Kahleah Copper sends a message to the Chicago Sky’s doubters in WNBA free agency
“We’re just going to wait for the season,” the North Philly native said after the Sky lost a slew of stars at the start of free agency, then started a rebuild.
Kahleah Copper has heard the chatter that her Chicago Sky are toast.
Candace Parker left for the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces. Courtney Vandersloot went to the New York Liberty, joining Breanna Stewart on the Eastern Conference’s super-team-in-the-making. Azurá Stevens went to Los Angeles. Allie Quigley, Vandersloot’s wife, is taking this year off — though the 36-year-old insists she isn’t retiring.
Two seasons after the Sky won a captivating championship, Copper’s team is in the midst of a teardown. But the North Philly native has a message for anyone who’d like to write Chicago off.
“Every year, I think that the media and everybody on Twitter who don’t play basketball — everybody has something to say, you know?” she said Monday in a news conference from a U.S. national team training camp in Minneapolis. “And they never believe in you until you win.”
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That doesn’t mean the overhaul has been easy to process.
“It’s definitely been tough,” she said. “Lots of emotions. It was kind of a whirlwind. But recovering.”
Chicago has started its rebuild with a trio of veteran signings: forwards Isabelle Harrison (Dallas Wings) and Elizabeth Williams (Washington Mystics), shooting guard Feyonda Fitzgerald (a Temple alumna long in Europe), and point guard Courtney Williams (Connecticut Sun).
The Sky signed former shooting guard Fitzgerald, as well as former Virginia Commonwealth forward Robyn Parks, to training camp contracts. They’ve both spent most of their pro careers in Europe.
Courtney Williams is the marquee addition so far, for both pedigree and positional need. She helped the Sun reach the 2019 and 2022 finals, and was an All-Star in 2021. She should go straight into the starting lineup as Vandersloot’s successor.
Copper is happy to have Williams, not least from personal experience of having played against her. She recalled a tussle in last season’s playoffs where the two women went for the ball, grabbed it, and simply refused to let go until Williams was standing over a seated Copper with the Chicago crowd roaring.
“She’s just going to bring that competitiveness,” Copper said. “That’s the kind of person I want to go to war with.”
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Chicago’s new veterans are a bit older than Copper, but the 28-year-old is now the Sky’s longest-tenured player. She’s embracing it.
“Have you talked to James [Wade, Chicago’s coach]? I’m actually the assistant GM,” Copper joked. “I feel like people are saying it’s a new era, whatever you want to call it. I’m ready to compete and really take this leadership to another level. ... It’s time, and I’m prepared.”
There’s no doubting the scale of the challenge, though. Copper was preceded on stage by her longtime friend Betnijah Laney, whose New York Liberty has perhaps not just its best ever team, but one of the best in league history. Count the starters fron one to five: Vandersloot, Sabrina Ionescu, Stewart, Laney, and Jonquel Jones. Their combined resumés have three WNBA titles, two MVP awards, seven all-WNBA First Team placements, and 14 All-Star selections.
“I don’t know about y’all, but I am excited,” Laney said. “I think we’ve had some really great pickups, and I cannot wait for the ‘W’ season to start.”
Would she call it a super-team?
“I mean, we’ve got some pretty super players, so ...” she said with an appropriately dramatic pause. “I’d say it’s fair, if you ask me.”
As a sage leader should, Copper preached patience.
“We’re just going to wait for the season,” she said, and there is much to do before the mid-May tipoff. USA Basketball called 15 top players to Minneapolis this week for a training camp, with South Jersey-born head coach Cheryl Reeve preparing for next year’s Olympics. When it ends, Copper is going to the Super Bowl.
No need to guess which team she’s rooting for.
“Fly, Eagles Fly,” she sang. “Yeah, that’s what’s going on.”
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