Mack Is Back!
How Natasha Mack returned to the WNBA and stepped up in Brittney Griner's absence
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On June 7, Brittney Griner made her much-anticipated return to the Phoenix Mercury lineup after missing the first 10 games of the season with a foot injury. The return of a major star is always a lift to a team, and Phoenix more than any other team relies on its stars because five of its 11 roster spots belong to players on rookie minimum contracts. However, serious plaudits should be awarded to one of those rookie minimum players who stepped into the starting center role in Griner’s absence: Natasha Mack
Entering the season, Mack only had four games of WNBA experience. She had been considered a top-10 prospect in the 2021 WNBA draft by our team and by the national consensus based on the strength of her defensive reputation in her two years at Oklahoma State. The WBCA Defensive Player of the Year in her senior season, she averaged 2.0 steals and 4.0 blocks per game while still recording 19.8 points per game on the offensive end. However, Mack slid to pick No. 16, where the Chicago Sky selected her but ultimately chose not to keep her on the opening day roster. Over the course of the regular season, Mack would sign three short-lived contracts with the Sky and one with the Minnesota Lynx, playing a cumulative total of four games. In 2022, the Lynx invited Mack to training camp but waived her before it began, presumably in order to conform to roster restrictions, and then no team invited her in 2023.
In the meantime, Mack plied her way overseas. She spent her first two seasons in Poland with Polski Cukier AZS UMCS Lublin, spearheading its first Polish league championship in 2022-23. However, she did not continue with the team in its first appearance in EuroLeague Women this past season, opting instead to go to Turkey and play for Botasspor Adana where she was teammates with current Sky point guard Lindsay Allen. All the while, she continued to put up massive defensive numbers, averaging at least 1.4 steals and 1.9 blocks per game in every competition and in every year she played. She also acquired Montenegrin nationality and represented the Balkan nation at FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2023, pacing the team with 13.8 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game and leading it to a top-8 finish.
This year, she found herself with an opportunity on a Phoenix Mercury team that had devoted functionally all of its cap room to six players: Kahleah Copper, Diana Taurasi, Natasha Cloud, Rebecca Allen, Sophie Cunningham, and the aforementioned Griner. This left plenty of opportunities for players without much WNBA experience to prove themselves in the rotation. Mack was one of the players brought in to try to provide depth to the roster, and Griner’s foot injury pushed her into the starting lineup for the team’s second preseason game.
Mack’s game has always begun at the defensive end. Her length, quickness, and awareness all come together to protect the rim and make plays for her team. Rotating over from the weakside, something which requires all of these traits, has always been one of Mack’s biggest strengths.
In this zone defense possession, Mack garners this impressive stuff and board without surrendering space for two-time MVP A’ja Wilson to get open in the post.
Mack can hold her own down low, including against much bigger centers. Here, she stands strong against 6-foot-7 Teaira McCowan on a straight post-up and blocks her shot out of bounds.
Another part of defending the post is preventing shots from happening in the first place, and Mack is adept at using her quick hands to intercept entry passes…
…and to poke the ball away for steals.
Mack also defends ably in the pick-and-roll. Here, Dearica Hamby rolls wide after slipping the screen, and the play turns into a face-up situation. Mack stands her ground and contests well when Hamby attempts a layup.
She can also block shots from the pick-and-roll ballhandler, as she does here denying Victoria Vivians.
Where Mack has absolutely excelled offensively is as a passer, especially making quick decisions while rolling to the basket. Opposing defenses have routinely sent two to the ball when guarding Phoenix in pick-and-roll, and Mack has just as routinely been able to catch the ball and spray the ball back out to shooters quickly and astutely.
Even when her teammate is not quite in a conventional spot on the perimeter, Mack can still deliver the ball in a flash.
And when her teammates can attack closeouts, as Mikiah Herbert Harrigan does here, it makes Mack’s passing all the more valuable. Note also how this short roll assist came from a side pick-and-roll rather than one set in the middle of the floor, emphasizing Mack’s versatility.
This skill is particularly important for the Phoenix offense given coach Nate Tibbetts’s much-noted desire to shoot lots and lots of threes, consistently playing 4-out basketball and loading both forward positions with shooters.
Earlier in the season in particular, Mack received opportunities to make plays out of the post. Here, she reads the double team and slings the ball to Allen in the corner.
Getting the ball in the mid-post here and finding Cloud cutting off her in the first half of her first game was one of the standout plays that proved that Mack belonged on a WNBA court.
She has also been used in a number of hand-off actions, including dribble hand-offs. This play is particularly impressive as she still picks out the pass even as Taurasi reads the overplay from Alysha Clark and cuts the other direction.
Mack never put up gaudy assist numbers in college or overseas, but she has always recorded minuscule turnover rates given her role in the offense, notably ranking in the 100th and 99th percentiles in turnover percentage in her two years in Stillwater. In her last two professional seasons, she also posted assist to turnover ratios above 1 in each competition despite being relied upon as a scorer more than she has been in the WNBA.
Mack may not be the most natural scorer, but she can take advantage of certain openings, particularly out of the pick-and-roll. Here, she not only makes the layup but does so through contact, earning an and-1.
Mack is also more than serviceable as an offensive rebounder. This play demonstrates her ability to find an angle and her dexterity to get to the other side of the rim and beat the shot clock buzzer for a quick putback.
Naturally, Mack also constantly seeks opportunities to make an impact as a passer after grabbing those offensive boards, generally by kicking the ball out to shooters.
It is worth noting that Mack maintains one of the lowest usage rates in the entire league, and she is not a self-creator at the WNBA level in any sense of the word. However, her aptitude as a passer and rebounder still provides her plenty of opportunities to contribute to the offense, especially one designed like the Mercury’s.
In her 10 games as a starter, Mack averaged 4.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 2.1 blocks per game while maintaining an incredible 4.40 assist-to-turnover ratio. Over the course of an entire season, no player in WNBA history has ever averaged that many assists and blocks while having an assist-to-turnover ratio even over 2. If you drop the assist and block requirements for the query to 1.5 per game, two names appear: Breanna Stewart and Candace Parker. Furthermore, Mack accomplished this while only playing 22.5 minutes per game. While she will not be able to maintain that amount of playing time with Griner back in the lineup, these numbers still stand as an impressive testament to her overall ability.
Mack’s limitations may prevent her from ever being a first-choice starter in the WNBA, but she has clearly shown her worth as an imposing defensive anchor with specific offensive strengths, and she has cemented herself as an unambiguous WNBA rotation player. She should continue to receive minutes throughout the season and into a prospective Mercury playoff run and has proven that she can fill in as a starter if Griner misses any more games.
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also buy Her Hoop Stats gear, such as laptop stickers, mugs, and shirts! Haven’t subscribed to the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter yet?