the Desert
After a league-worst 2-10 start to the season, the Phoenix Mercury fired Vanessa Nygaard on Sunday, setting the WNBA coaching carousel in motion. Nygaard finished her year-plus tenure with a 17-31 record, including 0-2 in the playoffs. The Mercury promoted Nikki Blue to interim coach, hoping to salvage what’s quickly deteriorating into a lost season.
What’s at stake for Phoenix? Above all, the Mercury are trying to keep a string of 10 consecutive trips to the playoffs intact. That stretch includes two Finals appearances and a WNBA title in 2014.
Phoenix had high expectations coming into 2023. With perennial All-Star Brittney Griner back following a year away from basketball, the Mercury were a +1800 pick to win it all. Granted, the league’s two “Super Teams,” Las Vegas (+115) and New York (+140), were considerable favorites. However, the Mercury still owned the fourth-best preseason odds on the board. And now? Phoenix, off to its worst start since 2003, has seen its odds sink to +30000.
The Mercury finished 8-26 in 2003, then drafted Diana Taurasi first overall the next season. They’ve won three titles since (2007, 2009, 2014), and Taurasi is the league’s all-time leading scorer at 41.
Both Griner (hip) and Taurasi (hamstring) returned from the WNBA injury report for Saturday’s 97-74 loss to Seattle. However, another starter, Sophie Cunningham, played only 14 minutes because of a back injury. Cunningham’s status could impact the Wings vs Mercury betting odds.
Staying in the Mix
The Dallas Wings are just 6-8 and have been particularly bad on the road, with only one win in seven tries away from College Park Center. The good news? Despite a sub-.500 record, the Wings would still qualify for the playoffs if the season ended today, sitting sixth in the eight-team field.
Dallas’ success has largely been built around the success of Arike Ogunbowale and Satou Sabally, both of whom were named starters for next month’s All-Star Game in Las Vegas. Ogunbowale ranks third in the WNBA in scoring at 22.4 points per game, per WNBA stats. She also is first in minutes played (37.4) and field goals made (102). Sabally has averaged 18.6 points, which is ninth-best in the WNBA and is also third in rebounding at 9.9 per game. She has nine double-doubles on the season.
Additionally, Crystal Dangerfield, the 2020 WNBA Rookie of the Year, has played well after being acquired as part of a multi-team trade in January. She’s averaging 9.7 points on 46.8% shooting to go with 2.8 assists.
The Wings are in a rut now, having lost two straight and five of their last six games. However, they are 2-0 against Phoenix.
Handicapping the Game
There’s no way around it. Phoenix is the biggest underachiever in the WNBA. Sure, Taurasi is older, Skylar Diggins-Smith is away on paternity leave, and Griner needed to knock off the rust after spending all last season in a Russian prison. That said, there’s no reason it should be at the bottom of the standings, below rebuilding teams like Seattle and Indiana.
The coaching change may create a spark. For whatever reason, Nygaard wasn’t getting through to her players. Or maybe, the Mercury will bottom out. Regardless, it’s hard to put much trust in them, even at home.
Considering everything, the Wings are shaping up to be a moderate road favorite in our Wings vs Mercury betting odds preview.
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