Nate Tibbetts Plans to Use End of Season to Experiment

With 20 games left until the playoffs, the Phoenix Mercury will be looking to try out different lineups and strategies and take advantage of their roster's flexibility and versatility.

Jul 27, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Phoenix Mercury forward DeWanna Bonner (14) blocks a shot by Washington Mystics forward Shakira Austin (0) in the third quarter at CareFirst Arena. Mandatory Credit: Emily Faith Morgan-Imagn Images / Emily Faith Morgan-Imagn Images

In the playoffs, the margin of error is slim, and a team's season can come to an end in an instant. Playoff basketball can be a completely different beast from regular season hoops, as teams get to play the same opponent up to five times in a row, with extra time to prepare, to tinker and adjust, and to craft gameplans tailor-made for the specific opponent they're matched up with.

Phoenix Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts knows this, and will be doing some testing and tinkering of his own during the season's final stretch to better learn his lineup and prepare for playoff basketball.

The Mercury finally have all of their main players available and one of the hallmarks of they're roster is its flexibility. Led by versatile stars like Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally, many of Phoenix's players can switch across multiple positions on the defensive end, and can fill different roles as needed on offense. So far this season, we've seen players like Sami Whitcomb play as both a high-scoring spark plug off the bench and a starting point guard.

Thomas has been both the ballhandler and the screener in the pick-and-roll. Satou Sabally has worked in the post, off of cuts, and as a spot-up threat, while also occasionally bringing the ball up. Naturally, with such a versatile lineup at his disposal, Tibbetts wants to try out different tactics to make the team as adaptable as possible.

Jul 27, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Mystics forward Kiki Iriafen (44) controls the ball while Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas (25) defends in the second quarter at CareFirst Arena. Mandatory Credit: Emily Faith Morgan-Imagn Images / Emily Faith Morgan-Imagn Images

In last night's win against the Washington Mystics, franchise legend and former All-Defense wing DeWanna Bonner came off the bench and spent some time playing as the nominal center in some ultra small-ball lineups. "We're gonna use these next 20 games to explore different lineups," said Tibbetts.

"We're going to be able to get to our switches even more her out there," he added, as he lauded her length and versatility on the defensive end. Bonner has lined up at every position but point guard for the Mercury this season.

The experimentation paid off against Washington, who Phoenix held to just 26 second-half points.

"I thought we got back to Mercury defense," he said. It's an encouraging sign for a team that had seen some slippage on the defensive end during their three-game losing streak, and they'll be hoping to build on that renewed intensity going forward, with three games remaining on their current road trip, and with playoff basketball at the end of the season being a virtual certainty.

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