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How Kahleah Copper became the Chicago Sky’s ‘next superstar’

(Chris Marion/NBAE via Getty Images)

Kahleah Copper was ready for Candace Parker’s first day with the Chicago Sky. Months after Parker left the Los Angeles Sparks to sign with her hometown team on Feb. 1, making the biggest splash in 2021 WNBA free agency, she arrived at her first training camp.

Parker’s debut practice with the Sky was enough of a milestone, but Copper knew that Parker had also just celebrated her 35th birthday. Awaiting the two-time MVP in Chicago was a veteran team hungry for a championship — and a bundt cake from Copper.

“When I got here, it was right after my birthday and Kah is big on making sure you celebrate your birthday,” Parker says. “I just thought it was really cool. I’ve never gotten a cake for my birthday at training camp.”

The gesture was just the start of a special relationship between the teammates, through which the 14-year veteran has served as a mentor for Copper in her sixth season.

As the Sky prepare to face the Phoenix Mercury in a best-of-five Finals series starting Sunday, driven by Copper’s 18.2 points per game on 53.2 percent shooting and emotional leadership in the playoffs, both players think back to that first day. Parker jokes now that Copper didn’t reach out to her during free agency, but the bond they’ve formed since then has helped Copper become the type of player who can take over games and lead the Sky to their first championship in franchise history.

“From Day 1, she challenged me. She was on me every single day like, ‘No, you’re going to be that person for us, you’re going to be that defender for us, you’re capable,” Copper says of Parker. “I think that her challenging me and just who she is, I’m like, damn, if she thinks I can do it, for sure I can do it.

“She’s really taken me under her wing, teaching me on and off the court … She’s played a major part in also keeping me level-headed.”

Parker knew about Copper’s basketball talent, having played against her for five seasons. That potential became even more apparent when Parker got to Chicago and saw the 6-foot-1 guard in practice every day, becoming her shooting partner during the season.

“She’s energetic and her personality is kind of how she plays. She plays hard, she’s got a quick first step, she can knock down the jump shot, she can shoot the 3, she defends,” Parker says. “We feed off her energy, and I saw that early in training camp. I have always played against her and she was always really hard to guard, but to be able to see it up close and personal in training camp, I was like wow, she can be something really crazy and she’s already a really good player.”

Copper entered the 2021 season with more of a target on her back after a breakout year in the bubble. In her first season as a full-time starter in 2020, Copper more than doubled her minutes (31.3) and points per game (14.8) as Chicago’s second-leading scorer.

This year, the Sky added Parker to an already loaded roster with Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley, Stefanie Dolson and Diamond DeShields, and with players like Azurá Stevens and Ruthy Hebard waiting in the wings. Where Copper could have faded into the background, she surged forward as one of the Sky’s most consistent players through a tumultuous regular season. Leading the team with 14.4 points and 30.8 minutes per game, Copper helped the Sky right the ship after a 2-7 start and was named to her first WNBA All-Star team.

“Last year, teams recognized her as a main player and one of our leading scorers. This year, she takes another step and she’s an All-Star and she didn’t stop there,” Sky head coach James Wade says. “That’s the thing that’s special: She didn’t stop there. She said, ‘I’m not just satisfied with being an All-Star. I would like to take one step further and even lead.’ She’s found the lane in which she can lead us, and that’s emotional energy, that’s defensive energy, and that’s getting buckets.”

“There was never a doubt in my mind that I could do it. I just needed the opportunity,” Copper says. “My mindset is that I am only going up from here. I am just trying to do what I do consistently because I know I bring so many different things to this team.”

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Parker and Copper have formed a tight bond this season. (Adam Hagy/NBAE via Getty Images)

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During a road trip to Los Angeles this season, a few Sky players extended their stay to spend time together at Parker’s home. It was then that Copper and Parker found themselves talking about another common bond.

Parker played for legendary coach Pat Summitt at Tennessee from 2004-08, four years before Copper entered the Rutgers basketball program under Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer.

