PHOENIX — Nick U’Ren sits up as he dives into his story. His sheepish aura is gone.
“So we had gotten done with free agency,” he said, the excitement of this story visible in his stiffened posture, how his hands came alive as he talked.
“We traded for Alyssa Thomas. We traded for Satou Sabally. And I’m exhausted. I told our assistant general manager Fleur McIntyre and Preston Fawcett, he’s our director of player personnel, to ‘invite whoever you want to training camp.’ And they found Monique Akoa Makani — who never stepped foot in this country before she came to our training camp and steps into starting for a finals team — and Kat Westbeld. I wouldn’t have known who they were. They found them.”
He pointed to the other end of the court, watching the Mercury preparing for the WNBA Finals, identifying Fawcett in a white hoodie, then precisely pointed to McIntyre, sitting next to a player. It’s important to U’Ren their names are mentioned and their contributions understood. He wants the focus off him. So he dives into the brilliance of AT. He fawns over the immense talent of Sabally, the pedigree of Kahleah Copper, the heart of coach Nate Tibbetts. All of them veiled story pitches, anything to re-direct the spotlight.
But in doing so, U’Ren underscores the philosophy he employs and the fabric that has the Mercury, surprisingly, in the WNBA Finals. They’re still breathing, courtesy of the new seven-game format, a win from shifting the pressure of this series onto Las Vegas. But that Phoenix is here, in his second season, serves as proof of concept.
“He’s seen a lot of winning,” said Bob Myers, who as president of basketball operations of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors was U’Ren’s boss for five years. “He cares. He was very, very studious. How many people worked on a bench and in the front office? I think it’s kind of a rare combo. So it gives them a great understanding of an organization, how it operates. There’s an authenticity to him that makes him someone people want to follow. And he’s very humble. … It’s really been an awesome kind of validation of his process.”
Home will feel different this time for U’Ren. The arena will look the same, plastered in purple and orange, like it did when he was a diehard Suns fan as a kid. The X-Factor, the Mercury’s boisterous faithful, will bubble with a familiar raucousness, like it did when Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter had the city on tilt.
For U’Ren, the Tempe, Ariz., product and the pride of McClintock High, Wednesday marks a seminal moment. The chills may not last long, as the sense of honor is tempered by the anxiety of the Mercury’s 0-2 hole with one of the all-time greats on the other side for the Las Vegas Aces. But this is why he came home. This is why he gave up his seat in a glory franchise in Golden State, leaving the prestige and opportunity of the NBA. For a moment like this. Game 3 of the WNBA Finals, with his parents in the crowd, in the gym of his childhood, with a team he constructed. For the love of the Valley.
It took him only two years to put together a team, on the court and off, worthy of championship contention. But it took 20 years of development, of grinding, of faith, of soaking up every ounce of wisdom he could from his Hall of Fame senseis. They called him Boy Wonder in Golden State. It’s no wonder the boy from Phoenix has come up golden.
“He’s just so rock solid,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “His emotional IQ is off the charts. He’s really thoughtful and process-driven. He just does things the right way.”
The recruitment of Alyssa Thomas earlier this year came down to basketball philosophy.
Everything else about Phoenix, Thomas was on board. Mercury legend Jennifer Gillom was one of Thomas’ coaches in Connecticut, so she was well aware of the culture and the legacy of WNBA basketball in Phoenix. Thomas also played with USA Basketball, so she’d seen the fancy new practice digs.
But her primary concern was how she’d fit into the Mercury’s system and their vision for maximizing her talents. U’Ren hired Tibbetts in 2024, in part because of how Tibbetts saw the game. They knew each other from Tibbetts’ days in Portland, a common foe of the Warriors in the Western Conference. Tibbetts also interviewed for a job with the Warriors in 2018. But their philosophies overlap.
Skill over traditional size — with shooting, passing and length being premium traits. U’Ren and Tibbetts want size, but it matters positionally more than just throwing a big out there for the sake of having one. They cherish high-IQ basketball players who can make quick decisions, even while moving. Defensive pressure and intensity cover most ills and, especially important, fuel transition offense.
Oh, and of course, take advantage of the 3-pointer.
“Coming here, one of my very first meetings with Nate, he was like, ‘I need you to get some more up.’ And I don’t think a coach has ever told me that,” Copper said. “I played in the middy, shot a couple of 3s. It wasn’t really my role. But I always wanted to grow my game, and that was the first conversation I had with Nate. … It’s times on the sideline where he’s like, ‘Shoot it!’ And I’m like, ‘All right, bet.’”
U’Ren’s understanding of basketball begins with Kerr, who took a 51-win team in 2014, injected his philosophy of skill and motion into an offense led by Steph Curry, and won four championships. One of the key pieces of his offense was Draymond Green, the highly skilled, undersized big who doubles as a point-forward.
Yeah, they sold Thomas.
“I don’t think he gets enough credit for how he put this team together,” Thomas said of U’Ren.
“From Day 1, they made it clear what they were trying to build. Yeah, it was a match made in heaven for me.”
The construction of this team, and the success it’s endured so fast, is validation for U’Ren. How many people have a dream, get to learn from the best and get to put what they learned into action — and do it at home?
The journey to this point got legs back in 2014. U’Ren was in the weight room of the Suns training facility. As an intern for Phoenix, spending every waking hour in the facility, he was working out when he saw journalist David Aldridge on the screen and Kerr’s name in the headline.
