WNBA

The Phoenix Mercury announced Skylar Diggins-Smith will miss their two remaining regular-season games for personal reasons.

The six-time All-Star was out for Phoenix's last two games.

The Mercury said they will sign a player to a hardship contract ahead of Friday's game against the Dallas Wings.

Diggins-Smith is the team leader in points (19.7) and assists (5.5). The 32-year-old has been one of the few consistent bright spots for a team that has seen little go right.

Her injury is yet another twist in Phoenix's 2022 season.

Star center Brittney Griner remains detained in Russia. While her absence has obviously impacted the team on the court, her plight has never been far from the minds of her teammates.

Diggins-Smith told reporters following a 77-64 loss to the Connecticut Sun that "nobody wanted to even play today" in the wake of Griner's guilty verdict in a Russian court.

"How are you supposed to approach the game with a clear mind when the whole group is crying before the game?" she said.

The Mercury have experienced other setbacks.

Diggins-Smith and Diana Taurasi got into an argument on the bench in an 86-74 loss to the Las Vegas Aces on May 17.

The team agreed to a contract divorce with 2012 WNBA MVP Tina Charles in mid-June, bringing an end to her run in Phoenix after 16 appearances.

In a since-deleted tweet, Diggins-Smith appeared to call Vanessa Nygaard a clown based on the first-year head coach's comments about Taurasi not being named an All-Star.

While saying she was "really, really happy for Skylar," Nygaard told reporters how the 2022 edition of the annual showcase "will not be an All-Star Game because Diana Taurasi is not playing." Some thought the coach diminished Diggins-Smith's All-Star nod with the remark.

And Taurasi will miss at least the rest of the regular season with a quad strain.

At 14-20, the Mercury have the same record as three other teams in the race for the final two playoff spots. By virtue of a tiebreaker, they're 10th in the standings.

Between losing Taurasi and now Diggins-Smith, overtaking the Atlanta Dream and ninth-place New York Liberty becomes an even tougher challenge for Nygaard and her players. The Wings (17-17) aren't pushovers, and the Mercury finish up with the Chicago Sky, who own the WNBA's best record (25-9).

Phoenix has lost four of its last five games, with Wednesday's 86-77 defeat to the Minnesota Lynx a costly one. Making it five out of six Friday could be a decisive blow to the Mercury's postseason hopes.

Russian officials confirmed they're discussing a potential prisoner exchange involving Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner with the United States government.

TASS, a state-owned news agency, provided comments Thursday by Ivan Nechayev, a deputy spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry:

We have repeatedly commented on this. On August 5, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed that Russia is ready to discuss the issue, but only within the channel negotiated by Russian President [Vladimir Putin] and US President [Joe Biden]. Let me remind you that corresponding competent authorities have been instructed to negotiate the issue. Competent agencies are in talks.

Griner has been wrongfully detained in Russia for 175 days after being arrested in February at a Moscow airport. She was sentenced to nine years in prison after being found guilty of drug possession and smuggling.

President Joe Biden said following her guilty verdict his administration "will continue to work tirelessly and pursue every possible avenue to bring Brittney and Paul Whelan home safely as soon as possible."

CNN's Kylie Atwood, Evan Perez and Jennifer Hansler reported on July 28 the Biden administration was prepared to discuss a prisoner exchange with Russia. In return for Griner and Whelan, a former U.S. Marine arrested in 2018 on espionage charges, the U.S. would release convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand and Frederik Pleitgen followed up on Aug. 1 to report Russia was also requesting the release of convicted murderer Vadim Krasikov.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken didn't confirm the details of the ongoing discussions behind the scenes, but he told reporters on July 29 the U.S. had tabled a "substantial proposal" that would result in Griner's release.

"I urged Foreign Minister Lavrov to move forward with that proposal," Blinken said. "I can't give you an assessment of whether that is any more or less likely."

Lavrov addressed the situation on Aug. 5 and said Russian officials were "ready to discuss this topic, but within the framework of the channel" that had been agreed upon by Biden and Putin.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also cautioned U.S. officials against publicizing the matter too much.

"The Americans have already made that mistake, suddenly deciding to use megaphone diplomacy to resolve these issues," he told reporters.

Phoenix Mercury guard Skylar Diggins-Smith's status with the franchise remains up in the air heading into the team's two final regular-season games.

