PHOENIX — After the Las Vegas Aces swept the Phoenix Mercury in the 2025 WNBA Finals in October, Kahleah Copper gathered her teammates in a huddle as the Aces celebrated on Phoenix’s court.
“After the game, I just wanted us to feel it. I wanted us to hear the celebrations. I wanted us to really feel the moment, feel the hurt,” Copper said immediately after. “Let it just fuel us for the future.”
It’s a level of disappointment that lingers seven months later as the Mercury prepare to open the league’s 30th season against the same team that ended its championship dreams. And if that wasn’t loss enough motivation, the Mercury will watch as the Aces raise their latest championship banner and get their rings Saturday at T-Mobile Arena (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC/Disney+).
“You would have some motivation too, right?” a fired-up Copper said Wednesday, ahead of Phoenix’s season-opener that doubles as a WNBA Finals rematch. “We just got swept…We want to get that one for sure.”
Kahleah Copper said the Phoenix Mercury are “1,000%” motivated heading into Saturday’s WNBA Finals rematch against the Las Vegas Aces after getting swept last season.
‘You would have some motivation too, right? … We want to get that one for sure’ pic.twitter.com/b9m4sWusl0
— Cydney Henderson (@CydHenderson) May 9, 2026
No one expected the Mercury to go on a deep postseason run last year, let alone make the WNBA Finals. And despite defying all odds, few selected Phoenix to return to the championship series. Being the perpetual underdog is nothing new to the Mercury, who last won a title in 2014 during the Diana Taurasi era.
Frankly, they don’t care.
“We’re not really worried about the expectations of what others think,” Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts said. “Our expectation is always going to be bigger than what the national media thinks. Some national media picked us to be the seventh best team in our league. When we look in the mirror, we don’t see that. We see a team that’s playing for a championship.”
The belief is still there among the franchise. Unlike last season when Phoenix had two returning players, the Mercury have continuity on its side with seven returnees, including veterans Copper, Alyssa Thomas, Sami Whitcomb and DeWanna Bonner. Phoenix lost last season’s leading scorer in Satou Sabally, but the team reloaded with French forwards Noémie Brochant and Valériane Ayayi to collectively help fill that void.
“People aren’t familiar with a lot of players that we’ve put on our team, just like last season. So once again, we’re counted out,” said Thomas, who finished third in MVP voting after breaking her own single-season triple-double record with eight. “We have a lot more depth this year… our defense is really going to be taken to a different level.”
Thomas and the Mercury may not get the national recognition, but they have the respect of their peers. In the WNBA GM survey released earlier this week, Thomas was named one of the most versatile players in the league that forces opposing coaches to make the most adjustments. She was also ranked as one of the top three defenders in the league.
“Anytime you have a team with Alyssa Thomas, I think you’re going to be … a defensive team,” Tibbetts said. “You lean into the things that got us or made us successful a year ago and how can we tweak some other areas that are weaknesses for us. So we’ll continue to evolve.”
With evolution comes adversity, which the Mercury are facing early on. Kathryn Westbeld suffered a season-ending ACL tear in her right knee while playing overseas and Sami Whitcomb is expected to miss 4-6 weeks after undergoing an arthroscopy procedure on her left knee.
That hasn’t dampened the Mercury’s anticipation for another playoff run.
“For us it’s the start of the season, the start for us to set the tone on how we wanted to play this year,” Thomas said. “We have a lot of new pieces that we’re still integrating. They’re slowly coming into training camp, so I think for us, we’re just excited about the capabilities of what we have this year and we’re going to go out there and try to play our brand of basketball.”
Reach USA TODAY National Women’s Sports Reporter Cydney Henderson at chenderson@gannett.com and follow her on X at @CydHenderson.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Phoenix Mercury open season against Las Vegas Aces after finals sweep
