Sky trade franchise star Kahleah Copper to Mercury for players and draft assets

The Sky traded 2021 Finals MVP Kahleah Copper to the Phoenix Mercury on Tuesday.

The team gets the No. 3 pick in this year’s draft, a first-round pick in 2026, a second-round pick in 2025 and the right to swap second-round picks in 2026. In addition, the Sky obtained forwards Michaela Onyenwere and Brianna Turner. The Mercury also acquired the rights to forward Morgan Bertsch..

Copper’s abrupt departure — four months after sitting next to Sky operating chairman Nadia Rawlinson as she introduced new coach Teresa Weatherspoon — is another failure by ownership. When the team signed Copper to an extension at the end of the regular season, it was with the promise that the franchise was headed in a better direction.

Six months after the end of the 2023 season, the Sky are officially directionless.

The practice facility ownership touted at the beginning of the 2023 season is still without a location or an availability timeline. As a result, free agents such as Skylar Diggins-Smith and Nneka Ogwumike — who both met with the Sky — opted to sign elsewhere.

According to multiple league sources, the Sky still have a reputation for being in the bottom tier when it comes to player experience and investment. Those aspects contributed to two-time MVP Elena Delle Donne, and Sylvia Fowles before her, demanding to be traded.

When former Sky coach/GM James Wade failed to re-sign his entire championship starting lineup, the franchise balked at the idea that it was facing a rebuild. Wade made a desperate move, dealing much of the team’s draft capital in a four-team trade for guard Marina Mabrey. He signed her to a three-year deal — $202,000 in the first year, $208,000 in the second and $210,000 in the third — even though she had never been named an All-Star.

Then in the middle of the 2023 season, Wade bolted for a job with the NBA’s Raptors.

In seven seasons with the Sky, Copper averaged 12 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists. She really took off in her last four seasons, averaging 16.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and two assists and earning consecutive All-Star nods from 2021 to 2023. During the Sky’s title run, Copper averaged 17.7 points and 5.9 rebounds en route to being named Finals MVP.

Despite the mass exodus of stars in ’23, the Sky had one remaining hope for their future — Copper. Her exit is an indication that Sky ownership once again failed their franchise player.