M.A. Voepel of ESPN reported the Mercury have not indicated whether the All-Star will suit up as the team vies for a playoff berth. Diggins-Smith has sat out Phoenix's last two games because of a non-COVID illness and for personal reasons.

Further details have not been made available, shrouding Diggins-Smith's future in uncertainty.

Mercury coach Vanessa Nygaard could not confirm Diggins-Smith would be playing for the team again despite the fact she's under contract through the 2023 season.

"We found out before the game," Nygaard said of Diggins-Smith sitting out. "We have gone through this earlier on Saturday. We're just one day at a time moving forward. We've seen everything this year, so whatever gets thrown at us, we're ready to just lace them up and go."

Diggins-Smith has been at the center of multiple controversies this season despite arguably having the best season of her career. She and longtime Mercury star Diana Taurasi got into an altercation on the bench in May. When Nygaard questioned Taurasi not making the All-Star team last month, the third-year Phoenix player responded to her first-year coach's quote with a clown emoji on Twitter.

It's unclear if the shade was being thrown at Nygaard, Taurasi or both. Diggins-Smith deleted her Twitter account Wednesday.

Phoenix Mercury star Diana Taurasi will miss the remainder of the 2022 WNBA season because of a quad strain.

The team made the announcement Monday and signed Yvonne Turner to a hardship contract after Taurasi's injury.

This caps off a difficult year for the 10-time All-Star. She averaged 16.7 points, 3.8 assists and 3.4 rebounds in 31 games, shooting 37.3 percent from the field and 33.7 percent from beyond the arc.

Taurasi leaned heavily on her long-range jumper since she lacked the burst off the dribble that helped her become the WNBA's all-time leading scorer. Her 273 three-point attempts are the most in the league, and her 67.9 percent attempt rate on threes is well above her career rate (50.1), per Basketball Reference.

While Taurasi is past her prime, her absence could have a big impact on Phoenix. The Mercury have a half-game lead on the New York Liberty and a one-game edge on the Minnesota Lynx and Los Angeles Sparks for the final playoff seed with three games to play.

Vanessa Nygaard's squad is in danger of missing out on the postseason.

Nygaard can't ask much more of Skylar Diggins-Smith, who has a 28.5 percent usage rate and is performing at an MVP level.

The pressure will be squarely on Diamond DeShields, Sophie Cunningham and Shey Peddy to share more of the scoring burden. The trio had 63 points in Saturday's 76-62 win over the New York Liberty.

For Taurasi, the question becomes whether this is how a legendary career comes to an end.

Unlike Sue Bird and Sylvia Fowles, the 40-year-old hasn't announced her intentions for the 2023 season. She's a free agent in the offseason, and retirement is always on the table for a player her age.

But this probably isn't the final chapter Taurasi intended to write for herself. A season-ending injury and a losing record for the Mercury could provide enough motivation for her to return next year.

The eyes of the women's basketball world were fixated on Climate Pledge Arena as Sue Bird played her final regular-season home game for the Seattle Storm.

The Storm came out on the losing end against the Las Vegas Aces, falling 89-81 on Sunday. Bird finished with nine points, six assists, four rebounds and one steal in 32 minutes on the floor.

But that did little to dull the atmosphere. From start to finish, the Seattle fans made sure to give the 41-year-old a send-off befitting her legendary status:

The outpouring of support was evident across social media as well:

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell announced before the game that Aug. 7, 2022, would be Sue Bird Day.

At least so far, Bird's final season probably doesn't have the storybook ending she will have hoped for. The Storm now sit fourth in the WNBA at 20-13, and Sunday's loss was another illustration of how difficult the road to a fourth title will be.

But Bird has already cemented her legacy as the greatest point guard in WNBA history.

Sabrina Ionescu is in just her third season with the New York Liberty, and she is already etching her name into the history books.

During the first quarter of the Liberty's game against the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday, Ionescu became the first player in WNBA history to record more than 500 points, 200 rebounds and 200 assists in a single season.

This is only the latest milestone in what is sure to be a legendary career for Ionescu.

The 24-year-old made some history just six days ago in the Liberty's 89-69 win over the Phoenix Mercury by becoming the fourth player in WNBA history to record at least 16 assists in a game, joining Courtney Vandersloot, Sue Bird and Ticha Penicheiro.

In addition, she recorded the third triple-double of her career in a July 7 win over the Las Vegas Aces with 31 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, tying her with Candace Parker for the most in a WNBA career.

