PHOENIX – The Phoenix Mercury are in free fall. After a soul-crushing sixth straight loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday, the atmosphere inside the Mortgage Matchup Center was thick with despair. But according to sources close to the team, the real story is far more complicated — and far more alarming — than a simple losing streak.
Just one season removed from a WNBA Finals appearance, the Mercury now resemble a shell of that contender. Two weeks ago, star forward Alyssa Thomas publicly pointed to a glaring lack of defense as the team’s fatal flaw. But now, insiders say the cracks run deeper — and involve a surprising disconnect between the locker room and the front office.
In the fourth quarter of Sunday’s blowout, head coach Nate Tibbetts pulled the plug, benching all his starters. While the players remained engaged on the sideline, sources say the frustration was palpable. Yet, one player seemed almost unfazed. That player, according to reports, is Kahleah Copper.
When asked how the team can prevent morale from tanking entirely, Copper reportedly channeled the memory of her 2021 WNBA championship run with the Chicago Sky — a season that also began with a miserable seven-game losing streak. “I lost seven straight. I won a championship. That’s just what’s in my mind right now,” Copper told reporters. “I do want to come out of it. But just every day, not falling into the record and what that says and whatever. We have to hold this standard of what it takes to be a championship team. It doesn’t carry over just because you did it. Everybody here is a piece of a puzzle. You have to bring it every single night.”
That sentiment has reportedly struck a chord with some teammates, but others are allegedly struggling to buy in. And Tibbetts, for his part, offered a far shorter — and notably more guarded — response when the same question was posed to him. “When you start to lose, people hang their heads. We’re gonna get this figured out. It doesn’t feel like it right now, but we’re gonna keep working,” he said in a press conference lasting barely three minutes.
Insiders tell us that this discrepancy in tone — Copper’s defiant optimism versus Tibbetts’ terse, almost defensive stance — could be a sign of a brewing rift. But for now, both sides are reportedly aligned on one goal: stop the bleeding before it becomes a catastrophe.
The Mercury’s struggles are compounded by disastrous free-agency decisions and the absence of a meaningful draft pick — a hole that Minnesota’s Olivia Miles exploited ruthlessly on Sunday, slicing through Phoenix’s defense like a seasoned veteran. Sources say the front office is already scrambling behind the scenes to make a move, but with limited assets, the options are reportedly grim.
Wednesday night’s game now looms as a potential breaking point. If the Mercury lose again, speculates one insider, “it could open the door for more serious internal conversations about the direction of the franchise.” For a team that was playing for a championship just months ago, the fall has been dizzying — and nobody in the organization, it seems, has a clear answer.
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