PHOENIX – Phoenix Mercury guard/forward Kahleah Copper has been named the WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week for May 20-26, the league announced today.
In three games during the week, Copper helped lead Phoenix to a 2-1 record and averaged a league-best 29.7 points per game on 53.2% shooting and 48.0% from three-point range. In the Mercury’s win over the two-time defending champion Aces on May 21 in Las Vegas, Copper scored a career-high 38 points on 65.2% shooting (5-of-9 from three-point range), becoming the first player in WNBA history to record back-to-back 37-plus point games after notching 37 on May 18 vs. the Atlanta Dream.
Copper followed up her career performance with 20 points on May 23 in Phoenix’s win over the Atlanta Dream and 32 points on 50.0% shooting against the Dallas Wings on May 25. This marks Copper’s second career Player of the Week honor, the first coming in 2022 with the Chicago Sky.
Through five games this season, Copper is averaging a career and league-high 29.2 points, while shooting career highs of 50.5% from the field and 48.6% from three-point range, to go with 4.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and a career-high 1.0 steals. She has totaled 146 points through the first five games of the season, the third-most in WNBA history behind only Maya Moore (149 in 2014) and Elena Delle Donne (148 in 2015). Copper joins Moore as the only other player in WNBA history to average 29 or more points while shooting at least 53.0% from the field and 48.0% from three-point range through the first five games of the season and is currently the only player in the league this season with three 30-plus point games.
The Mercury (3-2) visit the Connecticut Sun (5-0) tonight in the first game of a three-game road trip, before returning home to face the Los Angeles Sparks at Footprint Center on Sunday, June 2 at 3 p.m. Tickets to Sunday’s game and all 2024 Mercury home games are on sale now at phoenixmercury.com/single-game-tickets.