The Phoenix Mercury find themselves in unfamiliar territory

Phoenix was eliminated from playoff contention Saturday night with a 99-89 loss to the Atlanta Dream, ending a season that began with high expectations shaped by last year’s run to the WNBA Finals. The Mercury fell to 13-24 with the loss, while Atlanta improved to 24-13 and clinched a playoff berth.

Kahleah Copper scored 38 points against Atlanta, but Angel Reese countered with a career-high 31 points and 14 rebounds for the Dream. Alyssa Thomas recorded her 22nd regular-season triple-double, finishing with 11 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists.

The result leaves Phoenix with seven games remaining and plenty of questions about what comes next.

For a franchise used to postseason basketball, the situation is unfamiliar. The Mercury made the playoffs in 19 seasons through 2025, including a franchise-record nine consecutive appearances from 2013 to 2021. They also returned to the playoffs in 2024 and 2025, reaching the Finals last season before being swept by the Las Vegas Aces.

Now, less than a year removed from playing for a championship, Phoenix is left to find value in a season that didn’t go according to plan.

“I think us just playing to a standard like we did in the second half [of the game],” head coach Nate Tibbetts said postgame when asked what a successful rest of the season looks like. “Continuing to get healthy, get Kelsey Plum out there, get some of our young players some minutes. Just competing and playing the right way. Unfortunately, we haven’t done it for as long stretches as we need, but yeah, we got to keep going. We got seven to go, we got to keep playing.”

Thomas, one of the Mercury’s veteran leaders, acknowledged how strange the situation feels.

“Something I haven’t experienced since my first couple years in the league. It’s definitely disappointing, definitely not what we anticipated for the season, but there’s still games to be played,” Thomas said. “Hard to say what the goal is, but I think it’s just about continuing to build, play our brand of basketball. Win, lose, we still got to go out there and give everything that we have.”

That may be Phoenix’s clearest objective now.

There won’t be playoff preparation, no race for seeding and no chance to build on last year’s Finals appearance. Instead, Phoenix has seven regular-season games to evaluate its young players, get healthy and play with pride.

The Mercury will host the Washington mystics next on Tuesday, Aug. 25, at 7 p.m.