Phoenix Mercury owner can learn a lot from Mark Davis about what it means to truly respect the WNBA

Mark Davis had specific ideas of what he wanted to accomplish when he purchased the Las Vegas Aces almost three years ago.

First and foremost, Davis wanted to create a community for the franchise’s former players, similar to what his NFL Raiders have long had. He wanted women who'd played in Utah and San Antonio to feel as if they were still part of the team, regardless of where it was located.

He wanted to build the Aces a state-of-the-art practice facility, so they’d have their own space and not be nomads like they’d been. And he wanted to create a buzz among fans in Las Vegas.

As for the rest?

“Hire really good people. And I’ve got three really great women,” Davis told USA TODAY Sports on Friday, referring to Aces president Nikki Fargas, general manager Natalie Williams and coach Becky Hammon.

“I just get the eff out of the way.”

Suffice to say, the formula is working. On Monday, the Aces will celebrate their second consecutive title. Despite losing starters Chelsea Gray and Kiah Stokes to injury before Game 4, the Aces became the first WNBA team to repeat as champions since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2002.

The Aces aren’t perfect. No organization is. The team and the WNBA are being sued for gender discrimination by former Aces player Dearica Hamby, who says she was retaliated against for being pregnant.

Hammon was suspended for the first two games of the season after the WNBA determined she’d violated “respect in the workplace” policies in relation to Hamby. The Aces also lost their first-round draft pick in 2025 for offering impermissible benefits while negotiating Hamby’s contract extension.  

But Davis has been smart enough to know what he doesn’t know and entrust his team to those who do. Which seems to be the opposite of what’s going on in Phoenix.

The Mercury introduced its new head coach Friday, and Nate Tibbetts did little to calm the fury over a man with zero experience in the women’s game being hired to coach a WNBA team.

“This is a new league for me,” Tibbetts said. “I want to be educated. I’m going to talk to our players. I want to hear about the growth of this league. I want to hear and understand the struggles they’ve gone through.

“I know I’m going to need to rely on our team to learn how this league works,” he added. “That’s why I’m here. I want to continue to see different things.”

So owner Mat Ishbia and general manager Nick U’Ren see the Mercury as some kind of coaching externship. A learn-on-the-job program.

Or, more likely, they and Tibbetts are suffering from the same irrational confidence recognizable to any woman, in any workplace. The blind self-assuredness that makes some men believe they’re capable of doing anything, whether they’re actually qualified to or not.

U’Ren had success with the Golden State Warriors. Tibbetts has been a career NBA assistant. How hard could leading a WNBA team possibly be?

“I’m excited for us to be able to take action in terms of building a basketball operations staff and coaching staff that reflects that diversity and provides opportunities to people of all backgrounds and all expertise and all skill sets,” U’Ren said.

Including, apparently, those without expertise!

This isn’t a debate about whether a man can coach a women’s team. They certainly can, and do, and the rightness or wrongness of that is a matter for another day. This is about the Mercury taking someone with no experience in the women’s game and thinking he’ll have success just because.

Or thinking it’s OK to take a flier because it’s "only" a WNBA team.

Imagine if a longtime WNBA assistant who’d never coached in the men’s game, at any level, was suddenly hired as head coach of the Boston Celtics. People would be losing their damned minds, and not without reason. Why should this be any different?

The WNBA is the pinnacle of the women’s game and should be seen as such. Not a training ground for someone whose knowledge and, based on his career path, heart is in the men’s game.

And don’t start with me on this being similar to Hammon and Dawn Staley being in the running for NBA head-coaching jobs. Hammon had been Gregg Popovich’s assistant for years and had coached San Antonio’s Summer League team when NBA teams called. Staley already had won one national title at South Carolina, and was months from winning another, when she made Portland’s short list.

Tibbetts also reportedly is coming into the WNBA as the highest-paid coach in the league, topping Hammon’s seven-figure salary. Davis wouldn’t get drawn into whether Tibbetts should make more than Hammon, who has won two titles in her first two seasons, saying he’s just happy other owners are willing to invest in their teams.

“The fact they’re seeing the effect of hiring someone of quality and paying them what they’re 'worth’ is important,” Davis said.

Even more important is for Mercury leadership to recognize the worth of their team, as Davis has. The Tibbetts hiring, and their touting him being a "Girl Dad" as a selling point, sure doesn't inspire confidence they do.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.