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.

The Sky faced their biggest deficit of the game with 8:06 remaining in the fourth quarter Sunday. After Kaila Charles’ jumper extended the Sun’s lead to seven in Game 3 of a WNBA semifinal series tied at one, the Sky needed an answer for Connecticut’s offensive momentum.

Kahleah Copper lamented her lack of energy after Chicago’s loss in Game 2. The Sky’s “emotional leader,” as coach James Wade referred to her after the game, took that feeling into Sunday’s game, leading the Sky’s 86-83 comeback win over the Sun with nine points in the fourth quarter.

“Kah’s energy was infectious,” Wade said. “She was really good everywhere — defensively, offensively, when we needed big plays. Her and [Allie] Quigley made them and it kept us in the game.”

Copper led all scorers with 26 points, tying her season-high, on an efficient 9-for-14 shooting from the field and 3-for-6 from 3-point range. None of those points were more important than in the middle of the fourth quarter, when it looked like the No. 1 Sun might pull away behind DeWanna Bonner’s slick shooting and the latest act in Alyssa Thomas’ comeback tour.

Copper started chipping away at the Sun’s lead with just under seven minutes left in the game.

She hit a long jumper and drove the lane for a layup to pull the Sky within three. After Azurá Stevens gave Chicago a one-point lead with a layup at the 4:10 mark, Copper delivered the dagger, putting Connecticut in a hole it wouldn’t escape.

The 6-foot-1 forward went hard to the basket, beating Jasmine Thomas one-on-one and drawing the foul on the basket to energize her teammates and the crowd at Wintrust Arena. With Copper’s three-point play, the Sky took a 78-74 lead.

“She was the recipient of some of our schemes, but she took advantage of it and had a great night and was really a spark for them,” Sun coach Curt Miller said of Copper. “You see why throughout the regular season she was their leading scorer.”

Copper has been with the Sky since 2017, playing under Wade since he took over as head coach in 2019. It wasn’t until last year during the WNBA’s bubble season that Copper became a full-time starter and her potential was finally on full display. The Rutgers product averaged 14.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in 2020, up from her previous season-high averages of 7.1 points and 3.1 rebounds.

Copper, 27, carried that momentum into this season, serving as one of Chicago’s many threats next to Quigley, Courtney Vandersloot and Candace Parker.

“When Kah is like that, it’s hard not to just jump on board with her. It’s so contagious,” Vandersloot said. “She’s obviously a very special athlete, but when she is like that emotionally, she’s so much fun to play with.”

“I love the and-ones, but I think it’s just the little stuff that she does that people don’t notice, like getting through screens really quick, getting that huge defensive rebound where [Briann] January had to foul her,” Parker said. “It’s been really fun and new for me to jump on that energy.”

With the Sky now one win away from the WNBA Finals, Copper is taking her role especially seriously. She and the Sky not only feel like they’re playing their best basketball right now — they also look around the room after a win like Sunday’s and believe they have all the right pieces to win the first championship in franchise history.

“Sloot said something in the locker room just a couple seconds ago about her enjoying my and-one more than me,” said Copper, seated next to Parker and Vandersloot during the postgame press conference. “That is the ultimate leadership. The piece that we need in order to win a championship is celebrating others.

“I’m just trying to do whatever I can out there, just be that person for us.”

Hannah Withiam is the Managing Editor at Just Women’s Sports. She previously served as an editor at The Athletic and a reporter at the New York Post. Follow her on Twitter @HannahWithiam.

Candace Parker had a near triple-double in the Chicago Sky’s win over the Dallas Wings, but the veteran forward is giving all the credit to Kahleah Copper.

“Kah carried us [with her] energy, not just in the first quarter but in the third quarter when we couldn’t get a stop, she was the one that kept us going,” Parker told ESPN’s Holly Rowe following the game. “Honestly I’m so proud of her. I mean she’s been doing it all season but to see her do it in the playoffs and her energy. She just, defensively, her and Sloot really finished it for us.”

The forward responded on Twitter, calling Parker her “dawg.”

Copper led the Sky in scoring with 23 points alongside Courtney Vandersloot, who had 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Meanwhile, Parker finished with 11 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists.

“Offensively, I didn’t have my best outing,” Parker said postgame, adding that a majority of her rebounds were from her own missed shots. “You get to a point in your career where you know you can impact the game in other ways. When you have firepower like we have, it’s just being consistent and I want to make sure we get the best shot for our team.

“That’s my goal every time we go down the court. When you have these two, Allie, just our firepower, it’s fun to search for that great shot.”

The Sky play the Lynx for a spot in the semis on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 5 p.m. ET.

The Chicago Sky rode a fourth-quarter surge to a win over the Seattle Storm, 73-69, on Friday night.

Kahleah Copper tied a career-high with 26 points, adding four rebounds and three steals in the Sky’s victory.

Azurá Stevens recorded a double-double of 11 points and ten rebounds, while Stefanie Dolson notched 12 points, shooting 71.4 percent from the field to help Chicago down the stretch.

The Sky are now 2-0 against the Storm this season. The teams finish out their regular-season series in Seattle on Sunday.

While the Storm have clinched their spot in the playoffs, Chicago (13-12) is currently sixth in the WNBA standings amid a contentious playoff push.