Ionescu also became the first WNBA player in history to record a 30-point triple-double in that game.

The Liberty selected Ionescu first overall in the 2020 WNBA draft out of Oregon. She appeared in just three games during her rookie season before suffering a Grade 3 left ankle sprain and being ruled out for the remainder of the year.

Ionescu returned in 2021 and averaged 11.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 6.1 assists in 30 games while shooting 37.9 percent from the floor and 32.5 percent from deep. It was a difficult season for the California native, who continued to suffer from the ankle injury that plagued her as a rookie.

She admitted to reporters during Liberty training camp in April that she should not have played last season while still nursing the injury:

"Don't play if you're not healthy. That's probably the main thing that I've learned is it's a long game and it was my second year and thank God that I didn't get more injured or get a different injury, but sometimes playing through it isn't always the right way."

Now that Ionescu is fully healed from her ankle ailment, she is reaping the benefits. Entering Saturday', she was averaging 17.5 points, 7.1 rebounds and 6.4 assists through 31 games while shooting 41.6 percent from the floor and 34.9 percent from deep.

However, despite Ionescu's best efforts, the Liberty entered Saturday fifth in the Eastern Conference with a 13-18 record. That said, the team is still on pace to capture a playoff spot.

Russia is willing to engage in discussions with the United States about a possible prisoner exchange involving detained WNBA star Brittney Griner, but it warned the U.S. government about making the exchange talks public.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters Friday, per Vladimir Isachenkov of the Associated Press:

"If the Americans again try to engage in public diplomacy and make loud statements about their intention to take certain steps, it’s their business, I would even say their problem. The Americans often have trouble observing agreements on calm and professional work."

Russian spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also said Friday "the U.S. already has made mistakes, trying to solve such problems via 'microphone diplomacy.' They are not solved that way."

Griner has been detained in Russia since Feb. 17—169 days—after being arrested at a Moscow airport for carrying vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage.

The 31-year-old pleaded guilty in Russian court last month and was sentenced on Thursday to nine years in prison and fined 1 million rubles (about $16,700) after Judge Anna Sotnikova found that she "intentionally broke the law."

The AP's Jim Heintz speculated last month that a guilty plea could be used as a tactic to speed up Griner's trial in order to negotiate a prisoner swap between Russia and the United States.

A potential prisoner swap could include Griner and Paul Whelan, who is being detained in Russia on espionage charges, in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year sentence in the United States after being convicted of conspiracy to kill American citizens.

The Biden Administration classified Griner as being wrongfully detained in May, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that her sentence "compounds the injustice that has been done to her."

"It puts a spotlight on our very significant concern with Russia’s legal system and the Russian government’s use of wrongful detentions to advance its own agenda using individuals as political pawns," Blinken said.

Phoenix Mercury guard Skylar Diggins-Smith questioned why the WNBA proceeded with Thursday's game against the Connecticut Sun, which took place just hours after Mercury center Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison on drug charges in Russia.

"Nobody wanted to even play today," Diggins-Smith told reporters. "How are you supposed to approach the game with a clear mind when the whole group is crying before the game?"

The WNBA released a statement in coordination with a moment of silence between the teams:

Diggins-Smith explained there was a profound impact on the players following the news.

"This is our real-life friend, real-life sister," she said. "Imagine if your real-life friend or real-life sister is out here. I don't expect everybody to give a damn, but we really do. And we come out here and we're still supposed to play this game."

The Sun won the contest, 77-64.

Griner has been detained in Russia for 169 days since she was arrested at a Moscow airport in February after vape cartridges containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage.

In May, the U.S State Department classified her as wrongfully detained.

United States President Joe Biden released a statement after Thursday's verdict:

CNN and multiple other outlets have reported the U.S. proposed a prison swap that would include Griner and fellow American Paul Whelan in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, but the White House stated Russia responded with a "bad faith" counteroffer.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Griner's sentence "compounds the injustice" she's faced.

"It puts a spotlight on our very significant turn with Russia's legal system and the Russian government's use of wrongful detentions to advance its own agenda using individuals as political pawns," Blinken told reporters Friday.

Griner has played for UMMC Ekaterinburg in Russia since 2014 as one of several WNBA players who compete overseas during the offseason for supplemental income.

She's starred for the Mercury stateside with eight All-Star selections, two scoring titles and a WNBA championship in 2014.