Former MVP and Leader of the Women’s National Basketball Association of the United States and Canada (WNBA) Tina Charles has signed with Phoenix Mercury. The best basketball player in the United States for 2012 and eight-time participant in the All-Star Game finished last year with an average of 23.4 points for the Washington Mystics. In addition, she set a personal record in her career with a 36.5% success rate from the zone for three points.
“Tina is one of the greatest talents in basketball and a transfer of this caliber shows our intention to make the fans happy. She wants to win and she wants to do it in Phoenix. Tina is a top talent and we have the most dominant basketball player Brittney Griner and best defender Brianna Turner. We can now spare them in the regular season and that will help us in the playoffs,” said team general manager Jim Pitman.
The 33-year-old Tina Charles averaged 18.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in 357 games for the Connecticut Sun, New York Liberty, and the Washington Mystics. She is the leading scorer of the WNBA for 2016 and 2021, as well as a four-time leader in wrestling in the period 2010-2012 and 2016.
Tina Charles was drafted first overall in the 2010 WNBA draft by the Connecticut Sun. In 2009 and 2010, she and teammate Maya Moore led the Connecticut Huskies to two undefeated national championships. She has won three Olympic gold medals with Team USA.
