Tina Charles Signs With Phoenix, Joins Skylar Diggins-Smith, Diana Taurasi

The WNBA's 2021 leading scorer has found a home for the 2022 season. 

Tina Charles signed with the Phoenix Mercury, joining a star-studded roster featuring Skylar Diggins-Smith, Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner. Charles's signing comes a day after the franchise secured Diamond DeShields in a three-team trade with the Sky and Liberty.

“Tina is an elite talent in our league and adding a player of her caliber is another example of our commitment to our fans and players to pursue a championship every year. Tina has made it clear that she wants to win and wants to do so in Phoenix,” Mercury general manager Jim Pitman said in a statement. “For us, this move is about adding absolute top-end talent into our frontcourt which already features what we consider the most dominant player in the game in BG and the league’s best defender in Brianna Turner. We expect to be able to play all three fewer minutes which should benefit us in the playoffs.”

Charles comes with a lot of prestige to the center's name as a former top pick turned MVP: eight-time All-Star, three-time Olympic gold medalist (2012, 2016, 2021) and nine-time All-WNBA selection. 

Since being selected in the 2010 WNBA draft, Charles spent four seasons with the Sun, five with New York and last campaign with the Mystics. The center received a medical opt-out for 2020.