Kahleah Copper’s trade request forces Sky’s hand on rebuild

This time last year, the Sky adamantly claimed they were not facing a rebuild.

It was a logical step after former coach/general manager James Wade’s failure to re-sign any of his championship-winning unrestricted free agents. Instead, Wade tried to save face, leading to a desperate trade for guard Marina Mabrey.

Not only did his move fail to stop the team’s much-needed teardown, but it put the franchise in an even worse situation: playing defense in their own rebuild.

First-year general manager Jeff Pagliocca, the team’s former director of skills development, is now tasked with cleaning up the mess.

“It’s not an overnight transformation,” Pagliocca said. “But we’ve rebuilt with young players already right now, and we have real draft capital with legitimate pieces.”

When Kahleah Copper, the Sky’s last remaining starter from the 2021 championship team, requested a trade, Pagliocca was amenable, and thus able to recoup some of the draft capital that Wade dealt for Mabrey.

But the return for the ’21 Finals MVP — which included the Mercury’s first-round pick this year (No. 3 overall), a second-rounder next year that originally belonged to the Sky and a first-rounder in 2026 — didn’t bring back all of the assets lost.

The most notable asset is the No. 3 pick, which shows that the Sky were forced to be reactionary in their own rebuild.

In a four-team deal, Wade traded two first-round picks (2023 and 2024) to the Wings for Mabrey and included the right to swap 2025 first-round picks. Wade also gave up the Sky’s 2024 second- and third-round picks and their 2025 second-round selection.

If Wade had accepted that the Sky’s championship window had closed and confronted the reality of a rebuild last season, the Sky could have ended up with a lottery pick in this year’s draft without having to trade Copper. The team also could have parted with Copper and gained draft picks instead of regaining what they had lost.

Wade is not entirely to blame for failing to re-sign Candace Parker and Courtney Vandersloot last year, which forced his hand on the Mabrey trade.

They expressed in varying degrees that they signed elsewhere because they believed in their new franchise’s direction. Parker talked at length about the significance of the Aces being able to provide her with her own locker and a state-of-the-art practice facility. This week, she re-signed with the Aces on a one-year deal.

The Sky’s 2023 free-agency failings point to another area where they have been playing catchup: investment. The swift fall from a title team to a rebuilding team could have been prevented had ownership decided to commit to developing a practice facility when Parker signed in 2021.

Instead, three years later, the Sky still haven’t announced plans for a facility. As a result, they once again weren’t legitimate players in free agency, which included Skylar Diggins-Smith, Nneka Ogwumike, Jonquel Jones and Parker.

“We had a Plan A and a Plan B,” Pagliocca said. “Plan A was to take a big swing at two veterans who could make us an immediate contender with a shorter window. Plan B, we didn’t want to patch things together, but we wanted to retool the roster to fit the style of our new coach and build towards more sustained success.”

Free agency made clear which teams are in win-now mode.

The Storm, Mercury and Dream all dove headfirst into their efforts to contend with the back-to-back champion Aces. What’s notable is the Storm’s and Mercury’s turnaround time. A year after failing to make the playoffs, expectations for both teams include deep playoff runs.

This rebuild season will be pivotal for the Sky. From a team standpoint, if they fail to make the playoffs, they will be sending a lottery pick to the Wings in 2025. From an ownership standpoint, if they fail to take major steps toward improving the franchise’s reputation, they will once again be non-players come this time next year.