Desert Wave Media

6 days ago | desertwavemedia.substack.com | David L. Veenstra

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.

1 week ago | desertwavemedia.substack.com | David L. Veenstra

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Mercury waived guards Shyla Heal and Anna Makurat on Wednesday, trimming their training camp roster down to 17 players. The Mercury will need to cut their roster down to 11-12 players by 2 p.m. MST on Thursday, May 15. Heal was the last player to come off the bench in Tuesday’s 85-84 preseason loss to the Las Vegas Aces, while Makurat was the third-to-last player to come off the bench on Tuesday, coming in just before guard Megan McConnell.

1 week ago | desertwavemedia.substack.com | David L. Veenstra

LAS VEGAS — Phoenix flexed its new identity, playing with pace in a “position-less basketball” setup before ultimately falling 85-84 to the Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday in the preseason. The Mercury’s starters did not play heavy minutes, but the first half offered fans a glimpse of what Phoenix’s “position-less basketball” will look like this season.

1 week ago | desertwavemedia.substack.com | David L. Veenstra

LAS VEGAS — Phoenix Mercury wing Kahleah Copper (back) is available for Tuesday’s preseason opener against the Las Vegas Aces. The Mercury originally listed Copper as questionable on Monday’s injury report, but it appeared to be more of a precautionary measure rather than a serious injury. “It’s good,” Copper told Desert Wave Media at Tuesday’s shootaround when asked how her back is feeling.

1 week ago | desertwavemedia.substack.com | David L. Veenstra

PHOENIX — With the Phoenix Mercury’s first week of training camp in the books and with preseason basketball two days away, coach Nate Tibbetts gave a series of updates during his media availability on Sunday. During the practice portion on Sunday, the players were once again split into two groups. Kahleah Copper, Alyssa Thomas, Satou Sabally, Kalani Brown, Celeste Taylor, Sevgi Uzun and Kathryn Westbeld were on the black team.