- Slug: Sports-Mercury Copper Olympics, 1,200 words
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By Joshua Heron
Special to Cronkite News
PHOENIX – Kahleah Copper walked past security scanners in the Verizon 5G Performance Center lobby Tuesday and sat in the press conference chair to discuss her first Olympic selection. Her eyes were watery.
The Phoenix Mercury guard talked for roughly 10 minutes before the team communications manager said, “Last one (question),” to the dozen or so reporters present. When asked where making the team ranked among her career achievements, the 2021 Finals MVP’s moist eyes turned tearful.
“It’s definitely number one,” Copper said after taking a big sigh.
One may perceive that the indestructible Copper – known for her competitive, dog-like nature and boldness to reproach journalists when asked what she perceives are futile questions – never expresses such vulnerable emotion. But filled with immense joy, the Philadelphia native couldn’t believe that the “kid from NorF Philly,” prominently noted in her X bio, was now on her way to Paris for the 2024 Olympics.
Copper’s journey to the Olympics wasn’t easy.
She failed to make the 2018 FIBA World Cup roster and spent the next few years shaping her game in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2022 World Cup trials.
A day after the Sky’s loss to the Connecticut Sun in Game 5 of the 2022 WNBA Semifinals, Copper received a call notifying her that she had 24 hours to respond to a tryout invitation in Australia for the FIBA World Cup.
Uncertain whether she would make the team, Copper took a leap of faith and traveled to Australia. She made the team and helped rally the U.S. to an undefeated record and a gold medal.
When USA Women’s National Team director Briana Weiss called Copper to inform her that she made the 2024 team, she could only think about the trials and people who propelled her to her first Olympic selection.
“Y’all see game winners, y’all see that, but y’all don’t see what it takes,” Copper said with tears rolling down her face. “You prepare so long for this but for it to happen for me here and now, it’s so special.
“At that moment (when I got the news), it’s just like everything (I went through) was worth it. Just seeing the jersey and having a conversation with Bri (Weiss), I’m just so grateful that I have the mentality that I have and surrounded myself with the right people in those moments. People who just continuously encouraged me and told me, ‘your time was going to come,’ and I just trusted and believed it.”
The Washington Mystics drafted Copper with the seventh pick in 2016. A year later, they traded her to the Chicago Sky. Copper spent the next six years with the Sky and helped lead them to the 2021 WNBA championship.
“I wouldn’t change my journey for anything,” Copper said. “I think it’s kind of easier to say now, but when you navigate through it, it’s tough. But I think it has made me into the person and player I am, so I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
The Mercury acquired Copper via trade in February. While averaging a career-high 24 points per game this season, her late-game heroics have helped earn the Mercury a 6-6 record after the team’s 9-31 finish in 2023.
“For me to come into a franchise at this time in my career where I’m just so taken care of and I only have to worry about being the best version of myself, of course (that helped solidify my spot on Team USA),” Copper said. “It couldn’t have timed up that perfectly … to be a part of a franchise with a winning history and players that want to buy into a culture and what we want to do. So I think just being here, and you can see it from what I’m doing on the court, just what place I am in mentally and physically.”
Copper’s teammates Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner were also selected to this year’s Olympic roster. This is Taurasi’s sixth appearance, setting a record for the most Olympics played in men’s and women’s basketball. It’s Griner’s third selection.
“I got to know Kah (Kahleah) even more now playing with her and being her teammate,” Griner said. “She’s an amazing person, she really rides for you on and off the court. She will give you 100(%) no matter what. She will show up and work hard, which goes to her character and who she is. I’m just super excited for it to be her first one (Olympics), and I get to go with two of my teammates to Team USA.”
Taurasi acknowledged her teammate’s determination.
“It’s a special moment for Kah,” Taurasi added . “Her path and journey have been different than a lot of people’s, and the one thing that I admire the most about it is all she did was continue to get better at basketball, by any means: playing overseas, continuing to improve year by year, and then you look at her now and it’s just an incredible story and she gets all the credit.”
Taurasi shared a locker room in 2004 with basketball greats like Lisa Leslie, Dawn Staley, Sheryl Swoopes, Tina Thompson and Katie Smith. She said being in their presence was a lesson that couldn’t be bought.
Taurasi eventually became that role model for others, and for Copper, she believes her first Olympic selection catapulted her into that position.
“I’m glad I’m also able to be an inspiration,” Copper said. “For me to now be an inspiration for someone who was sitting at the end of the bench or had gone to a USA trial and didn’t make the team, I’m grateful for my journey.”
Among the top 10 largest cities in America, Philadelphia is the poorest with a 22.7% poverty rate, according to WHYY.
Venturing and succeeding outside of Philadelphia isn’t always promised. Copper’s note to young girls from Philadelphia with basketball aspirations is to focus on what lies ahead, even in uncertain times.
“My message would be to prepare,” Copper said. “I think it’s easy to get lost in preparation because what you want isn’t right there in front of you. I prepared and met an opportunity, took advantage of it, and never looked back. So I will say prepare, because confidence comes in the preparation. And then you are just waiting for the moment.”
Her moment has come, and Copper intends to help the team win its eighth straight Olympic gold medal.
“(I’m looking forward to) winning a gold medal,” she said. “I don’t think there’s anything equivalent to it; not many people have it, and not many people experience it.”
