Mercury to Honor Brittney Griner in Return to Phoenix

The Mercury will show love to the franchise legend and surefire Hall of Famer in her highly anticipated return to the desert.

Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner (42) celebrates a basket against the Indiana Fever during the third quarter at Footprint Center in Phoenix on June 30, 2024. / Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Wednesday's home game against the Atlanta Dream is no ordinary regular season matchup. it will be an emotional night for Phoenix Mercury fans, as Brittney Griner will be playing against the Mercury for the first time, after leaving for the Atlanta Dream this past offseason. The team has announced on Instagram that they 'll be giving away placards to the first 5,000 fans in attendance that read "thank you BG" and hosting the BG Heart & Sole shoe drive and taking donations during the game.

Griner is a franchise legend, to put it simply. She arrived in Phoenix with great expectations. The former Final Four MOP was the number one overall pick in 2013 for a Phoenix team coming off of a 7-27 season where they posted the worst winning percentage in franchise history. The 6'9" center immediately won over local fans. She was an All-Star in her first season in the WNBA and the team made a run to the Conference Finals.

She would go on to win the 2014 championship with the Mercury and make 10 All-Star teams in her 11 seasons in purple. She missed the 2022 season after being detained abroad while traveling to Russia, where she played during WNBA offseasons. Her first season back was a difficult one, but she slowly began to feel like her normal self again. Throughout her career, she was known for her big personality and sense of humor, which made her one of the city's all-time favorite athletes.

The team will almost certainly be showing a long tribute video before the game, and there's no shortage of accomplishments and memories to highlight. She's the franchise's all-time leader in rebounds and blocks (with 461 more blocks than Diana Taurasi in second place). She's scored the second-most points and dished out the fourth-most assists. She's been the MVP runner-up twice and has led the league in scoring twice and in blocks eight times.

At 34 years old, she's accepted a slightly reduced role in Atlanta, averaging a career-low 10.3 points per game and 23.4 minutes per game, but she's still a key starter and efficient scorer for an Atlanta team that's second in the Eastern Conference. She's already a part of multiple exhibits in the Basketball Hall of Fame, and it's just a matter of time before she's inducted for her illustrious playing career.

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