The departure of some very familiar faces means the Phoenix Mercury will look a lot different this season.

Catch up quick: The Mercury lost four of their five starters from last year, most notably Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner.

• Taurasi retired after a 20-year WNBA career — all in Phoenix — that included three championships (2007, 2009, 2014), two Finals MVPs (2009, 2014) and one league MVP (2009).
• Griner, a nine-time All-Star, signed with the Atlanta Dream as a free agent after spending the first 11 seasons of her career with the Mercury.

1 big star: The sole remaining member of last year's starting lineup is guard/forward Kahleah Copper, the Mercury's leading scorer in 2024, her first season in Phoenix.

• Copper, a former Finals MVP, is "one of the most versatile and exciting players in the game right now" and "one of the league's most prolific scorers," Athlon Sports writes.
• "I think you're really going to see her spread her wings," second-year head coach Nate Tibbetts told the Arizona Republic.

Zoom in: Adding depth to the new-look Mercury is a blockbuster, four-team trade last year that dealt Rebecca Allen, Natasha Cloud and Sophie Cunningham for All-Star forwards Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally.

• Versatility will likely be the Mercury's biggest strength, per ESPN — Thomas is a "point forward" whose game is strong on both ends of the floor, Sabally is a "unicorn" who can play multiple positions and has a unique offensive skill set, and Copper provides "speed, athleticism and ability to score."

Yes, but: Experience is a big question mark, at least outside the team's new big three.

• Guard Sevgi Uzun is the only other player to have averaged more than 16 minutes per game last season, per Sports Illustrated.
• And ESPN writes that Copper and Sami Whitcomb are the only guards with overone year of WNBA experience.

What we're watching: The WNBA season opens today, and the Mercury play their first game tomorrow when they host the Seattle Storm.

Share with a Mercury fan

If you're looking for a good spot to watch the Phoenix Mercury this season, the Valley's first sports bar focused on women's athletics might be right up your alley.

State of play: Title 9 Sports Grill opened in March in the space previously occupied by Short Leash Hot Dogs in the Melrose District.

• The bar was opened by Audrey Corley, owner of Boycott Bar and Dahlia Tapas, Tequila and Wine, and Kat Moore, who owned Short Leash with her husband, Brad.
• Corley, who played and coached basketball at Phoenix College, had thought about opening a women-focused sports bar for at least three years and was looking at potential locations. The perfect opportunity came along when Kat and Brad Moore reached out, she told Axios.

Zoom in: Corley said Title 9 is off to a good start.

• The bar opened on the eve of the NCAA women's basketball tournament, and did great business during the Final Four and championship.

Check it out

The Legislature took the week off to work on the budget, but Gov. Katie Hobbs' signing pen and veto stamp still got a workout.

The intrigue: Hobbs is closing in on Arizona's single-session veto record, which she set in 2023 with 143 bills.

• She's vetoed 137 this year, 48 this week.

Among this week's vetoes:

🏨 Mandate that hotels post signs to inform guests if they house people experiencing homelessness.

🏥 Force hospitals to ask patients about their immigration status and citizenship.

Hobbs also signed plenty of legislation this week, including bills to:

🚨 Create missing persons' alerts for Native Americans in response to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis.

• The measure is known as Emily's Law, named after Emily Pike, a 14-year-old San Carlos Apache girl found murdered in February after leaving a Mesa group home the month before.

💻 Require pornography websites to verify users are at least 18. Parents whose minor children access websites and people whose identifying information is retained or transmitted by an entity that performs age verification can seek civil penalties in court.

More legislative action

🏫 Mismanagement of federal dollars caused the Isaac School District's financial crisis despite years of warning signs, per a report summary from a state-appointed receiver. (12 News)

🚘 The Phoenix City Council will consider a citizen petition to end or reverse "suicide lanes" on 7th Avenue and 7th Street. (AZcentral)

⛰ A marker informing hikers they've reached the summit of Piestewa Peak was stolen. (Arizona's Family)

🏈 The Arizona Cardinals released their schedule for the 2025 season. (ESPN)

Welcome to another edition of "Where in the Valley?"

How it works: We show you something cool. You tell us where it is.

• The first reader who names the spot gets a shout-out in the newsletter.

You tell us: Where in the Valley can you find this artwork?

Catch up quick: Congratulations to Jim Mitchell, the first reader to give us the correct location of last week's "Where in the Valley?" photo.

• The mural is at 16th Street and McDowell Road.
• And thanks to reader Jessica Daley, who informed us the mural is titled "Cultivating Unity" and was painted by Edgar Fernandez and Jeff Slim.