Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White was targeted with calls for her firing for how she handled the recent Sophie Cunningham/DiJonai Carrington situation, which led to members of the media and several Fever stars coming to her defense.
Over the weekend, Phoenix Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts joined the fray, sticking up for White after being asked about the WNBA having to deal with recent discourse unrelated to the actual play on the court.
"It really **** me off," Tibbetts told reporters Saturday. "It's disappointing. This is a great league. We've got great players. There's great stories, great rookies, great teams.
"We just spend so much time talking about the wrong stuff. I don't know why that happens in our league. It's disappointing. I don't know who can help change the narrative. Is it the coaches? Is it the players? Is it the media? There's outside sources that are trying to create division, and at times it's not a lot of fun. It's not a lot of fun for our players. It's not a lot of fun for our coaches, our organizations, because we are doing great things."
From there, Tibbetts got into White specifically, as he lamented what "certain coaches in our league have to deal with that on a night-to-night level

#white #tibbetts #coaches

Phoenix Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts may not understand exactly what the Indiana Fever's Stephanie White has dealt with the past week or so, but he can empathize.
In a recent pregame interview, Tibbetts lamented the WNBA's frequent brushes with controversy, so many of them involving the Fever.
White has been criticized by the state's lieutenant governor after a postgame comment regarding the Chicago Sky's DiJonai Carrington. White gave an impassioned defense of her players before she was booed while being introduced the next game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Fever players also defended White, who received an ovation before Friday night's game against the New York Liberty.
"There are some things that our coaches have to deal with on a night-to-night level, and I feel sorry for those coaches," Tibbetts said Saturday.
"Some of things that Steph goes through, that is wrong. There is no other coach in professional sports that ... it's not fair. She was hired as a coach, and they've got a great team and they are dealing with stuff that doesn't really matter. That still ****** me off."

#white #things #coaches

The Phoenix Mercury finished their five-game road trip, which included acquiring star Kelsey Plum at the trade deadline.
Plum played four games before left calf tightness kept her out of the second half against the Washington Mystics on Aug. 9.
Plum was out against the Los Angeles Sparks on Aug. 11, but the Mercury have had some downtime before their home game against the Portland Fire on Sunday, Aug. 16.
However, Mercury fans hoping to see Plum in a Mercury jersey will have to wait a little longer.
At practice on Friday, Aug. 14, coach Nate Tibbetts confirmed that Plum will be out with calf tightness.

#calf #phoenix #washington

Phoenix Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts told reporters on Friday that veteran guard Kelsey Plum will miss the team's next game on Sunday against the Portland Fire.
Plum is expected to be re-evaluated after that game to see if she will be able to return for Phoenix's next game, which isn't until Saturday, August 22.
The veteran guard missed Phoenix's last game against the Los Angeles Sparks in what would have been a game against her former team. Plum was acquired at the 2026 WNBA trade deadline in an infamous move that saw Los Angeles pick up a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, and guard Monique Akoa Makani.
Without Plum, the Mercury picked up the 94-87 win over the Sparks, ending a three-game losing streak.
The veteran guard didn't play in the second half of Phoenix's game against the Washington Mystics on August 9th due to "left calf tightness."

#plum

LOS ANGELES -- The Sparks (12-19) take on the Phoenix Mercury (12-22). But in this instance, the Sparks will be playing at Galen Center in the University of Southern California.
This game had a lot of intrigue. After all, both teams made a big trade with each other. The Sparks sent Kelsey Plum to the Mercury in exchange for Monique Akoa Makani, a 2027 first round pick, and a 2028 second rounder.
It turns out that Plum will be out for this Tuesday game while Akoa Makani is listed as questionable. So Plum won't be able to take on her former team in her first return to L.A. since the trade occurred. The Sparks are 2-2 since the deal while the Mercury are 1-3.
The playoffs are blurry in both teams' view at this point so they gotta see what they have. And it's a little tough for both. Akoa Makani is under contract for next season but Plum is an unrestricted free agent after this season. Plum had mentioned that she was going to go through the full process of free agency so the Mercury have to show Plum why she should stay.
There are plenty of reasons to stay. Alyssa Thomas (who had a triple-double when they last visited L.A. on July 22nd) and Kahleah Copper are perennial all-stars. With Plum, they have a "big three" that they can call their own. Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts also encourages three-pointers in his system and Plum could similarly thrive in that as she did under Lynne Roberts in Los Angeles.

#plum #mercury

A little more than a week after Kelsey Plum was traded from the Los Angeles Sparks to the Phoenix Mercury, the five-time WNBA All-Star guard was set to return to Los Angeles to face-off against her former team on Tuesday, Aug 11.
However, Plum won't be in the lineup.
Plum has been ruled out of the Mercury's matchup against the Sparks on Tuesday with left lower leg tightness that limited her to 14 minutes in the Mercury's 95-75 loss to the Washington Mystics on Sunday, Aug. 9.
With 9:19 remaining in the second quarter, Plum went down near half court after Mystics guard Georgia Amoore pushed Mercury guard Sami Whitcomb into Plum, resulting in a foul on Amoore. Plum got up under her own power and returned to the game before being shut down in the second half with left calf tightness.
"We wanted to be safe," Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts said. "We'll just see the next couple days how it looks."

