Phoenix Mercury wing Kahleah Copper committed to new leadership role
Kahleah Copper has said her goal this season is to step into a new leadership role, and she has embraced that opportunity during the first two weeks of training camp.
PHOENIX — Meet the new Kahleah Copper.
You are probably well aware of Copper by now. After all, she has been an All-Star the past four seasons, took home WNBA Finals MVP honors in 2021 and scored 10 points in the final 8:01 of Team USA’s thrilling come-from-behind gold medal triumph over France in the Olympic final.
But this is a different Kahleah Copper. A Kahleah Copper who is poised to take on a new leadership role in Phoenix this season.
Copper, 30, was arguably the most integral piece to the Mercury’s success last season, her first year in the Valley. She led the league in usage rate at 31.1% and averaged a career-high 21.1 points per game. She also recorded nine games with at least 30 points, the second-most in the league behind Las Vegas Aces center and league-MVP A’ja Wilson.
However, the departures of Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner have allowed Copper to take on a new role this year.
Instead of merely being the team’s best player, she now wants to be the Mercury’s vocal leader. And Copper hasn't shied away from the new opportunity either.
When asked what her individual goal is going into the season, Copper said she wants to lead consistently.
“I think the other individual goals will come with winning and with me being a leader,” Copper said.
Copper started the 2024 season in a way that made her an MVP frontrunner. During the first five games of the season, she averaged a league-high 29.2 points, while shooting 50.5% from the field and 48.6% from three-point range.
Her 146 points through the first five games of the season were the third-most in WNBA history behind only Maya Moore (149 in 2014) and Elena Delle Donne (148 in 2015), as she went on to be named WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week for May 20-26.
But the rest of the season would be defined by ups and downs. The following game saw Copper shoot 2-for-11 from the field and 0-for-5 from three en route to an embarrassing 70-47 loss to the Connecticut Sun.
The early-season loss in Connecticut last season served as a clear-cut example which demonstrated the Mercury’s reliance on Copper.
More often than not, when Copper was playing at an elite level, the Mercury were winning. When Copper was struggling, the Mercury were also struggling.
Therefore, another way Copper wants to lead is by being more consistent this season.
“But, for me like I said before, it's about being consistent every single day, the good, the bad, whatever. Just bringing it every day,” Copper said.
Concerns of Copper’s consistency defined the Mercury’s season after her Olympic heroics.
Copper’s production significantly slowed after the Olympic break. She averaged 23.2 points per game before the Olympics and 16.8 points after the Olympics, and just one of her nine 30-point games came after the Olympics.
“Yeah, I think (Copper) and my conversations have been just being consistent in who she is,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said.
“The things that (Copper) and I went through last year is going to be what (Alyssa Thomas) and (Satou Sabally) and I go through for the first time this year. So just as a coach, just knowing the ups and downs that we had in the season last year and just like with any relationship, it takes time.”
Fatigue and injury could have likely factored into Copper’s declining production during the second half of 2024.
Not only did Copper lead the WNBA in usage rate, but she also missed three games down the stretch due to a back ailment.
With Copper being not the type of player to make excuses, there is genuine belief her injury last season was more serious than she led others to believe.
When Desert Wave Media asked Copper during the playoffs how her back was feeling and if it was still bothering her, she laughed it off and said with a smile that she just turned 30. “It don’t even matter at this point,” Copper said. “We good.”
“I mean we had three Olympians. I think it was a lot,” Copper told Desert Wave Media. “And they a little older than I am, too, so they probably a little more sore than me. I think it was a lot. I think we’re grateful and we love to play this game and the sacrifices we put our bodies through in order to have the success and do what we love to do.”
But through injury and the highs and lows of last year, it was a year the helped Copper grow. Not only as a player with experience in Phoenix, but also as a player who has played under Tibbetts.
“I mean, I think just coming into the new season and just having that last year under my belt (has helped),” Copper said.
Copper now enters Year 2 in Phoenix as the longest-tenured player on the team.
She joined the Mercury via a trade with the Chicago Sky on Feb. 6, 2024, while Natasha Mack (who signed a training camp contract on Feb. 9, 2024), and Celeste Taylor (who was brought in midway through the year) are the team’s only other returners.
Copper has been able to use that experience in Phoenix to her advantage. She has led by example during the first two weeks of training camp and has also used her existing relationship with Tibbetts to help her become a leader.
“But kind of just having to step into the role of getting our new players along, communicating with the coaches, and then just leading in my own way and also taking help from players alongside me,” Copper added on what defines her new leadership role.
Through the challenges and growing pains that came with the team’s ups and downs last season, Copper and Tibbetts have gotten closer over the past year.
During exit interviews the day after the Mercury were eliminated by the Minnesota Lynx in the playoffs last season, Copper praised Tibbetts after admitting she didn’t think they’d “hit it off” at first.
“Nate, I call him the principal. I think he was great. I think he has the it,” Copper said at the time. “(He’s) super relatable, has this charisma about him. And (he’s) easy to talk to.”
Copper and Tibbetts will use their history together to rely on each other in a new way this season. With Taurasi and Griner out of the fold, Tibbetts understands Copper’s importance to the success of the team.
“I've only been around (Thomas) and (Sabally) for less than a month and to build trust, it takes more time than that,” Tibbetts said.
“And so, with (Copper) in here last year and just the things that we’ve went through, I think, she's ready to step up and I think she was very respectful to our team last year and the cornerstones that had been here for a long time ... ”
But with the new leadership role and responsibility, Copper is not only embracing it, but having fun with it. She has routinely demonstrated she understands the importance that comes with building team chemistry.
Copper flew from Miami to Phoenix to attend Sabally’s introductory press conference and jokingly posed as a reporter, asking Sabally who she’s most excited to play with.
Copper would again pose as a reporter, this time as someone from the Philadelphia Inquirer during media day as she asked Tibbetts a question.
And after playing competitive cornhole alongside Sabally in a televised charity event last Friday, Copper joked on Thursday that she was taking Sabally on a date soon.
“I think one of our very first conversations was just building our chemistry outside of the court,” Copper said.
“Just so we know what the foundation is and when we step on the court, everything is about winning and competing and trying to get the best out of each other. So, I'm taking (Sabally) and a couple others on a date in a couple days, so that is the team chemistry.”