The Phoenix Mercury have risen from the ashes this offseason, just a year after finishing a league-worst 9-31. After an offseason in which they’ve already signed coveted free agents Natasha Cloud away from the Washington Mystics and Rebecca Allen (in a sign-and trade with the Connecticut Sun for Moriah Jefferson), Phoenix has acquired star forward Kahleah Copper from the Chicago Sky via trade, as first reported by Khristina Williams of Girls Talk Sports TV and Howard Megdal of The Next. Alongside Copper, the Mercury received the rights to Morgan Bertsch. In exchange, Chicago will receive forwards Michaela Onyenwere, Brianna Turner, and four draft picks: the No. 3 overall selection in the 2024 draft, Phoenix’s first-round pick in 2026, Chicago’s own second-round pick in 2025 (obtained by the Mercury via trade prior to the 2023 season), and the rights to swap second-round selections in 2026.
Copper, an All-Star in each of the past three seasons, is coming off a career-high 18.7 points per game (PPG) and expanded her long range game last season, hitting a career-best 1.8 threes on 40.4 percent shooting. The 2021 Finals MVP, in her prime now at 29 years old, started her career as the no. 7 pick by the Mystics, before being acquired by the Sky in a trade centered around Elena Delle Donne.
For Onyenwere, the 2021 rookie of the year, this is the second straight offseason she’s moved as a superteam has come together in her wake, again a key cog in making that possible. She’s coming off a career best 8.9 PPG, 3.7 rebounds per game (RPG), and 1.3 assists per game (APG). Brianna Turner saw her production dip last season, with Brittney Griner’s return to the front court, but was opportunistic with her scoring, notching a career-best 65 percent shooting from the field, while averaging 6.3 RPG and 1.0 steals per game (SPG) and 1.1 blocks per game (BPG), marking this as the fourth straight season she’s averaged at least 2.0 steals and blocks (STOCKS) combined.
The cupboard will be largely bare in Chicago, as they reset and still don’t hold their rights to their draft pick in 2025 (Dallas still controls that, after the Marina Mabrey trade last winter). They did well to bring back the no. 3 in this year’s WNBA Draft, which projects to be a deep one, but it’s been an offseason to forget for the Sky, who have now seen three of their starters depart (both Alanna Smith and Courtney Williams have signed with Minnesota). It will be a tall task for new head coach, Teresa Weatherspoon.
For Phoenix, they’re all in, with a projected starting five of Griner (assuming she re-signs, though all indications are that she will), either Allen or Sophie Cunningham (as an undersized stretch-four), Copper, Diana Taurasi, and Cloud. Following the exciting moves out of Seattle and now Phoenix, the road to a Finals rematch has gotten much more difficult for both the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty.