What if your franchise legend, the greatest player to ever wear your jersey, hangs it up after last season? With her, the team’s current star and two more starters also walk away. Overnight, you go from a championship pedigree to a roster with just one returning starter. Most teams would panic. Most teams would call it what it is, a rebuild. A time to lower expectations and take the long road back. But not the Phoenix Mercury. They had just lost Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner, Sophie Cunningham, and Natasha Cloud. But Phoenix didn’t flinch. They went all-in during free agency, determined to rewrite their future. And, at the center of it all, was Kahleah Copper.

As the playoffs tipped off tonight, touchline reporter Angel Gray shed light on how the Mercury managed to turn it around. “During her time (Kahleah’s) in Chicago, playing with the great Candace Parker, she realized the importance of playing with a versatile stretch four. So, she dashed forward to her time in Unrivaled, she hunted that in Alyssa Thomas. She said, I wanted to go after someone that I knew was a competitor in her time with USA Basketball, but also she was simply tired of playing against her.”

The first domino Copper set in motion was Alyssa Thomas. After 11 seasons in Connecticut, Thomas confessed the fire to stay with the Sun had burned out. That opened the door for Copper to strike. And what a coup it was. Thomas wasn’t just another free agent — she was the heartbeat of a franchise, one of the most feared defenders and playmakers in the game. She had finished in the top five of MVP voting in each of the past three seasons. It was a big move which signaled that the Mercury still want to be in the “win now” mode.

The other big move Copper made was by recruiting Satou Sabally, another marquee free agent. According to Angel Gray, Copper saw Sabally as one of the most versatile players in the league, a star who could impact the game in countless ways. And while questions naturally arose about whether three ball-dominant players could coexist, Copper had zero doubts. For her, this wasn’t about ego – it was about building something bigger. And how did they manage to lock in that chemistry? The answer was simple: Unrivaled.

The league, co-founded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, started out as the highest-paying league for women’s basketball players and quickly shot up to a $340 million valuation in just a year. But what no one expected was how it turned into a recruiting ground for the Mercury. Copper, Thomas, and Sabally may have played for different Unrivaled teams, but with the same facility for practices and games, they had all the time to connect and build trust. The chemistry was already there before they even put on a Mercury jersey. “They grew in their chemistry during Unrivaled and understood what they could do here could be very special in Phoenix,” said Angel Gray.

And special things they have truly done. The trio powered the Mercury to 27 wins — their best mark since 2015 and only the second time in franchise history they’ve gone 25+. Thomas has been the engine, putting up near triple-double numbers all season and even outdoing herself with seven triple-doubles in a single year. She also snatched back Caitlin Clark’s single-season assist record, which belonged to Thomas in 2023. Add to that her top-six rankings in assists, rebounds, and steals, and it’s no surprise her name is right back in the MVP talks.

Kahleah Copper herself had to sit out 15 games with knee and rib injuries. Even with all that time missed, she still finished as the team’s second-leading scorer at 15.6 points per game, just behind Satou Sabally’s 16.3. But, yes, seems like none of this would have happened without Unrivaled. As LaChina Robinson and Pam Ward said, “Sounds like Unrivaled is a big recruiting ground.”

And while the big three have rightfully earned plenty of praise, Phoenix’s rookie class deserves just as much love for the way they’ve stepped up.

Phoenix Mercury’s “outside of the box” recruiting comes clutch

It wasn’t just Copper who spent time on the sidelines this season. Thomas missed five games with a calf injury, and Sabally was out for five with an ankle issue. It wasn’t the smoothest ride for the Mercury by any means, but their rookie class kept things steady and made sure the season didn’t fall apart.

Heading into the 2025 draft, the Mercury didn’t have a pick. So instead of chasing young rookies with big upside, the front office went for undrafted players closer to 28, the league’s sweet spot, rather than prospects who would need time to develop. In came Westbeld(29), Kitija Laksa(29), Lexi Held(25) and Monique Akoa Makani (24).

These rookies, even if technically they aren’t, have logged 35 percent of Phoenix’s minutes this season. That’s a number you usually see on rebuilding teams, like Dallas, where first-year players account for 37 percent of the Wings’ minutes. They have made their mark from deep. Together, they’ve hit 145 three-pointers, the most ever in WNBA history for a non-expansion team. Akoa Makani is second in the league among first-years, and Westbeld is also in the top six.

Under coach Nate Tibbets, the Phoenix Mercury have put together a team with enough firepower to make a real run for the championship. But the road won’t be easy. Can the Mercury pull it off? Let us know in the comments!