U’Ren put down the dumbbells and affixed his attention to the television. That’s how he learned Kerr was taking the Warriors head coaching job. That’s how the journey began, at least in his mind.
Kerr was the general manager of the Suns when he hired U’Ren as an intern. Kerr was sifting through a stack of resumes, loaded with Ivy Leaguers, but chose U’Ren because he remembered his face and work ethic from the Las Vegas Summer League. Kerr left the Suns in 2010. He said wherever he landed for his next job, he’d hire U’Ren to join him. Four years later, U’Ren wasn’t sure how serious Kerr was or how it would work out. But that day in the weight room, he allowed himself to envision his career starting in earnest.
Kerr honored his word. Taking a cue from his agent at the time, NFL executive-turned-agent Mike Tannenbaum, Kerr knew the perfect job for U’Ren. Tannenbaum told Kerr how former NFL coach Bill Parcells wouldn’t hire a typical administrative assistant but filled that seat with another young football mind. So Kerr hired his former intern with front office aspirations as his “special assistant.”
U’Ren checked emails, answered phones and managed the head coach’s calendar. He also helped with advanced scouting, was in charge of the video room and warmed up Shaun Livingston and others before games.
In his nine-year tenure with Golden State, U’Ren elevated from special assistant on the coaching staff to assistant general manager in the front office. But the ethos that shapes him as a GM, that he’s infused into the Mercury, happened in his first season with Kerr. It informed the perspective he uses to shape the franchise.
After the Warriors lost Game 2 of the 2015 NBA Finals to Cleveland in Oakland, U’Ren was coordinating the film for the staff. He had an idea.
Instead of continuing to match the size of the Cavaliers, who were basically playing two centers in Timofey Mozgov and Tristan Thompson, U’Ren thought the Warriors should go small. Start small forward Andre Iguodala instead of center Andrew Bogut, from the outset, and see if the Cavaliers could keep up.
It wasn’t until the Warriors lost Game 3 that Luke Walton, a Golden State assistant at the time, decided to indulge U’Ren’s thinking. They had a film session, and Walton was on board. He took the idea to Kerr. The Warriors made the lineup change and won Game 4. Kerr told the media after the game the adjustment was U’Ren’s idea.
“He got all that press the next day,” Kerr said. “He was so embarrassed. All the stories were about how young he was. So we started calling him Boy Wonder.”
The Warriors stuck to the lineup and won Games 5 and 6, capturing their first of four championships under Kerr. Iguodala won Finals MVP, and U’Ren was etched into Warriors lore.
That story is important to him. Not because it was his idea. But because it embodies what he learned in his tenure with a dynasty and what he aimed to incorporate in his first time in the big chair.
“I mean this with my whole heart,” he said. “It’s easy for a kid like me to have an idea and throw it out there. But this story is about three things. One, Steve creating an environment where his, basically, secretary felt comfortable coming to the group with that idea. Two, Steve having the guts to do it on the biggest stage. That’s just nuts. And then, three, to shout me out like that. No one’s doing that. No one’s giving some kid credit, you know? That story is way more about Steve than me.”
The first recruitment of Sabally came in 2024, U’Ren’s first free agency as general manager. She was intrigued with Phoenix but wasn’t quite ready to make the change from the Dallas Wings, who drafted her No. 2 in 2020. She also wasn’t thrilled about playing for a first-time head coach. So she wanted to see how Tibbetts did in his first season.
But by 2025’s free agency period, she knew she wanted to leave. She also saw enough from Tibbetts. Most of all, Sabally was in pursuit of something more holistic — a coaching staff that would make her better, a franchise that wanted to win, and a work environment conducive to her mental flourishing.
“I wasn’t happy anymore,” she said. “And with basketball, you just need to have a certain happiness to really be able to perform on the highest level for so long. You need to be able to really come to work and enjoy it. … This was the perfect opportunity for me. It’s a family environment here.”
That’s the best thing U’Ren can hear. Because if he took anything from his time under Myers, it’s to value the people. It’s not only the best way to get them to produce. It’s also the way such a life-consuming, stressful, often-thankless job can be the kind of reward it needs to be.
That’s why U’Ren is pointing again. At forward Natasha Mack, his eyes rolling as he summarizes her incredible story. At guard Sami Whitcomb, and her propensity for being clutch and showing veteran leadership. At center Kalani Brown, who doesn’t play as often but is always ready when she’s called.
This heart-warming version of U’Ren speaks to the meaning of this accomplishment. He’s doling out credit like Oprah Winfrey did audience prizes, mushy about the people he’s come to cherish.
Don’t get it twisted. U’Ren, beneath his unassuming veneer, is an intense competitor. It’s required in the halls of a dynasty.
“I think he vents to me more than anybody of what he’s feeling,” Thomas said with a smile. “He thanks me a lot of times that I just allow him to get what he’s thinking off.”
It’s why the sentimentality may not last long Wednesday because he knows going down 0-3 is a death sentence in a seven-game series. But before he gets lost in competitive fervor, he’ll take a moment to let it all in. He spent nearly a decade in one of the great basketball eras of all time, cutting his teeth and crafting his approach. And he got to bring it all home.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Mercury, NBA, WNBA, Sports Business
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