Kahleah Copper was drafted in 2016 and played in 254 games entering this season, scoring 30 points in just one of them. Through 21 games this summer, she's reached the 30-point mark six times, the latest a stunning 34-point effort in a win over the Dallas Wings.
Copper is tied for the lead league in 30-point games with Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson, and she's on pace to match Maya Moore and Jewell Loyd's all-time record of 12 such games in a season. At the very least, the Mercury's franchise record of 10 games, set by Diana Taurasi in 2008, appears to be in danger.
New Mercury coach Nate Tibbett's five-out system is a perfect fit for Copper, who is one of the most athletic players in the league and an elite downhill driver. She is nearly impossible to stay in front of one-on-one, and when she gets past her defender the opponents often have no one in the paint to protect the rim.
During Copper's big night against the Wings, nine of her 14 makes came in the restricted area. That continued a trend in which Copper is dominating at the basket. There are 12 players taking at least six shots per game inside of five feet this season. Copper, despite being a 6-foot-1 wing, has been the fifth-most efficient at 61.6%. She's also one of eight players with at least 200 points in the paint.
For the season, Copper is averaging a career-high 22.5 points, which is good for third in the league. The Mercury have been inconsistent, but they're 11-10 and well on their way to a playoff return. That's thanks in large part to Copper, who has been one of the most electric players to watch.
| 1 |  |
| The Sun got back on track this week with three wins from three tries to move back into a tie for first place. DeWanna Bonner knocked down a career-high seven 3-pointers in their win over the Dream on Sunday, which was just one shy of the franchise record. This was a big stretch for the Sun ahead of a tough run-in to the Olympic break that includes two matchups with the Liberty. | |
| 2 |  |
| New York's five-game winning streak came to an end in surprising fashion, as they blew a double-digit lead to the Fever. Despite that result, they remain in a tie for first place with the Sun. Jonquel Jones had just six points in that loss to the Fever; the Liberty are now 2-3 this season when she fails to reach double digits in scoring and 15-1 when she does get at least 10 points. | |
| 3 |  |
| A'ja Wilson continued her brilliant season and career on Sunday with 28 points in a win over the Wings, which moved her into first place on the Aces' franchise scoring list with 4,301 points. Wilson is now averaging 27 points, which would be the most ever in a season, to go along with 10.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.8 steals and 2.7 blocks. She leads the league in scoring and blocks, and is in the top five of every major statistical category besides assists. | |
| 4 |  |
| The Lynx got their first taste of adversity this week, as they dropped back-to-back games and lost Napheesa Collier to a foot injury in the process. Collier, who has been one of the best players in the league this season, is out indefinitely with aggravated plantar fasciitis in her left foot -- a welcome outcome given how scary it looked when she limped off with a non-contact foot injury. Even in a worst-case scenario, she'll be back after the Olympic break. | |
| 5 |  |
| Though they did drop a game to the Sky, which they quickly avenged a few days later, the Storm continued to take advantage of their lengthy nine-game homestand; they are 5-1 so far. Ezi Magbegor had a career-high eight blocks in their win over the Sky, and she has now recorded at least three blocks in 11 of their 21 games. She's second in the league at 2.6 blocks per game and is right in the mix for Defensive Player of the Year. | |
| 6 |  |
| Caitlin Clark finally got her triple-double, and she did so in style as the Fever stunned the Liberty for their best win of the season. Clark, who is the first rookie in WNBA history and first player in Fever franchise history to record a triple-double, is now second in the league in assists per game (7.4). She's reached double figures in assists in four of her last five games and will set the all-time rookie assist record if she keeps up this pace. | |
| 7 |  |
| The Mercury closed the week strong with wins over the Wings and Sparks to get back above .500. Natasha Cloud had a career-high 31 points against the Sparks and now has three 20-point games this season; in her first eight seasons combined she had just 10. The Mercury's space-and-pace system has done wonders for Cloud, who is also averaging a career-high 7.3 assists this season. | |
| 8 |  |
| Despite a loss on Sunday night to the Storm, this was a positive week for the Sky. They picked up two more wins to take possession of the eighth and final playoff spot, Chennedy Carter had a season-high 33 points in the victory over the Storm and Angel Reese set a new career-high of 27 points and extended her historic double-double streak to 13 games. | |
| 9 |  |
| The Sparks ended their franchise-record-tying eight-game losing streak in impressive fashion with an overtime win over the Aces on Friday. They've only won five games all season, and two of them have come against the two-time defending champs. Though they returned to losing ways on Sunday, rookie forward Rickea Jackson put up a career-high 22 points in the process. | |
| 10 |  |
| The Mystics finally got back in the win column by defeating the Sparks, but then immediately lost two more contests to remain in a tie for last place. There's just not much to say about this team right now. They play hard and have been more competitive than their record suggests, but they don't have enough talent on the offensive end given their offseason departures and subsequent injuries. | |
| 11 |  |
| Jordin Canada's return was extremely short-lived, as she broke her finger against the Liberty and will be out until after the Olympics. The injuries are really piling up for the Dream, who were also without Rhyne Howard, Cheyenne Parker-Tyus and Aerial Powers for Sunday's loss to the Sun. One bright spot among the four-game losing streak is that Tina Charles moved into third place on the all-time scoring list with 7,396 points. | |
| 12 |  |
| Another tough week for the Wings, who had four games in seven days and lost three of them. They remain in last place and now also have the worst defensive rating (108.6) and net rating (minus-10.0) in the league. They should be fully healthy after the Olympic break, but they may not have much to play for at that point. They're now a full four games out of the eighth and final playoff spot. | |
