WNBA's Celeste Taylor to be assistant coach at Grand Canyon - ESPN
Former Phoenix Mercury guard Celeste Taylor has joined Grand Canyon as an assistant coach, she told ESPN on Tuesday.
Taylor, who played at Texas, Duke and Ohio State, joins the coaching ranks after spending her rookie campaign in the WNBA with the Mercury, Connecticut Sun and Indiana Fever. Indiana selected her No. 15 overall in the 2024 draft, but Taylor — who's known for her defensive prowess — played most of the summer for the Mercury (15 games). Overall, she averaged 2.6 points, 1.3 assists and 1.3 rebounds in 14.9 minutes.
Taylor has been nursing a foot injury that she suffered while playing for the Sydney Flames in the WNBL, cutting short her season in Australia. She tried to work her way back to full health while with the Mercury for training camp, but she wasn't a full participant until the final preseason game and was ultimately waived in the final roster cuts before the regular season.
Taylor told ESPN she will spend the summer recovering from the injury and hopes to return to the WNBA in 2026.
«There have been teams who wanted me to come back this season, and I think for me, it's trying to get healthy and trying to maintain in the space of being fit and looking at what's right for my body, listening to my body,» she said.
Taylor links up with her former collegiate assistant coach at Duke, Winston Gandy, who's taking over at Grand Canyon after serving on the staffs of Dawn Staley at South Carolina and Kara Lawson in Durham. Coaching is a long-term goal for Taylor, who said she has always enjoyed working with younger kids, even at camps in college.
«When the opportunity presented itself, it honestly worked out perfectly with timing and everything,» Taylor said. «Once I had explained to [Gandy] what the situation