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July 16, 2025 8 mins

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Nikki Blue, former interim head coach of the Phoenix Mercury, is suing the organization over alleged pay disparities and claims she was set up to fail with her roster. The lawsuit highlights complex discussions around race, gender, and compensation in WNBA coaching positions, though Blue's claims face scrutiny given team performance metrics.

• Detailed explanation of interim head coach roles in professional basketball
• Examination of pay differences between Blue ($250,000 for half-season) versus Vanessa Nygaard ($375,000 for full season)
• Analysis of current Mercury success under new head coach Nate Tibbitt with NBA coaching experience
• Comparison of 2023 Phoenix Mercury roster to Seattle Storm showing potential team performance issues
• Discussion of optics surrounding transitions between coaches of different racial backgrounds
• Consideration of how Mercury's current success might impact public perception of the lawsuit

Like, subscribe, and comment your thoughts on the Phoenix Mercury being sued by Nikki Blue. Check out the WNBA's page as well as mine, and let me know if you think she has a legitimate case.


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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up everybody?
It's your favorite show'sfavorite show Get a Bucket.
I'm your host, trey, and asusual, I hope you're all having
a wonderful, wonderful day.
Today we're going to talk about, well, wnba coaching changes
and drama, but before we do that, please make sure to hit that
like and subscribe button.
Comment, tell anyone who'sanyone about the show, trying to
get the ratings up a little bit, you know, just a little bit.

(00:20):
Like I said, we're going to talkabout wmba coaching changes and
a little drama because, well,there's been some exciting
things that's been happening inthe wmba.
I gotta say that now it sparkedoff with the phoenix mercury,
hence the jersey.
You know I'm saying shout outdt, love you, baby, you know I
mean.
Um, she's not on the team, nomore.
She definitely retired, forthose y'all who aren't aware.

(00:42):
But, uh, what happened wasthere was a former interim head
coach who has a gripe right nowwith the Mercury, okay, and so
we're going to talk about thatstory as well as what an interim
head coach is, because some ofy'all might be wondering what
that is.
So, with that being said, let'slook at it like this right, a
head coach is the person who'srunning shop.

(01:03):
They're running the team froman x's and o's standpoint, at
least in theory.
Right, the interim head coachis when the head coach has been
deemed that they can't do theirjob no more.
That's why they got the boot.
And then the interim head coachis basically the assistant head
coach.
So it's like a sub, like athink about it, like school.
You know, I'm saying you got ateacher and then a substitute
teacher, just that thatsubstitute teacher has a little

(01:25):
bit more permanent basis ontheir resume, at least for the.
You got to mess up badly ifyou're an interim head coach to
lose your job during the season.
Still, you just got to be ass.
I'm telling you right now.
I'm sorry.
So what happened here, ladiesand gentlemen?
And let's go ahead and pull itup to the screen.
We have here which one was it?

(01:46):
Here we go.
So we have Nikki Blue, who ishaving a gripe with the Phoenix
Mercury, right, and her.
Her gripe is this she wasn'tmaking enough, like she was
saying she didn't make as muchas vanessa nygaard, and she also
stated that you know, theroster um was set up to fail,

(02:10):
all right.
Well, let's look at this, uh,nikki, because, keep in mind,
we're making it seem like it's aracial standpoint, and you know
we got to, we got to be carefulabout that.
So here is the.
Here is the former head coach,vanessa Nygaard, right.
And here is the current headcoach, nate Tibbitt.
Now, nate, as y'all can see,coached for the Magic, so he's

(02:33):
had some NBA time, right?
Hence why the Phoenix Mercurydecided to bring him in.
So for me, ladies and gentlemen,I get why the pay disparity is
a little bit different.
Now, we're talking about thisfrom a racial standpoint.
We can talk about this from agender standpoint, right.
Men and women, black, white.
I get it wholeheartedly, Igenuinely do.

(02:53):
Money-wise, though, nikki, youwere getting $250,000 for half
the season.
Vanessa got $375,000 for a fullseason, fired midway during the

(03:14):
season, right.
So that means like half of herpaycheck, half of Vanessa's
paycheck, is $187,000.
$187.5 thousand dollars, to beexact.
So, like Nikki, you gettingmore than Vanessa.

(03:35):
Then we talking about Nate allright, cool.
Well, let me let's call a spadea spade, all right.
Nate was able to finesse hisNBA pedigree to get the job done
, and I mean, I mean, it's noslight that you know what I'm
saying.
Look, this is where they look.