#plum

WINCHESTER - The flagstick barely visible in the fading light, Matthew Naumec knew exactly where to place his shot.
Facing an uphill approach to an invisible green, Naumec hit long and spun the ball back toward the target. The reaction of the small gallery at the top of the hill was all he needed to hear: get in the hole! ... ooooohhhh.
Facing a shot about the length of his putter, Naumec concluded a long day at the 118th Mass Amateur Wednesday with a birdie on the fourth playoff hole to defeat fellow Framingham Country Club member Kyle Tibbetts in the Round of 32. The clincher happened at 8:11 p.m., 12 minutes before the official sunset to finish an even longer day for Tibbetts, who teed off at 8:28 a.m. to start his weather-delayed second round that also included a playoff.
Tibbetts played 43 holes Wednesday and got his steps in for the week. His caddie's Apple watch read 13.2 miles on the third playoff hole in the match against Naumec.
"So he walked a half marathon today," Naumec said.

TORONTO (AP) — Kahleah Copper scored 27 points, Valeriane Ayayi had a career-high 20 and the Phoenix Mercury beat the Toronto Tempo 89-80 on Saturday in a game in which both teams were without a top player.
Phoenix played without Alyssa Thomas, who was suspended one game by the WNBA for “recklessly making contact with her fist to the throat area” of Indiana’s Caitlin Clark in the Mercury’s 111-109 victory on Wednesday.
Toronto’s Marina Mabrey was a late scratch due to neck spasms, one game after tying the league record with 53 points in a 125-97 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks.
DeWanna Bonner finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and three steals. Copper made two free throws and Bonner followed a 3-pointer to put Phoenix (7-13) up 78-73 with 4:07 remaining.
Bonner drilled another 3 for an 83-77 advantage and then missed from distance. However, Copper grabbed the rebound and scored for an 85-80 lead with 51 seconds left. Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts won a challenge that reversed a foul on the Mercury nine seconds later to help preserve the victory.

Prior to the Phoenix Mercury's matchup with the Toronto Tempo on Saturday, head coach Nate Tibbetts complained about forward Alyssa Thomas being suspended for the game after being issued a flagrant foul for “recklessly making contact” with Caitlin Clark.
“People in this league know who AT is. She's a competitor. She's a winner,” Tibbetts said, via SportsNet’s Zulfi Sheikh. “The one thing, she is not is cheap.”
“This was not a thorough investigation, in my opinion,” he added. “The people involved were not questioned at all, it's extremely disappointing. No one from the league called AT, our security team, or myself about what we felt like happened in this situation.”
During the second quarter of Wednesday’s 111-109 loss to the Indiana Fever, Clark went to the floor in pursuit of a loose ball. Thomas went to a knee beside her, then pushed down on Clark’s throat with her fist as she stood up.
Thomas was not called for a foul, let alone issued a flagrant foul, at the time and continued to play in the game. Meanwhile, Clark left the game in the second half with a back injury and is not playing in Indiana’s game on Saturday versus the Los Angeles Sparks.

We get it, coaches have to stick up for their players, but Phoenix Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts went next level when trying to defend Alyssa Thomas for the cheap shots she hit Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark with earlier this week.
The cheap shots occurred on Wednesday night. It was clear as day based on video evidence that Thomas kneed Clark in the groin area and put her fist in Clark’s throat.
The dirty actions from Thomas, which certainly weren’t her first in the WNBA, garnered the Mercury star a one-game suspension, which she served on Saturday.
Fever head coach Stephanie White accused Thomas of taking cheap shots on Clark after the game, something Tibbets took issue with.
“I respect [White] as a coach and a person, and I understand her sticking up for Caitlin in this situation. But to say that we had two cheap shots in that game, to me, is ridiculous,” Tibbetts said. “Steph knows [Alyssa Thomas], she got the opportunity to coach AT for two years, and she knows what AT stands for and what she’s about.”

The Phoenix Mercury are playing without six-time All-Star forward Alyssa Thomas on Saturday after she was given a one-game suspension by the WNBA following an incident with Indiana Fever All-Star guard Caitlin Clark.
During Wednesday night’s game between the two teams — in which the Mercury won 111-109 — Thomas landed on Clark, pushed her fist into Clark’s throat, then stepped over her. No foul was called during the play, but the WNBA said Thomas "recklessly" made contact with Clark and "committed a non-basketball act” in its statement about the suspension on Thursday.
Ahead of the Mercury’s game against the Toronto Tempo on Saturday, Phoenix head coach Nate Tibbetts spoke about the suspension for the first time. He defended Thomas and blasted the WNBA’s process, while also throwing a bit of shade toward Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White.
“The people in this league know who AT is. She's a competitor, she's a winner and she's tough. The one thing she is not is cheap,” Tibbetts said. “To say that we had two cheap shots in that game, to me, is ridiculous. Steph knows AT, she got the opportunity to coach AT for two years, and she knows what AT stands for and what she's about.”
White coached Thomas for two seasons with the Connecticut Sun. They both left the organization ahead of the 2025 season, with White taking the Fever job and Thomas landing in Phoenix via trade. In her postgame press conference after the Fever's loss to the Mercury, White characterized the incident between Thomas and Clark as a "cheap shot" and later called it "disrespectful" and "crazy."

The Phoenix Mercury desperately wanted to return to the same form that allowed them to rout the Las Vegas Aces in the 2026 season opener.
And at times, the Mercury looked like that dominant team. The Mercury had stretches where they controlled the pace of the game and defended well.
But once the turnovers piled up in the second half and the Aces scored 16 points off the Mercury’s mistakes, Phoenix fell 86-76 at Mortgage Matchup Center on June 17.
“Against good teams, you can’t have bad three- or four-minute stretches,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said. “At the end of the third, the last four or five minutes, we really struggled to score, and that makes it tough. It puts more pressure on your defense and it’s a possession game.”
The Mercury (4-12) dropped their fourth straight and sit second-to-last in the Western Conference standings. Kahleah Copper led with 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting.