{"id":550287,"date":"2026-03-28T11:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T11:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/550287\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T11:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T11:06:09","slug":"mercurys-exceptional-players-wear-no-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/550287\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercury&#8217;s Exceptional Players Wear No. 13"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"4k\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/wnba\/mercury\/former-phoenix-player-niele-ivey-leads-team-to-sweet-16\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Phoenix Mercury<\/a> have had four players wear No. 13, and this number is special. It made its debut in 1998, as one of the team&#8217;s draft picks wore it. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"4n\">Brandy Reed was the Mercury&#8217;s third-round pick, and she averaged 5.2 points and 3.3 rebounds in her first season. She played 24 games, and came off the bench in all of them. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/01kmsebn97bb6ejaz8zp.jpg\" alt=\"WNBA\" title=\"WNBA\" width=\"4504\" height=\"2533\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"4x\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Aug 23, 2022; Brooklyn, New York, USA; A detail view of a basketball on the court prior to game three of the first round between the New York Liberty and the Chicago Sky at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"51\">In 1999, she played for the Minnesota Lynx, as she was involved in an expansion draft. She had a strong season with the Lynx, as she averaged 16.1 points, six rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.2 steals. Her role changed, as she played 25 games and started in 24. <\/p>\n<p>Reed returns, has impressive season<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"57\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wnba.com\/player\/100225\/brandy-reed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Reed returned to the Mercury<\/a>, as she was involved in a trade. She had an excellent season, and she became an All-Star. She had a different jersey number by that time, but when she started her career, she wore No. 13.  <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5a\">When it came to her career high, she had 32 points during her All-Star season. The Mercury picked up their second win of the season, as they beat the Houston Comets 80-62. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5d\">After that, Tonya Edwards wore it, and she played with the Mercury in 2000 and 2001. She started her career with the Lynx, and she had her career high during that time. She had 25 points against the Comets. Minnesota lost that game, but Edwards tried to help her team win. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/01kmsm2x0tb1dqbx2bz1.jpg\" alt=\"PHoenix Mercur\" title=\"PHoenix Mercur\" width=\"6000\" height=\"3375\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"5n\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Aug 30, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; A general view of the Footprint Center before the game between the New York Liberty and Phoenix Mercury at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Allan Henry-Imagn Images | Allan Henry-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5r\">Edwards had some nice seasons with the Mercury, and after her two seasons, another player wore No. 13. Oksana Zakaluzhnaya wore it in 2002, and while she started her career with the Detroit Shock, her last season was with the Mercury. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5u\">Zakaluzhnaya had her career high in her first season, as she had 15 points against the Utah Starzz. Detroit won that game, and her contribution off the bench helped out. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/01kmsm9brc1kvekxxppr.jpg\" alt=\"Penny Taylo\" title=\"Penny Taylo\" width=\"4132\" height=\"2324\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"64\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Aug 7, 2024; Paris, France; Former player Penny Taylor watches the game between the United States and Nigeria in the women\u2019s basketball quarterfinals during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Accor Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"68\">After Zakaluzhnaya wore the number, a special player wore it. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/wnba\/mercury\/phoenix-taylor-and-more-international-players-win-it-all\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Penny Taylor<\/a> joined the team in 2004, and she became a Mercury legend. She helped them win three championships, and after she called it a career, her number was retired. So, fans will not see another player in that number. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6b\">While Taylor had great games with the Mercury, she had her career high with the Cleveland Rockers. She had 33 points against the Mercury, and the Rockers won in a blowout. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6e\">All of these players accomplished great things in their careers, but when it comes to this number, Taylor is the first who comes to mind. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6h\">Please follow us on X to read more about all of the players who wore No. 13 in their time with the team when you click right <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MercuryOnSI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Phoenix Mercury have had four players wear No. 13, and this number is special. It made its&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-550287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}