PHOENIX – The Phoenix Mercury today announced two-time WNBA Champion and three-time WNBA All-Star Kristi Toliver as associate head coach. Toliver, the first active player in WNBA history to have served as an assistant coach in the NBA, brings more than a decade of playing and coaching experience to the Mercury.

Toliver joins the Mercury bench after 14 seasons in the WNBA with the Washington Mystics (2017-19, 2023), Los Angeles Sparks (2010-16, 2021-22) and Chicago Sky (2009), and four seasons in the NBA as an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks (2021-23) and Washington Wizards (2018-20). A three-time All-Star (2013, 2018, 2019) and two-time WNBA champion (2016, 2019), Toliver averaged 11.8 points and 3.4 assists over her 14-year WNBA career and currently ranks seventh all-time in three-point field goals made. She advanced to the playoffs in nine of her 14 seasons, appearing in three WNBA Finals and five semifinals. Last season she played 11 games with the Washington Mystics, suffering a season-ending torn ACL in September.

In addition to playing in the WNBA, Toliver served four seasons as an NBA assistant coach. In 2018, she became the first active WNBA player in history to serve as an NBA assistant coach, spending two seasons with the Washington Wizards under head coach Scott Brooks (2018-20). Most recently she spent two seasons as an NBA assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks on NBA Hall-of-Famer Jason Kidd’s coaching staff, helping lead the team to a Western Conference Finals appearance in 2022.

A standout at the University of Maryland (2005-09), Toliver helped lead the Terrapins to their first and only NCAA championship in program history in 2006. The three-time All-ACC selection ranks first in Maryland history in career assists, three-point field goals made, three-point percentage and free-throw percentage.