“Everybody came over to my house and we were able to just talk and just understand where we came from,” Parker says. “We shared stories about Vivian Stringer and Pat Summitt. To know [Copper] is to love her. Her energy is amazing and it’s hard not to gravitate towards that.”

Parker’s message for Copper throughout the season echoes what Stringer instilled in her during her four years with the Scarlet Knights.

“I just want her to realize how great she is,” Parker says. “You don’t have to be the No. 1 draft pick, you don’t have to be No. 1 all your life to be the next superstar. Honestly, I told her early on in training camp, ‘You could be the next superstar and I see it,’ and to just keep after it.”

“I never get too high on things, never get too low,” Copper says. “I just feel like throughout my process, even coming from college, you get humbled at every stage in your career. Going from high school to college and you were one of the best players, and then you go to college … [Stringer] humbles you as soon as you get there. It ain’t about you.”

Copper leaned into that lesson during her first few years in the WNBA. Drafted seventh overall by Washington in 2016, Copper was a role player during her rookie year, averaging just over 16 minutes per game for the 13-21 Mystics.

Copper’s time in Washington didn’t last long. A few months before the 2017 season, the Mystics traded her to the Sky in a package deal for Elena Delle Donne. Suddenly, the 22-year-old had to adjust to a whole new city, team and system.

“I’ve learned at every stage of my career to be humble and just put in the work,” says Copper, now 27. “And then coming into the league and having to start over again. I appreciate my process, and that keeps me humble.”

Copper’s journey took another unusual turn after the 2020 season. Instead of going overseas in the offseason, as many WNBA players do to supplement their salaries and stay in basketball shape, Copper took an assistant coaching position with the Purdue Northwest women’s team. Spending the season on the sideline and the other side of the huddle with the Division II program gave her a new lens into the game.

“I was able to stay mentally there and just learn,” Copper says. “Being a coach and just seeing things from that perspective and appreciating the things that my coaches do for me and appreciating their time, but also seeing the game, I was able to stay sharp because I was coaching.”

The film studies, scouting reports and lessons she instilled in her team gave Copper a greater appreciation for her own coaches. It also prepared her to step into a leadership role with the Sky this season.

“It helped me as a leader, as a communicator, and even how I approach it as a professional,” Copper says. “I was telling my kids, ‘It’s so funny, I’m telling you to not let this person go left, and I’m actually having flashbacks of my coaches telling me don’t let this person go left.’

“I think I approach it so differently now. I take so much pride in the scouting report and how much time that the coaches put into it and game-planning.”

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(Kamil Krzaczynski/NBAE via Getty Images)

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Before Parker got to Chicago, Copper observed and learned from another all-time great. Vandersloot, Chicago’s longest-tenured player, was a big part of the Sky’s last run to the WNBA Finals in 2014, when Diana Taurasi and the Mercury — their same opponents in this year’s Finals — swept them in three games.

Vandersloot has been just as crucial to this playoff run for the Sky, dishing out 8.7 assists per game and recording the second triple-double in WNBA playoff history in Chicago’s semifinal Game 1 win over Connecticut. Copper, who calls the 32-year-old Vandersloot “the most competitive person on our team,” feeds off of the point guard’s mix of selflessness and swagger.

“I appreciate Sloot so much, whether she’s cursing me out about moving the ball or running the floor or telling me to step up,” Copper says. “If you feel like Sloot believes in you, it also takes your game to another level.”

Wade credits Vandersloot and Parker for supporting Copper in her development this year. As Copper has come into her own as a scorer, defender and teammate, the Sky have risen with her — and tried to give her the spotlight they know she deserves.

“She just puts her head down and just goes to work,” Parker says. “I think if you continue to do that, eventually people notice. She doesn’t need to hear it. This isn’t something she struggles with. … It’s the positive energy that really made me understand how great she can be. I’m glad people are recognizing it and I hope that they continue to.”

Wade knows he has a special two-way player in Copper, who can not only affect the game in so many different ways but also lift her teammates up with her energy.

