2024 Mercury season reviews: Kahleah copper

The Phoenix Mercury traded for Kahleah Copper in surprising fashion prior to the start of the 2024 season.

The Mercury made their mark with the trade, becoming their very own super team. But it was also their addition in preparation for Diana Taurasi’s eventual retirement.

Copper came into the 2024 season off a career-best 2023, where she averaged a career-high in points (18.7). There was also an uptick in usage (to 27.0%) which was a significant jump, especially combined with the focus from opponents on scouting reports.

Copper, who’s already been a WNBA Champion and Finals MVP, had mostly flown under the radar prior to 2023.

During the 2023 season, she leapt to the top of opposing scouting reports and the on-court attention saw a shift, resulting in her seeing multiple bodies on nearly every touch, in tandem with more aggressive or exotic coverages when she had the ball.

With that came great responsibility, but great growth. Copper went on to tie her scoring career-high of 28, then hit 29 points twice, before ultimately kicking that door completely down and scoring 37 in a shootout with the Las Vegas Aces on a primetime stage.

2023 was a great precursor to her incredible scoring display in 2024. Here are her “coming into her own” numbers from her last four years in Chicago, in comparison to year one in Phoenix.

This season, she scored the third most points (782), was the league’s leading scorer out of the gate both in total and on average, and set a bar of three-level scoring. All of that bodes well for her being a true primary option on a true contender going forward.

Copper registered the highest usage in the W, just barely edging out this season’s MVP A’ja Wilson for that claim. She did so on a steady true shooting percentage of 54.4.

Her 5.6 attempts from the free throw line speak to her calculated and oftentimes undeniable downhill process, while compiling 207 attempts total. Both stats rank fourth and are career-best marks.

In the paint, she was 12th in points per game with 8.7, which was 2nd among not forwards and centers, and in total paint points with 322.

In the mid-range, 18 players took as many attempts from 8-16 feet as she did. Her 45.2% clip from there ranked fourth.

From deep, Copper was one of only 17 players who made 65+ threes this season, with 69. Earlier this season, she spoke about her evolved shot profile.

Her catch-and-shoot three-point numbers stacked well with the elite field too. Only 12 players took 150+ catch-and-shoot three-point attempts. Her 36.6% clip ranks seventh.

2024 saw her on a major usage uptick, one which Nate Tibbetts spoke to in great detail on the PHNX Mercury Podcast over the Olympic break.

Here are some other names and their respective catch-and-shoot three-point percentages: Kayla McBride (43.0%), Kelsey Plum (38.2%), Bridget Carleton (45.3%), Sabrina Ionescu (35.0%), Kelsey Mitchell (44.1%), Ariel Atkins (40.7%), Allisha Gray (33.7%), Rhyne Howard (34.9%), DeWanna Bonner (30.2%), Diana Taurasi (34.9%), and Stefanie Dolson (46.7%).

Copper’s three-level scoring was elite this season. It combined the growth she saw as a play starter in her last year in Chicago with all that preceded in her playing off-ball as a slasher who’s more than capable of shooting off the catch too.

Another important area of growth for her was as a pick-and-roll piece.

In 2023 with the Sky, she totaled a career-high 246 pick-and-roll possessions.

In 2024 with the Mercury, Copper compiled 395, ranking in the 61st percentile both in time spent there as well as in points per possession — rounding out at 0.922. She ranked sixth amid some of the highest volume pick-and-roll handlers, among names like Courtney Williams, Caitlin Clark, Sabrina Ionescu, and Jewell Loyd.

She’s improving on her reads in this context as a playmaker specifically, but she was able to dictate plenty with her pull-up this season.

Going under the screen simply did not get it done across multiple pockets of the season, as she counterpunched with pull-up threes plenty — getting up a career-high 33 three-point attempts out of pick-and-roll in 2024.

In the clutch this season, no one was better or more impactful than she was — full stop.

Her abilities to rise to the occasion, in time on task, whether at a deficit or to stave off opponents, were truly second-to-none.

Snappy playmaking growths

Copper compiled a career-high in total assists in 2024 with 84. She also racked up 35 assists for threes.

With the ways that she’s defended in tandem, combined with how she can engage help defense and the spacing and shooting within that for the Mercury, there’s no reason she can’t average four assists a game next season and rack up north of 250 assist points.

She mentioned her desires and the work in progress taking place for her playmaking — as well as her attention to detail.

In succession with that, came one of her best games in playmaking on the season, which is broken down on film here:

Her playmaking growths, combined with the pieces the Mercury are likely to add on the margins, help optimize her as the WNBA’s premier slasher and will surely see her one up a career-best season she enjoyed in 2024.

More post up’s

Copper is a player who has always taken advantage of smaller matchups with her ability to play out of the post and to manipulate with her size.

Whether it was in her time at Rutgers (where her post-ups saw a hefty 1.268 PPP mark her Senior year), or her time in Chicago (especially after setting pistol screens early in offense), she’s adept at working to angles to finish with consistency.

Whether she receives flex/slice/cross screens, or it’s set up with her screening to flip matchups into the post advantage, this can be a more steady layer of the Mercury’s process next season, inverting offense much sooner and often to tilt a defense.

This season, Copper had 18 post-up possessions and saw a PPP mark of 1.333 which certainly suggests more featuring from there.

Kahleah Copper overall

Copper ended the year with career-high’s all over, great composure while being featured as a top option while also being defended as such, and growths galore. She also displayed growth in leadership as well as receptiveness to coaching, to aid her growth in efficiency.

Defensively, she remains underrated as a well above-average defender.

She was a top-10 player this season, and peaked as high as first early in the season, with her torrid pace set.

2024 was a great year for Kahleah Copper.

Grade: A