Swin Cash wasn’t the only player in the Detroit Shock locker room with tears in her eyes Sunday. The Shock had been run out of their own building in the deciding game of the WNBA Finals, their aspirations of back-to-back titles dashed with stunning swiftness and certainty by the Phoenix Mercury.

But Cash’s despair ran deeper than the tears running down her face - the face that embodied Detroit Shock basketball before a WNBA championship banner hung from The Palace rafters.

Cash has prided herself on being a champion, and she has been one at every level, from preps to the Olympics. What should not be underestimated - or forgotten - is how much the McKeesport, Pa., native identifies herself with Detroit and the Shock franchise, which drafted her second overall in the 2002 Draft. All of what Swin Cash considers herself to be may have ended Sunday with an unceremonious, 16-point defeat in which her participation was treated with indifference.

“This hurts, and it’s going to take some time to get over this one,” Cash said, sitting beside her locker after Game 5. “It would have been easier, had we won, to go through the things we have gone through as a team and individually this year, because you can say, ‘It’s all worth it, we won a championship.’ But when you don’t win you just feel like you’re empty handed."

Cash endured back trouble much of the summer, no doubt contributing to (but not excusing) her inconsistent effort from one playoff game to the next. Head coach Bill Laimbeer had a quick hook with several players this season- and he never outright banished Cash from the starting lineup as he did center Kara Braxton - but Cash in particular would find herself on the bench early in playoff games.

Laimbeer followed his ominous precedent Sunday, pulling Cash less than three minutes into the game. Cash watched as her former college teammate, Diana Taurasi, set the tone for Phoenix with an eight-point first quarter, including two 3-pointers and two assists. When asked about pulling three starters so early in the game, Laimbeer addressed the substitutions for guard Elaine Powell and center Katie Feenstra. He never mentioned Cash, the team captain.

But Cash was back on the floor as the final seconds of Game 5 ticked away, the only starter and only member of the Shock’s first championship team still on the floor. In possibly her final quarter of basketball in a Shock uniform, Cash committed four fouls and missed all three shots she took. “It’s not about minutes,” Cash said, referring to the course of her frustration. “ … Obviously, there’s things I feel me and Coach Laimbeer have to work out. That’s it, period.”

Cash’s departure is by no means certain, but there are impediments to her return. She is an unrestricted free agent, and, after her six years of highly decorated service, one of the team’s highest paid players. The Shock, a veteran-laden team with salary cap concerns, have two other must-sign free agents - Deanna Nolan and Katie Smith. Though a new collective bargaining agreement has yet to be secured for the next season, the Shock’s predicament will not change, and Cash readily cedes “it’s the way this business goes.”

As early as March, before the WNBA Draft, Laimbeer said his priorities were at guard and small forward, Cash’s position, depending on the players available. He selected guard Ivory Latta, which means he could be eyeing a small forward with the 10th pick in a deeply talented 2008 draft. If Cash returns, he needs a backup for a 29-year-old starter with a surgically repaired knee and achy back. If she does not, he needs a replacement.

It was combination of roster, salary cap and chemistry considerations last winter that sent another member of the Shock All-Decade Team, Ruth Riley, to San Antonio. Riley relished the fresh start with a new team. Cash does not. “This city has embraced me, this organization has embraced me, and I feel like Detroit adopted me,” she said. “And it’s hard to be in the position I am now, to face what my future might be, whether it’s in Detroit or some place else. And that’s hard, because I thought that I would start here and I would retire here.”

But obviously, watching this season, you really have to ask yourself, ‘Is there still a place for me here in Detroit?’ And that’s something I’ll have evaluate this off-season, and that’s hard for me. It’s hard in my heart because my house is here, my charity’s here, my family, friends, everything that I built, is here.”

It was Cash, not Taurasi, who was named Most Outstanding Player at the 2002 Final Four when Connecticut concluded its 39-0 season with a second NCAA title in three years. Sunday, the limelight belonged to Taurasi and the Mercury, leaving Cash overshadowed yet again, the latest illustration that her headlining days have passed. Cash received minimal consideration for the All-Star game while three teammates received starting nods. Two years ago she made the team while not even playing. Smith has emerged as the team’s bona fide leader, on the floor and in the locker room; Nolan the go-to offensive player down the stretch. Cash put up her best numbers since suffering an ACL injury in 2004, but the saga of Cheryl Ford’s knee, Plenette Pierson’s award-winning bench play and Braxton’s sporadic efforts eclipsed her comeback. Winning a third WNBA title would not have re-written the story, just provided a better ending. One that didn’t leave Cash feeling so empty handed.

“This season was an emotional season,” she said. “This season was an emotional drain, at different times.” With that Cash ended the interview and thanked the media for covering the Shock, shaking each beat writers’ hand.

It was a more gracious farewell than any she received Sunday.