(03:56):
This is where the PhoenixMercury are right now, number
two in the league I can't beupset with Nate, so your
argument does not look the bestright now.
We can talk about okay, yourroster was set up to fail and
this is about the 2023 season.

(04:16):
To be to be clear, ladies andgentlemen, okay, this is the
2023 season, so let you knowwhat.
Let's let's pull the plug backup to Nikki, right, nikki?
If we did compare your rosterto the 2023 storm roster, y'all
should have outplayed them.
In my personal opinion, I don'tthink your roster was as bad as

(04:36):
you're claiming it to be now.
You could have said hey, maybey'all could have used a couple
more tweaks.
I hear you.
I personally thought y'allshould have outplayed the storm
in 2023.
So, again, I I can't say y'allwere, you were put in a bad spot
.
Now we have had situations,ladies and gentlemen, where

(04:59):
we've seen players or coachesget fired and then the interim
head coach retained a job.
It's not as easy peasy to toretain your job, though I will
say that as an interim headcoach.
So, nikki, I do get it, I doget the gripe, but this is not
an Ime, udoka and Joe Mazzullasituation.

(05:21):
All right Now, with Ime, he didat least take his team to the
finals.
He had some cachets, so that'snot what you were doing.
But also, you had a differentsquad and again, joe reaped the
benefits of Emae's success.
You did not have that, nikki.
So I do hear you on you feeling,though you were not set up for

(05:42):
success and, to be honest withyou a lot of times, if you're an
interim head coach, you're notgoing to be set up for success a
lot of times, because, guesswhat?
The coach got fired more thanlikely.
Now there's a possibility whereyou know what?
Buddy might have got injured,and then you get replaced and
then you have some success.
That might happen from time totime, but very rarely does that

(06:05):
happen.
It's more so when a person gotfired.
Now again, nicky, you could verywell join another squad and
become a head coach, and now youcould rival up against the
Mercury.
Like there are a couple of newteams coming up in the WNBA that
could use a head coach.
Let's see if you could actuallycoach them.

(06:25):
Then that's a fair shot.
Get you there for a coupleseasons and see what the team is
looking like, because we seewhat the Valkyries are looking
like right now.
So I think that would's a fairshot.
Get you there for a coupleseasons and see what the team is
looking like, because we seewhat the Valkyries are looking
like right now.
So I think that would be a fairshot for you.
Or maybe go coach the Sunsomewhere.
But I can't say, nicky, thatyou weren't given a fair shot
because again, you did notoutplay the storm and I thought

(06:45):
you could have in 2023.
Your paycheck ain't that bad, soI'm going to keep it a buck
with you, especially for halfthe season.
That ain't bad, nikki, that'snot bad.
But I do hear you on the gripe,especially because the optics
right.
You got the current head coachin Nate Tibbitt.
You know what I'm saying.
You have Vanessa Nygaard, I dohear you.

(07:09):
I do hear you on the opticsbecause there is a difference
skin complexion wise.
I just don't know how much thatfactored in this go-round, but
I mean, I'm waiting to see howit all unfolds too, because
again she is suing the phoenixmercury.
So we'll wait to see how thatplays out.

(07:29):
But I am definitely, I amdefinitely curious how this one
unfolds, ladies and gentlemen,but just optics wise is not the
best.
Look for nikki.
Again, the mercury are doingquite well.
Especially what if the mercurywin this year too?
I wonder if this starts to getpushed down like I wonder if the
mercury starting to bury thisor try to bury this story.
I wonder if this story getsburied because of the, because
of the success of the phoenixmercury.

(07:50):
That's what I'll be payingattention to personally.
Also how much credibility thisstory actually has too, because
you can't, let's not, get intothat.
But again though, ladies andgentlemen, I am definitely
curious about this story.
I'm curious what y'all arethinking about it.
I don't know if y'all even knewabout it, but hey, let me know
your thoughts.
But, ladies and gentlemen, Ithink that does about conclude

(08:12):
the end of this episode.
So I greatly appreciate yourtime, effort and energy.
Well, I guess my effort, welly'all effort too, for listening
right now I'm pretty sure Iappreciate y'all for listening.
But that's the end of theepisode.
So definitely make sure y'allcomment your thoughts on what
you think about the phoenixmercury being sued by nikki blue
, the former head or the formerinterim head coach.
I guess you could still callher head coach, right, but then

(08:32):
also, does she have anycredibility?
Look into that and let me knowyour thoughts.
So please make sure to like,subscribe and and comment on the
WNBA's page as well as myself.
But my name is Trey.
I'm the host of Get A Bucket.
Hope you all are having a goodone, take care.
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