PHX Reporter

Phoenix Mercury guard/forward Kahleah Copper has been recognized with a spot on the 2024 All-WNBA Second Team, as announced by the WNBA. This achievement marks Copper's first career All-WNBA honor.

Copper joined the Mercury through a trade on February 6 and completed her debut season with an average of 21.1 points per game, setting a personal record. She also averaged 4.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, ranking third in league scoring. Notably, she recorded nine games with over 30 points, second only to A’ja Wilson who had eleven such performances and was named the unanimous 2024 Kia WNBA MVP. Copper made history by becoming the first player to achieve consecutive games with over 37 points after scoring 37 and then a career-high of 38 points against Atlanta and Las Vegas on May 18 and May 21.

Copper concluded the season with a total of 782 points, placing her eleventh in WNBA history for most points in a single season and third in franchise history behind Diana Taurasi's totals from the seasons of 2006 and 2008 (860 and 820 respectively). Her nine games with over thirty points are second only to Taurasi’s record of ten such games during the same period.

At age thirty, Copper was selected as a WNBA All-Star for the fourth consecutive year following her inclusion in the USA Basketball Women’s National Team for the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. She secured her first Olympic gold medal while contributing significantly by scoring ten crucial points in the final quarter of the gold medal match.

With this accolade, Copper becomes the eighth player from Phoenix Mercury to be named to an All-WNBA Team. She joins notable names like Taurasi (with fourteen selections), Brittney Griner (six), Skylar Diggins-Smith (three), Jennifer Gillom (two), Penny Taylor (two), DeWanna Bonner (one), and Cappie Pondexter (one). Among them, only Taurasi and Diggins-Smith have earned this honor during their inaugural season with Mercury.

The selection process for the All-WNBA Teams involved votes from a national panel comprising sixty-eight sportswriters and broadcasters. Players were chosen without consideration for specific positions; each First Team vote awarded five points while each Second Team vote contributed three points.