Celeste Taylor remains a Mercury, signs third short-term contract with team

Last Friday, Taylor re-signed with Phoenix after a two-game stint with the Connecticut Sun. She joined the Sun off of the expiration of her original seven-day contract with the Mercury, which was signed on July 12. The 5-foot-11 guard was drafted in the second round this year by the Indiana Fever and was waived before her arrival in Phoenix.

With the suspected return of both Rebecca Allen and Charisma Osborne being imminent, there were questions as to if Taylor was going to be released and signed somewhere else or not. Allen is currently nursing a right hamstring injury and Osborne has been out with a left lower leg strain, but are both making progress.

Unlike some players who may not know how to cope with moving from team to team, the New York native flipped from school to school collegiately and it prepared her for something like this. She started at Texas as a freshman and sophomore (2019-21), played two seasons for Duke (2021-23) and finished at Ohio State before declaring for this year’s draft.

In seven games this season for the Mercury, she has averaged 2.7 points, one assist, 0.9 rebounds and 13 minutes played per game. Combined with her time with Connecticut and Indiana, Taylor is averaging 1.7 points, 0.6 assists and 0.5 rebounds in 14 games in her rookie year.

After an 82-80 win over the Atlanta Dream last week, the 23-year-old talked about the adversity she has dealt with this season and remains positive through the challenges.

“Yeah, it’s definitely tough,” Taylor said. “It’s definitely not something that a lot of rookies this season have gone through. People are always telling me like, ‘Your journey is your own journey’ and I think I have taken that along the way. Definitely some times are tough, you don’t necessarily know if you have a permanent spot a lot of the times, especially in the W. All you can do is be who you are and work hard. I have been trying to keep that going.

“It’s definitely tough when you are leaving an organization that I was with for a couple months and coming on a seven-day knowing that I have to leave or there is a potential spot for me somewhere else. Just going out there and exploring my options because, thankfully, I am blessed to have those options of going to a team the next day for another seven days. Just trying to stay focused. It is definitely hard sometimes, but my parents are constantly talking to me and I have great people around me.”