End of August Key for Mercury's Place in Standings

The Phoenix Mercury are in fourth, but are just a game out of second place. Can they close out the month strong and move up in the standings?

Mercury guards Lexie Held (center white) and Kitija Laska (center purple) celebrate a basket at PHX Arena in Phoenix on Aug. 7, 2025. / Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Phoenix Mercury are currently 19-12, good for fourth place in the WNBA standings. The team is undoubtedly disappointed after having a strong grip on third place for much of the season, but they haven't fallen far -- the third-place Atlanta Dream are just one game ahead of them and the second-place New York Liberty have the exact same record (20-11) as Atlanta and have won just five of their last 10.

With a strong finish to the month of August, Phoenix could get themselves all the way up to second place, possibly even with room to spare.

The team has been up-and-down lately and have won just four of their last 10 games. Since coming back from the All-Star break, they've had a three-game losing streak characterized by slow-paced offense and defensive breakdowns, as well as a three-game winning streak where their defense held all three opponents under 70 points and the team was firing on all cylinders around superstar Alyssa Thomas's three consecutive triple-doubles.

It was a tough stretch of games in the midst of a packed schedule, and many of the opponents were playoff teams, but now, the Mercury are facing a friendlier stretch in their schedule with a chance to climb up the standings.

Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas (25) is fouled by Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray (12) during the fourth quarter at PHX Arena Jun 29, 2025. / Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

After Friday's game against the Las Vegas Aces (who they face again the following Thursday on the road), the final contest in their four-game homestand, the Mercs will play three straight on the road, but they'll all be on the west coast, and against teams they should be able to beat.

The Seattle Storm, once considered fringe championship contenders, have lost five straight, including twice to a team with a losing record, the Valkyries are at .500 but lost their best player for the season, and the Sparks are much improved and have been on a bit of a hot streak lately, winning nine of their last 11, but they're a young team with a losing record for the year.

They'll finish up the month with a home game against a Chicago Sky team they just handled comfortably and another game against a banged up Liberty team they've beaten twice this season.

While not nearly a cakewalk (if such a thing even exists in a league as tough as the W), the Mercury are fortunate to be facing such an important stretch of the season while only playing against one of the league's elite teams (the Liberty), and they get four days off to reset and recover heading into it. If they can go something like 5-3 or 6-2 to close out the month, they could find themselves in second or third and feeling good about their chances as the playoffs approach.

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