Copper, among two others, is out for Phoenix’s preseason home opener on Sunday.
Phoenix Mercury forward Kahleah Copper (back) will miss Sunday’s preseason game against the Golden State Valkyries.
“Last preseason game, we want to be careful,” said Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts.
Copper, an all-WNBA second-team honoree in 2024, is the Mercury’s leading returning scorer at 21.1 points per game. She played in Tuesday’s preseason opener against the Las Vegas Aces, finishing with six points on 3-of-8 shooting in 16 minutes.
Along with Copper, the Mercury will also be without Monique Akoa-Makani (knee) and Lexi Held (hamstring tightness).
Mercury facing WNBA’s newest franchise, the Golden State Valkyries
The Mercury will be looking to pick up their first preseason victory against the Valkyries, who are in their first season as a franchise.
Coach Natalie Nakase will lead Golden State. Nakase, 45, is a former assistant of the Las Vegas Aces, who won two championships in her three seasons.
“I think they’re going to play an exciting style of basketball,” Tibbetts said. “ … Stole Natalie from Vegas, they’re going to try to space the floor and shoot a lot of threes.”
Mercury to introduce new ‘Big 3’ in front of fans
No longer will the Mercury, who have won three championships, be led by Diana Taurasi (retired) and Brittney Griner. Much like our beloved Phoenix Suns, the Mercury will enter a new era of their storied history with a ‘Big 3.’ Let’s hope this one is a better mix.
I asked Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts about the team’s assembly of Copper, two-time All-Star Satou Sabally, who was traded from the Dallas Wings, and five-time All-Star Alyssa Thomas.
“(Mercury assistant) Kristi Toliver and I have spent a lot of time this offseason after we made those trades just thinking about how we want to play,” Tibbetts said. “The real cool thing for us is how they’ve kind of figured it out together. They all complement each other pretty well. My feeling is, it’s pretty easy to play with [Thomas] because she does such a good job of passing, and we’re going to need Kah and Satou to shoot.”
As far as where there could be some challenges, Tibbetts said the Mercury will need to work on end-of-game situations and which player gets the basketball.
“Those are conversations that we’ve had as a group, that we’re going to mix it up,” Tibbetts said.
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