Phoenix Mercury select Charisma Osborne, Jaz Shelley in 2024 WNBA Draft
Apr 15, 2024, 8:01 PM | Updated: 8:21 pm
The Phoenix Mercury selected UCLA guard Charisma Osborne with the 25th pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft on Monday night before nabbing Nebraska guard Jaz Shelley four picks later with the 29th pick.
Nothing like hearing your name called on the @WNBA draft stage 🥹
✖️ @CharismaOsborne pic.twitter.com/pAzNZQOdWy
— Phoenix Mercury (@PhoenixMercury) April 16, 2024
Osborne marks the highest draft pick the Mercury have this year after dealing the third overall pick to the Chicago Sky in a trade package that brought back All-Star Kahleah Copper.
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Phoenix’s second-round pick (No. 13) was also owned by the Sky in 2024.
This past season (34 games played), Osborne averaged 13.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.6 steals across 33 minutes per contest.
She shot 41% from the field and 32.2% from 3-point land.
Across five seasons at UCLA, the 5-foot-9 guard out of Fantana, California, averaged 14.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game.
For her efforts, she earned two Pac-12 All-Defense Team nods (2021, 2024) and received All-Pac-12 honors four times (2021-2023). She also cracked the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team (2020).
Mercury take Jaz Shelley in third-round of WNBA Draft
Shelley meanwhile heads to the desert after spending the past three seasons at Nebraska. Before her time as a Husker, Shelley had a two-year stint at Oregon.
That feeling when you hear your name called. 🥹@JazShelley x @HuskerWBB x @PhoenixMercury pic.twitter.com/4MNcDdaJFM
— Big Ten Women's Basketball (@B1Gwbball) April 16, 2024
This past season (35 games played), Shelley averaged 13.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.6 steals in 33.2 minutes of work.
She shot 38.5% from the field and 33.7% from long range in her final year at Nebraska.
Osborne and Shelley join a Mercury roster that has undergone a revamp this offseason following the additions of Natasha Cloud and Kahleah Copper, among others.
Phoenix also welcomes back two of its cornerstone players in Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner.
The Mercury tip off the 2024 season on the road against the Las Vegas Aces on May 14 before returning home three days later for a tilt against the Atlanta Dream.