“Off the floor, she’s this different person where she’s straightforward, closed and quiet and nice and sweet and she does everything for people,” Wade said. “But when she plays, it’s like she’s so open, you see everything. You can see where she came from, you can see passion, pride. You can see all these things just in the way she plays and it’s amazing to watch. I feed off of it.

“The sky’s the limit for her. We would love for when it’s all said and done, when you think of Chicago Sky basketball, you think of Kahleah Copper.”

As Copper gets ready to play in her first WNBA Finals series, she reflects on the seasons when she didn’t get as much playing time, when the Sky ran most of their offense through their three All-Stars.

Even then, she says she focused on celebrating everybody else’s accomplishments. Now she’s one of those All-Stars, but her approach hasn’t changed.

“We talk about preparation meeting opportunity — that’s what it was for me,” Copper says. “I was always consistently believing in myself and always confident. When preparation met opportunity, I was locked in. From that moment on, I never turned back. I have always celebrated other people’s success, and when it was my turn, I was already ready.”

Rachel Galligan is a basketball analyst at Just Women’s Sports. A former professional basketball player and collegiate coach, she also contributes to Winsidr. Follow Rachel on Twitter @RachGall.

Top Seeds Minnesota, Las Vegas Dominate Game 1 of the WNBA Playoffs

Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier lines up a free throw during the first game of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs.
The No. 1 Minnesota Lynx blew out the No. 8 Golden State Valkyries in Game 1 of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs on Sunday. (Jordan Johnson/NBAE via Getty Images)

Game 1 of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs is in the books, with the top two seeds putting up more than 100 points each in blowout wins when the postseason tipped off on Sunday.

The No. 1 Minnesota Lynx opened the playoffs' eight-team first round with a 101-72 drubbing of the No. 8 Golden State Valkyries, as MVP frontrunner Napheesa Collier led scoring with 20 points while guard Natisha Hiedeman added 18 off the bench.

Elsewhere, the No. 2 Las Vegas Aces' 102-77 victory over the No. 7 Seattle Storm capped Sunday's slate, with reigning MVP A'ja Wilson leading the way with 29 points alongside double-digit performances off the bench from guards Jewell Loyd and Dana Evans.

The lower seeds walked away less unscathed, as Valkyries boss and Coach of the Year favorite Natalie Nakase picked up a technical foul for arguing a call in the game's second half.

"I want a fair fight, I really do. I want a clean fight, but I love the fact that both teams are playing their hearts out," she said afterwards, criticizing Sunday's officiating. "They're fighting. But I would like it to be fair."

"I understand it, but it's the playoffs," Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said in response. "Obviously, we fouled a lot at the end. But I didn't think that was a factor in the game."

How to watch the top seeds in Game 2 of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs

Both Minnesota and Las Vegas are now one win away from advancing to the 2025 WNBA Playoffs semifinals.

The No. 2 Aces will look to sweep the No. 7 Storm at 9:30 PM ET on Tuesday, airing live on ESPN.

Then on Wednesday, the No. 1 Lynx will try to silence the No. 8 Valkyries at 10 PM ET, with live coverage also on ESPN.

New York Liberty Star Breanna Stewart Exits Game 1 Ahead of WNBA Playoffs OT Win

Phoenix Mercury forward Satou Sabally tries to block a pass from New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart during Game 1 of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs.
New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart exited Sunday's 2025 WNBA Playoffs Game 1 with an apparent knee injury. (Aryanna Frank/Getty Images)

The No. 5 New York Liberty secured the sole upset in the Sunday tip-off of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs, topping the No. 4 Phoenix Mercury 76-69 following a tightly contested Game 1 overtime battle.

Liberty guard Natasha Cloud dropped a game-leading 23 points on her former team, while Mercury star Alyssa Thomas neared yet another triple-double with 14 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists on the night.

"I'm proud of the way we stuck together, we weathered the runs they went on, and ultimately found a way to win," New York guard Sabrina Ionescu said after the game.

The newly healthy Liberty will hope for full availability in Game 2, though forward Breanna Stewart went down with a knock to the knee in overtime after posting an 18-point performance on Sunday.

"We're just hoping that she will be okay," New York head coach Sandy Brondello said after the game.

