{"id":615592,"date":"2026-04-20T01:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T01:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/615592\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T01:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T01:48:09","slug":"nate-tibbetts-details-plan-for-mercurys-return-to-wnba-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/615592\/","title":{"rendered":"Nate Tibbetts details plan for Mercury&#8217;s return to WNBA Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How Will The Wings Use the No. 1 Pick?Dallas snagged the top pick\u2014now the real decisions begin. Zena, Ben, and Sabreena kick things off with the New York Liberty\u2019s set to hire Chris DeMarco as their next head coach, unpacking what it means and the ripple effect it could have on coaching diversity across the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Then they break down one of the season\u2019s best showdowns: UConn vs. Michigan. From there, it\u2019s all WNBA Draft talk\u2014how the lottery works, the top prospects to watch, and the delicate balance between filling immediate needs and betting on long-term upside.<\/p>\n<p>And to close it out, a Thanksgiving twist: pairing our favorite holiday dishes with the players whose games match them best.<\/p>\n<p>No Offseason is a part of The Athletic Podcast Network: https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/<\/p>\n<p>00:00 Intro<br \/>\n00:46 Chris DeMarco is set to be named head coach of the New York Liberty<br \/>\n04:45 What\u2019s needed to ensure Chris DeMarco is the right fit for the Liberty?<br \/>\n08:43 The interesting thing about Chris DeMarco joining the Liberty<br \/>\n12:01 Why might Black women be underrepresented in head coaching jobs?<br \/>\n21:30 The Ben\u2019s Balance<br \/>\n22:12 UConn edges Michigan 72-69<br \/>\n28:57 How do the WNBA lottery odds work?<br \/>\n30:34 An overview of the remaining WNBA draft order<br \/>\n32:17 Sabreena\u2019s Top 5 WNBA draft picks<br \/>\n35:44 How can teams best navigate the draft?<br \/>\n42:59 Which pick could land Lauren Betts?<br \/>\n48:45 Which pick could land Azzi Fudd<br \/>\n52:45 Where might Flau\u2019jae Johnson be selected in the draft?<br \/>\n55:09 Could Olivia Miles go first overall?<br \/>\n01:00:00 Which player could make a surprise jump on draft night?<\/p>\n<p>Related links and articles:<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6827020\/2025\/11\/21\/new-york-liberty-warriors-chris-demarco-wnba\/ by Sabreena Merchant<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6827978\/2025\/11\/21\/uconn-michigan-womens-basketball\/ by Ben Pickman<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6831951\/2025\/11\/23\/wnba-draft-lottery-dallas-wings-win-no-1-pick\/ by Ben Pickman<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6832126\/2025\/11\/24\/wnba-mock-draft-2026-dallas-wings\/ by Sabreena Merchant <\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6832318\/2025\/11\/24\/womens-college-b%E2%80%A6ankings-michigan\/ by Ben Pickman<\/p>\n<p>Follow and listen to the audio podcast: https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/gb\/podcast\/no-offseason-the-athletic-womens-basketball-show\/id1699815468<\/p>\n<p>Get in touch! Leave a comment wherever you\u2019re listening, or email us at NoOffseason@TheAthletic.com<\/p>\n<p>Show Links:<br \/>\n-YouTube:  @No-Offseason<br \/>\n-Instagram: @tanooffseason [https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tanooffseason]<br \/>\n-TikTok: @no_offseason [https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@no_offseason]<\/p>\n<p>Credits:<br \/>\n-Zena on BlueSky: @zenakeita<br \/>\n-Ben on BlueSky: @benpickman<br \/>\n-Sabreena on BlueSky: @sabreenajm<br \/>\n-Chantel on BlueSky: @chanteljennings<br \/>\n-Produced by Taneka Burrell<br \/>\n-Executive Produced by Andrea B. Scott and Cassius Flemming<\/p>\n<p>Thumbnail: Thumbnail: Borja B. Hojas, Joe Buglewicz via Getty Images <\/p>\n<p>Visit the Yahoo Women&#8217;s Sports Hub: https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/womens-sports\/?guccounter=1<\/p>\n<p>Full Episodes Playlist: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PL5UWQzuMYdm7txmok7cpMB3YlgkwrT2E0<\/p>\n<p>Shorts Playlist: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PL5UWQzuMYdm72uhBjsd24rsh5teZtgUpS<\/p>\n<p>Now PlayingPausedAd Playing<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How Will The Wings Use the No. 1 Pick?Dallas snagged the top pick\u2014now the real decisions begin. Zena,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,32561,3461,82,630,15457],"class_list":["post-615592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nate-tibbetts","tag-phoenix-mercury","tag-sports","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-finals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}