Phoenix Mercury Sign Former First Round Pick to Hardship Contract

The Phoenix Mercury have been dealing with injuries to begin the 2025 WNBA season, with Kahleah Copper undergoing arthroscopy on her left knee a couple of weeks back, plus Natasha Mack (neck) and Alyssa Thomas (left calf) recently joining Copper on the injury report.

With so many stars already missing time, the Mercury went to the free agent pool, and signed former Stanford Cardinal standout Haley Jones to a hardship contract. Jones, 24, was originally selected by the Atlanta Dream with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft. She was waived by the Dream just a couple of days before the 2025 season tipped off.

In 80 career games with the Dream, Jones started 30 of them, including 24 last season, while averaging 3.8 points per game, 2.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.5 turnovers in 16.2 minutes per contest.

Jones also made her Mercury debut just hours after the signing was announced, getting into Sunday's 85-80 win over the Los Angeles Sparks. She came off the bench and took one shot, dropping it for two points, and added an assist to her line in four minutes of action.

With the win, the Mercury climb to 5-2 to begin the season, and they were led by new addition Satou Sabally who had 24 points in this one. Sabally was with the Dallas Wings for five seasons before getting traded to Phoenix during the offseason in a four-team swap that included former Cardinal DiJonai Carrington headed to the Wings.

Sunday's win was also a huge come-from-behind victory for Phoenix, who were down by as many as 18 points in the first half before they came storming back.