Brondello also confirmed that it was Stewart who asked for a sub in overtime after coming down hard on her left knee.

Concerns about the health of the two-time WNBA MVP — who recently returned from missing 13 games with a bone bruise on her right knee — overshadowed the defending champions' comeback win.

How to watch Phoenix vs. New York in the 2025 WNBA Playoffs

The No. 5 Liberty now return to New York looking to knock the No. 4 Mercury out of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs with a Game 2 victory on Wednesday.

The matchup tips off at 8 PM ET, with live coverage airing on ESPN.

WNBA Playoffs Dark Horse Atlanta Dream Pushes Past Indiana Fever in Game 1 Win

The Atlanta Dream smile and huddle before their Game 1 matchup against the Indiana Fever in the first round of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs.
The Atlanta Dream beat the Indiana Fever on Sunday, earning their first playoff win in more than five years. (Adam Hagy/NBAE via Getty Images)

The No. 3 Atlanta Dream won their first postseason game since 2018 on Sunday, downing the No. 6 Indiana Fever 80-68 in Game 1 of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs as they continue making a case for this season's dark horse.

The Dream's starters shouldered the bulk of Sunday's scoring, punctuated by 20-point performances from forward Rhyne Howard and guard Allisha Gray, while the Fever's Kelsey Mitchell put up 27 points to give her injury-laden team a chance.

"This is [this roster's] first home game, period, in the playoffs," Howard reminded reporters after the win. "So for us to even have accomplished that much to have the home-court advantage, we knew we had to make it a good one."

Atlanta hasn't made it past the first round since the 2016 playoffs, but a dominant regular season has the team eyeing a long-awaited return to the WNBA semifinals.

This year's Dream won a franchise-record 30 games under first-year head coach Karl Smesko, while also leading the league in rebounds per game.

"This wasn't going to be a year that we were going to be satisfied with everybody telling us, 'Wow, you really improved over last year,'" said Smesko. "That's not what we're trying to do. We're trying to be the best team in the league."

How to watch Atlanta vs. Indiana in the 2025 WNBA Playoffs

The short-staffed No. 6 Indiana will look to halt the No. 6 Atlanta Dream's momentum on Tuesday, when the first round's Game 2 takes over Gainbridge Fieldhouse in the Fever's first home playoff game since 2016.

The 2025 WNBA Playoffs will continue when the Dream visit the Fever at 7:30 PM ET on Tuesday, airing live on ESPN.

Jaedyn Shaw Scores Against Former NWSL Club San Diego in Gotham Debut

New Gotham FC addition Jaedyn Shaw walks across the pitch after her first NWSL match with the NJ/NY club.
Jaedyn Shaw scored in her Gotham debut to send her new NWSL club surging to No. 3 in the 2025 standings. (Gotham FC)

Jaedyn Shaw hit the ground running in her Gotham FC debut this weekend, as the NJ/NY club's recent $1.25 million-dollar signing scored against her former club in Friday's 2-0 win over the now-No. 5 San Diego Wave — helping boost the Bats to No. 3 in the 2025 NWSL standings.

"This year has been really difficult," an emotional Shaw said after the match. "I'm so grateful for this team and the opportunities I've gotten this year…. I'm extremely grateful for this moment."

The 20-year-old previously shattered scoring records during her time with San Diego, but struggled this year after her offseason transfer to the North Carolina Courage.

Already finding the back of the net for her new team, Shaw will look to put the past behind her as Gotham extends their climb up the table, having risen from No. 8 to No. 3 behind a four-game unbeaten streak that now includes three straight wins.

Gotham forward Esther González is also excelling, retaking the lead in the 2025 NWSL Golden Boot race by tallying her 13th goal of the season in the last minute of Friday's first half against the Wave.

With the club gaining momentum and the 2025 NWSL Playoffs looming, Gotham is looking to make a run to add a second championship trophy to their 2023 title.

"Even in the most difficult moments, they've stayed united, kept pushing together, and kept working hard. That's been our key," said head coach Juan Carlos Amorós after Friday's match.

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