The U.S. women’s national team had three days off between its Olympic gold-medal game Sunday and a return to the WNBA.
For the Sky, that wasn’t an issue. They didn’t have an Olympian on their roster, allowing them to spend the last two weeks conducting a second training camp. The Mercury, meanwhile, had three gold medalists to work back into the fold: Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner and Kahleah Copper.
The U.S. team’s 67-66 victory against France earned Taurasi a record sixth gold medal. Griner won her third and Copper her first.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said regarding the Olympic break and quick return for three of his players.
The Mercury have dealt with nagging injuries all season.
The latest is a right hamstring injury suffered by shooting guard Rebecca Allen during an exhibition game with Australia. The Mercury don’t have a timeline for her return but said she would be re-evaluated in the coming weeks.
As is the case across the league, the return of the Mercury’s Olympians is a balancing act between getting them rest and aggressively attacking the five weeks left before the playoffs.
Taurasi, Griner and Copper met their team in Chicago on Monday instead of flying to Phoenix first to try to prevent further travel exhaustion.
This week has been more of a review, Tibbetts said before the game with an understanding that “there’s going to be some possessions tonight that don’t look great.” The game against the Sky on Thursday was the Mercury’s first of the season with nine available players.
“The month off was good for us,” Mercury guard Natasha Cloud said. “We were able to take a break. Obviously, [our Olympians] weren’t. They were busy winning gold. For the rest of us, [it was an opportunity] just to get our bodies back and build up, maintain. Then we’re going to make this push.”
General manager Nick U’Ren has helped the Mercury make the most drastic turnaround of any team this season.
After finishing last in the standings in 2023, they’re in the middle of the pack after the break with realistic title hopes if they can stay healthy.
Copper is a major reason for their success.
“You need people like [Copper] in your locker room,” U’Ren told the Sun-Times. “The chance to get them is so rare.
So we were thrilled at that opportunity. Obviously, she’s the second-leading scorer in the WNBA and should be All-WNBA first team this year. That has kick-started us and taken us to a new height we wouldn’t have gotten to.”
Coaching staff
Sky assistant coach Crystal Robinson has not been seen with the team at practice or games since the middle of July.
She was not listed on the Sky’s game notes ahead of Thursday night. Coach Teresa Weatherspoon attributed her absence to personal reasons.
“As of right now, yes,” Weatherspoon said when asked if she was still part of the coaching staff. “That will be a conversation I have with [general manager] Jeff [Pagliocca].”
Robinson’s nine-year WNBA career from 1999 to 2007 included four seasons playing with Weatherspoon in New York.
Late scratch
Chennedy Carter missed the game after coming down with flu-like symptoms.
She was sent home to the team housing in Deerfield after spending the morning with the Sky ahead of their shootaround. The team said she tested negative for COVID. Weatherspoon was unsure if she would travel for the Sky’s upcoming games in Los Angeles and Phoenix.
Copper finished with a game-high 29 points in the Sky’s 85-65 loss to the Mercury.
The Indiana Fever, fueled by the buzz surrounding rookie sensation Caitlin Clark, are the focal point for the dramatic increase in the WNBA’s popularity this year.
Six months after she requested a trade from the Sky, Copper’s career-best performances serve as an unforgiving reminder to the franchise that “this was never supposed to happen.”