Phoenix Mercury's Kitija Laksa, Murjanatu Musa arrive, Kahleah Copper off crutches
Murjanatu Musa and Kitija Laksa made their long-awaited arrivals, and Kahleah Copper was walking around the court without crutches, just days after having knee surgery.
PHOENIX — Phoenix Mercury forward Murjanatu Musa and guard Kitija Laksa made their long-awaited arrivals and had their first full days of practice on Tuesday.
“It was great,” Laksa said after Tuesday’s practice. “(A)long time coming. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time, so it was a great practice. Just getting my feet under me and learning the system, but it’s been great.”
Musa and Laksa practiced in a group with the reserves, Lexi Held and Kalani Brown, while Alyssa Thomas, Satou Sabally, Sami Whitcomb, Kathryn Westbeld, Monique Akoa Makani and Sevgi Uzun all practiced together in a separate group.
Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said he wants to ease both Musa and Laksa into his system, so it comes as no surprise that both players were practicing with the reserves.
“Musa and (Laksa) both had good days,” Tibbetts said after Tuesday’s practice.
“The plan is to play (Laksa) some tomorrow. I don’t know how much. And then Musa maybe not as much. (Musa) probably doesn’t even know what day it is or what time it is here, the time difference and her just coming off the playoffs, but we’re excited that both of them are here.
“We’ve been patiently waiting for their playoffs to get over, so it was nice to get them on the floor today.”
Tibbetts had individuals conversations with both of them and said he doesn’t want to rush them into playing before they’re ready.
“We’re excited to see them play, but they also want to feel comfortable, and they’ve got a lot of information coming at them the last 24-48 hours, so I told them it may take them two weeks to feel where our other players are at right now,” Tibbetts said.
The Mercury activated Musa’s contract on Monday, and Laksa arrived last week but did not participate in Saturday’s shootaround or play in the 81-59 win over the Seattle Storm.
Musa and Laksa had yet to arrive in Phoenix and did not report to training camp because Musa was playing in France for Tarbes Gespe Bigorre in the LFB playoffs, while Laksa was playing in Italy for Famila Schio in the Italian Serie A1 playoffs.
Musa’s season ended on May 16 with a second-place finish, while Laksa’s championship-winning season ended on May 13.
Laksa said her contract with Famila Schio required her to finish the season in Italy, which is why she didn’t report to Mercury training camp.
“It wasn’t really my decision,” Laksa said on Tuesday. “I didn’t really have a choice to be honest.
“So I’m grateful the Mercury organization has been supportive of me finishing the season in Italy.”
What will Kitija Laksa and Murjanatu Musa bring to the Mercury?
Laksa is listed as a 6-foot-1 guard who is known for her shooting and lack of turnovers.
Across 28 Serie A1 games for Famila Schio, Laksa averaged 12.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.6 turnovers. She shot 46.6% from two, 38.8% from three and 87.8% at the line.
"(Laksa) is a sniper, that's what she does,” Tibbetts said. “She doesn’t hardly ever turn it over, which is great. She's got good positional size."
Tibbetts said Musa would play power forward and center for the Mercury. With Natasha Mack being ruled out two to three weeks with a lower back injury, Musa will be asked to play a similar role.
"Musa, she's just gonna fly around,” Tibbetts said. “She’s an offensive rebounder. She does things you can't teach ... She's got like that quick twitch. It’s just different. She has the ability to kinda go make plays and she’s also a good passer."
Across 28 games for Tarbes Gespe Bigorre, Musa averaged 14.9 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 0.8 blocks and 2.3 steals in 33.3 minutes per game.
Musa is listed at 6-foot-2 and has been compared to the 6-foot-4 Mack in the past by Tibbetts, but Musa appeared a lot smaller than 6-foot-2 at Tuesday’s practice.
Phoenix Mercury wing Kahleah Copper shows progress in her recovery from knee surgery
Another encouraging sign from Mercury practice was Kahleah Copper walking around the court unassisted and without crutches. While she did not participate in any capacity on Tuesday, she showed she is making progress after undergoing a left knee arthroscopy last week.
“(There was) no participation (from Copper),” Tibbetts said after Tuesday's practice.
“As well as she was walking, I said it looks like you’re about a week out, no,” Tibbetts said in jest. “That’s only a hope. But I think she’s just starting the process of coming back and from two or three days ago being on two crutches and then one crutch and yeah she’s moving better.”
The team announced Copper's injury on Saturday and said she would be out four to six weeks after having left knee surgery. Tibbetts said Copper had her surgery “within the week,” but did not clarify when the procedure took place.
“Early in training camp she was having back pain, and then there was a situation where she hurt her knee in practice, and then she had it scoped and here we are,” Tibbetts said on Saturday.
Thanks for the update on Cooper!