Mercury at 30: Tangela Smith returns on staff after being key player in ’07 & ’09 championships

Only once in three decades has a WNBA No. 1 overall draft pick not played initially for the team that drafted her.

The seemingly audacious decision to trade the first pick was made in 2007 by the Phoenix Mercury, then with a new general manager and a fortunate lottery draw given the worst odds out of six teams to land that selection.

Tangela Smith, acquired in what proved to be a masterpiece trade by GM Ann Meyers Drysdale, is back with the Mercury this season as an assistant coach, fittingly for an historic 30th season beginning Saturday.

“You don’t hear people trading their No. 1 pick for anything,” Smith says. “For me it was an honor and I felt really privileged to be that person to come here. It was a team that really believed in me and trusted that I could come in and help them out.”

Trading No. 1 draft pick pays off 

The Mercury did not win a WNBA title in their first decade, coming closest as 1998 Finals runner-up to the Houston Comets.

Over Diana Taurasi’s first three seasons, they had a combined .500 record with no playoff appearances. Taurasi was No. 1 overall draft pick in 2004.

But first-year coach Paul Westhead’s high-scoring system worked in 2006 when the Mercury averaged a league-high 84.3 points. With Taurasi, Cappie Pondexter, Kelly Miller and Penny Taylor returning, having another No. 1 draft pick seemed like the needed piece to at minimum return to the playoffs for the first time since 2000.

Guard Lindsey Harding from Duke and center Jessica Davenport of Ohio State were projected at the top of the 2007 draft. Neither fit Meyers Drysdale’s vision for the Mercury. 

“I knew the offense,” Meyers Drysdale says. “You knew he had Kelly Miller at point guard. He wasn’t going to change. It was that center position that was difficult. I said I know the right kid that will fit in. Tangela was like a no-brainer.”

The 6-3 Smith then was a nine-year WNBA veteran, all but the first two as a starter for Sacramento and Charlotte. She was traded to Charlotte before Sacramento’s best seasons (2005-06) then when the Sting folded was selected by Minnesota in a dispersal draft.

The Lynx, 10-24 in 2006, had yet to become the power they would evolve into under Cheryl Reeves. So acquiring the No. 1 draft pick to go with their own No. 4 made sense and Smith, who had yet to play a game for them, was the perfect trade chip. 

Minnesota wanted Harding so the Mercury selected her with a trade already agreed upon. 

“When I made the trade, our fans were livid,” Meyers Drysdale says. “Paul needed somebody that could take the ball out of bounds and run and shoot and defend inside. People struggled with the center because of her ability to be so quick and fast.”

The 2007 Mercury were 4-4 then 7-7 and 12-10, fueling critics of the trade, before closing the season on an 11-1 run for their winningest season (23) to date. 

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Tangela Smith on returning to #Mercury as assistant coach … she started on Mercury 2007 and 2009 #wnba championship teams pic.twitter.com/dbDOGfBEqs

— jeffmetcalfe (@jeffmetcalfe) May 2, 2026

Smith admits to feeling some pressure. 

“I tried to just be positive and think they must see something in me for them to bring me here. I just let all of that go and just trusted God and came in and did what I needed to do to help the team. 

“We had obviously some great players here already and I wasn’t here to be that main impact player. I knew what my role was, and I just wanted to come in and contribute any type of way I could. And I think that’s what I did.”

The hot streak extended into the playoffs with 2-0 Western Conference sweeps over Seattle and San Antonio. Then in the best-of-five WNBA Finals against defending champion Detroit, the Mercury rallied from a 2-1 deficit to win Game 5 on the road for their long awaited first title.

The second would come just two years later with four of the same core players supplemented by Temeka Johnson, Le’coe Willingham and rookie DeWanna Bonner. Corey Gaines was the coach, elevated from assistant after Westhead left for an ill-fated return to the NBA.

The Mercury again were 23-11 in the 2009 regular season, eliminating San Antonio and Los Angeles on the way to a 3-2 Finals win over Indiana.

“Tan was a key part of winning that championship,” Bonner says. “I still remember her hitting those two big threes at the top of the key,” after Indiana rallied to tie Game 5 with 4:29 left.

Smith played another season in Phoenix for four total, starting all 127 of her regular season games with the Mercury and 24 more in three playoffs.

“Both (championship) years were great,” she says “For me it took me 10 years before we got the championship in 2007. So that for me was the most memorable.”

Right timing, place for WNBA return 

Nate Tibbetts wanted to hire Smith for his staff in 2024 when he first became Mercury head coach. But Smith, a Chicago native, was invested at Northwestern and loyal to long-time coach Joe McKeown.

“I just wanted to see it out with him,” Smith says. 

McKeown retired after the 2025-26 season, his 40th as a head coach and 18th at Northwestern. Tibbetts coincidently had assistant openings and circled back to Smith.

“Any time you can have former players around, they’ve got a great feel and sense to how this works,” Tibbets says. “This is who they are, how they’ve grown up. I’m excited to see what she can do with our bigs.”

Smith began coaching in 2014 at Western Michigan and moved to Northwestern in 2018 with a promotion to associate head coach in 2022. She also played in the Big Ten at Iowa from 1994-98, earning Big Ten Player of the Year as a senior ahead of a 15-year WNBA career, well beyond expectations for a second-round draft pick.

Tibbetts, Smith says, is like McKeown as a people person.

“He’s a true genuine individual that cares about you, not just what you can do for him. About your family and things that doesn’t have anything to do with basketball. That’s what really gravitated me toward coming back to Phoenix. He was a big reason for that. 

“And I like that he gives us freedom in practices. This is his thing, but he wants us to grow as coaches.”

Smith’s return already has been eventful. She reunited with Gaines, here to coach the Japanese national team in a preseason game Apri 29, and with Bonner, in her second season back with the Mercury and 17th overall in the WNBA. Meyers Drysdale is still around too as a TV analyst. 

Bonner goes into this season as the WNBA active leader in points (7,807) and games played (535). 

“She was my rookie (in 2009),” Smith says. “Just thinking back, she was so sweet. It is so amazing just to see how she’s progressed throughout the years and how long she’s lasted. It just brings back a lot of memories and brings chills. I’m so proud of her. For me, it’s coming full circle.”

Bonner says Smith has the necessary respect to get across her coaching messages.

“I can say it all day, but now you have a coach that’s lived it as well. Now she can take the responsibility on and answer those questions like you’ve been here before, what does it take. Now Tan can handle that.”