Phoenix Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts has heard enough from the ongoing discourse surrounding the WNBA.
“It really pisses me off,” Tibbetts said at practice on Saturday, Aug. 15. “It’s disappointing. This is a great league, we’ve got great players with great stories, great rookies, great teams.”
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He called for a change.
“We’ve just spent so much time talking about the wrong stuff, and I don’t know why that happens in our league, it’s disappointing,” Tibbetts added. “I don’t know who can help change the narrative. Is it the coaches or the players or the media?”
Former Mercury guard and current Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham sparked a debate when she talked about “protecting women’s sports” through clear gender policies in an ESPN profile on July 21.
Since then, rallies and counterprotests have been held at the Fever’s road games. The WNBA even held a special meeting that discussed transgender participation with all 15 team representatives on Aug. 12.
Tibbetts said he’s reached out to Fever head coach Stephanie White, who was recently booed by Indiana’s fans. After Chicago Sky guard DiJonai Carrington fouled Cunningham on Aug. 8, and was ejected, some Fever fans felt White didn’t adequately defend Cunningham, with Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith calling for White to be fired.
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“I love our media, we make it about basketball, but some of the things that Steph has to go through, that’s wrong,” Tibbetts said. “There’s no other coach in any professional sport that has to go through the stuff that she does. I think of her a lot. It’s not fair. She’s hired to coach basketball, and they’ve got a great team, and they’re dealing with stuff that doesn’t really matter. That stuff pisses me off and it’s unfortunate.”
Tibbetts, who coached 12 years in the NBA as an assistant, believes that the WNBA is the only professional league that deals with non-basketball issues becoming more prevalent than the product itself.
He also said that if certain players want to speak on political or social issues, they can, but players shouldn’t be required to talk about non-basketball issues if they don’t want to.
“There are outside sources that are trying to create division and, at times, it’s not a lot of fun,” Tibbetts said. “It’s not a lot of fun for players, it’s not a lot of fun for coaches and the organization. We are doing great things. It feels like there are things that we have to deal with and certain coaches in our league have to deal with on a night-to-night level and that’s (expletive). I feel sorry for those coaches.”
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He pointed out the Las Vegas Aces‘ dynasty over the last four years and the league’s growing attendance and viewership numbers as some of the things being overlooked by the national dialogue. Per Nielsen, fans have consumed 3.8 billion minutes of the 2026 WNBA season, which is on pace to break 2025’s mark as the most-watched season.
“This should be an exciting time, and right now, it’s not all the time,” Tibbetts said. “That’s sad to me.”
Reach the reporter or send tips for stories at jenna.ortiz@arizonarepublic.com, as well as @jennarortiz on X.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Mercury’s Nate Tibbetts defends Fever coach, decries controversies around WNBA
