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Mercury’s Sophie Cunningham, Natasha Cloud advocate for changes to WNBA scheduling
Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

Mercury’s Sophie Cunningham, Natasha Cloud advocate for changes to WNBA scheduling

Originally posted on Burn City Sports  |  By Alec Cipollini  |  Last updated Jun 25, 2024 7:53 PM ET

The Phoenix Mercury are enjoying a four-day break between games before a chaotic slate of three games in four days beginning on Friday when they face the Los Angeles Sparks. The Mercury will then play the Indiana Fever on Sunday and the Connecticut Sun on Monday, its first and only back-to-back at home this season.

Phoenix has currently played 16 games since May 14 and has nine more to go until July 16 before the All-Star and Olympic breaks begin.

Playing 25 games in just over two months has brought its challenges with injuries on the rise and fewer opportunities to practice, raising concerns about whether the scheduling needs to be adjusted in the future once an Olympic year happens again.

One advocate for change by the WNBA to fix the jumbled-up calendar has been Mercury guard Natasha Cloud who believes the season should be extended, especially with the Olympics.

“Roll with the punches of the schedule, we just hope that the WNBA does it better,” Cloud said. “When you have an Olympic year, I think we need to talk about just expanding the season for a few weeks instead of a bunch of games together. The schedule is what it is, there is no complaining about it.”

Once the 2024 All-Star Game concludes on July 20, the WNBA will be taking about a month off to make way for the Olympics. The Mercury will return to action on August 15 when they take on the Chicago Sky.

It takes players time to gradually be acclimated with their new teammates, coaching philosophies, change of scenery, etc. Phoenix’s roster has seen drastic changes in terms of hiring Nate Tibbetts as the new head coach and bringing in players like Natasha Cloud, Natasha Mack, Kahleah Copper and Bec Allen among others.

Trying to create chemistry quicker than usual, the Mercury are starting to click together, going 4-2 in their last six games.

As they are trying to navigate through this congested stretch, guard Sophie Cunningham identified a sticking point that can help players cope with it, but understands busy schedules are just another thing that pros have to deal with.

“I think if we got paid more, it would be a lot easier,” Cunningham said. “At least we have charters now. I think it is a mindset, this is what it is. It is pro basketball with the amount of fans and amount of teams that we are trying to expand to, it’s going to be more games. Your body is going to have to adjust. When you are focused on winning and being competitive and you have a great team that is fun to be around, it makes it easy.”

Besides two matchups vs. the Sun who are currently 13-3, seven out of the next nine games for the Mercury are against teams with a losing record.

With a favorable schedule on paper, Phoenix has a chance to climb up the standings and end the first portion of the season on a high note before returning for the final 15 games of the year after the Olympics.

Once this unique season concludes, it will be interesting to see how the WNBA will go about the next Olympic year and if they implement changes or rerun the same format as this season.

Having the players coming out and wanting change, it is only a matter of time until the league responds to what they have to say.

This article first appeared on Burn City Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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