Q&A with Kahleah Copper: Gatorade, 3-point shooting and the new Chicago Sky

Over the WNBA offseason, the Chicago Sky lost several of the most decorated players in franchise history. Luckily, they still had Kahleah Copper.

This was supposed to be a down season for the Chicago Sky, after legendary stars Courtney Vandersloot and Candace Parker left in free agency and guard Allie Quigley opted to sit out the season. But after playing the past few seasons in a supporting role, Kahleah Copper has stepped forward, keeping the Sky competitive and in the playoff hunt.

Copper recently spent some time talking with FanSided about her new campaign with Fast Twitch, a new energy drink from Gatorade. The brand is making its mark on a new generation of female athletes with its upcoming release of the “Game Changer Collection,” a limited-edition series that pays tribute to the incredible athletes of the WNBA, celebrating their electrifying performances and contributions to the sport.

The collection features three of the most electric players in the WNBA — Copper, Candace Parker and Elena Delle Donne. These are the first athletes to be featured on Fast Twitch bottles, and fans have the opportunity to take home the full collection by heading to fasttwitchenergy.gatorade.com. One lucky winner and a friend will also get to experience the energy of the WNBA with tickets to the WNBA Finals.

FanSided: Can you talk a little bit about this campaign with Fast Twitch and Gatorade and what does it mean to be included? Alongside legends like Candice Parker and Elena Delle Donne?

Kahleah Copper: I think it’s special., I grew up admiring these players and drinking Gatorade, you know, never imagined as this young girl playing basketball, buying gallery watching Candace play watching Elena play right there in Delaware that I imagined I will be a part of something so special and something so much bigger than myself and something that I can use and pour back into my community.

The way that the branding is set up, it seems like it really goes hand in hand with the idea of advocating for and inspiring the next generation. I know that’s a big part of the WNBA’s mission. How much of a bonus is that factor a bonus for you?

Copper: I think inspiring the next generation is so important. I just think about if I had a ‘me’ as a kid. You know, when I have my camp and I’m spending this time with these young girls and they just have direct access to a WNBA player, a WNBA champion, you know, you just don’t have these opportunities. So, you know, the kids just want to learn. They want to hear about your experiences and everybody has a have a different story. And my story is unique so you know they can relate and when you can directly relate to someone’s stories, it’s super inspiring. It just makes me want to keep going.

This is your seventh year with the Chicago Sky but your first without Courtney Vandersloot. You’ve sort of stepped into this offensive leader role, leading scorer, taking all the shots. How does it feel to be front and center for this organization that you’ve been with for so long?

Copper: I think you know, walking into it, I never thought it would be easy, but it’s different. It was different, but I think my teammates and our coaching staff made the transition easier. I think that we have a competitive group, a group that wants to win and you know, everybody’s on the same page, how we want to do things as far as our culture. But I think I have no complaints. You know, I think we’ve had a lot of adversity this year, but the way we handled it, I don’t think I would rather do it with another group.

I was combing through some organizational leaderboards before we hopped on the call and obviously, the names Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley their names are everywhere. I don’t know if you know this but you’re fifth all-time in total minutes played for the franchise. I did some back-of-the-envelope calculations and if you finish this year, two more years with the Sky, you could move into third — pass Tamera Young and Sylvia Fowles. What would that mean to be right up there with Quigley and Sloot these other franchise legends?

Copper: It would be nice, you know, moving up the ladder I think this organization has been special. You know, coming from Washington, this kid getting traded to Chicago. And everything happened really fast. And, you know, for me to look back at it years later, you know, chasing all-time top scorers chasing, all-time top in minutes. Never did I imagine. So, I just want to really just keep playing till I’m at the top. It’s great.

I’m wondering if you can specifically talk about your 3-point shooting which is through the roof this year, well over 40 percent. You’ve always been a good 3-point shooter but never quite at this elite level. What’s changed for you this year? What’s working from beyond the arc?

Copper: I just think coming into this year, or any year, I want to do better in some aspects. So for me, I’m just known for my quick first step. So I’m just trying to make the defense throw me some different, some different things. So now the 3 is I’m hitting, so now you got to come guard me at the 3 and it’s already hard to get me on off the bounce. So I want to be hard to guard. So this offseason was big for me just working and just getting a lot of shots up and really feeling comfortable and confident in that shot.

Was there anything specific you did with your offseason workout regimen to prepare for that?

Lots of reps. That’s just a lot of shots every day in the offseason. You know it’s funny because like, you know you talk about the percentages and how it’s gotten better. But nobody really sees the work that you really got to put in for that. But I think this offseason, I had some time. I had some time to really work on my game. So I appreciated that time and I took advantage of it.

The Sky are right in the thick of things in that second tier in the standings right behind the Liberty, the Sun and the Aces. I don’t know that everybody expected you to be right there this year but did you all expect to be right there?

I think that for me, I had this confidence in this group and the players. The players that we went out and got, I knew they were competitors. And I knew we were it was gonna take time, you know for us to just figure it out. But I never expected us to be last and you know, I heard all the chatter just about you know, they said the sky was falling. They said all kinds of things.

But I had confidence in his group and then coming in really getting after it with this team every day. Even during the six-game skid, we had the same energy we were coming in every single day and working on getting better. We never really put our heads down. And I knew when we figure things out we were going to be really good.

How far can this team go this year? Can you knock off those giants at the top?

Copper: I want to make the playoffs. Let’s start there. We want to make the playoffs and then you know it’s 0-0 for everybody. So after that, it’s a new game and everything’s up for grabs. So I just want to focus on us being the best versions of ourselves and us continuing to get better and build on what we have. And you know, once we get into the playoffs, we just we’re going to try and make some noise.

*This interview was lightly edited for brevity and clarity.*

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