Mercury signs former WNBA MVP Tina Charles

Eight-time All-Star Tina Charles joins Phoenix Mercury after a productive season with Washington Mystics.

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE: Tina Charles averages 18.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in 357 career games with the Connecticut Sun, New York Liberty and Mystics.

Former WNBA Most Valuable Player Tina Charles signed with the Phoenix Mercury on Friday.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed by the team for Charles, who led the league in scoring last season with Washington Mystics. The 2012 WNBA MVP and eight-time All-Star center averaged a career-best 23.4 points per game in 2021 and made a personal-best 36.5 percent of her 3-point attempts.

“Tina is an elite talent in our league and adding a player of her calibre is another example of our commitment to our fans and players to pursue a championship every year,” Mercury general manager Jim Pitman said. “Tina has made it clear that she wants to win and wants to do so in Phoenix.

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“For us, this move is about adding absolute top-end talent into our front court which already features what we consider the most dominant player in the game in (Brittney Griner) and the league’s best defender in Brianna Turner. We expect to be able to play all three fewer minutes which should benefit us in the playoffs.”

Charles, 33, is averaging 18.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in 357 career games with the Connecticut Sun, New York Liberty and Mystics. She led the league in scoring on two occasions (2016, 2021) and rebounds four times (2010-12, 2016).