Kahleah Copper

CTL-E-6182 · Person · other · 2016–present

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07381 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6182.

Kahleah Copper is an American professional basketball player whose championship run with the Chicago Sky made her a central figure in the city's women's basketball history. A Philadelphia native, she played college basketball at Rutgers University, finishing, according to Rutgers Athletics, third on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,872 points and earning tournament most valuable player honors during Rutgers' 2014 WNIT championship run. Washington selected her seventh overall in the 2016 WNBA draft, and she later joined Chicago, where she moved from a reserve role into the starting lineup. Her defining season came in 2021, when she won her first WNBA All-Star selection, led the Sky through the playoffs, and claimed the WNBA Finals most valuable player award as Chicago defeated Phoenix to win the first championship in franchise history. Rutgers reported that she averaged 17 points and 5.5 rebounds across the four-game Finals. Copper later moved to the Phoenix Mercury. Reporting by the Arizona Republic in April 2026 recorded that Phoenix re-signed her for the 2026 season after she helped the Mercury reach the 2025 WNBA Finals, and the 2026 USA Basketball Women's World Cup roster lists her as a Phoenix Mercury guard-forward from Philadelphia and Rutgers.

The record

• Also known as: Kahleah "Freakin'" Copper

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Scan Tail Wave 5 — 747 Program, Wave 12; fifth Scan Tail packet at the founder's 40-record size). Gate A (2026-10-16): Gate A: hand-checked entities.json (3,843 entities, live graph at staging) by name and surname — no Kahleah Copper record and no Chicago Sky or Phoenix Mercury entity exists; CLEAR, no home in graph. Rutgers University exists as CTL-E-1542 (School/university). Supply: Supply: 747 Supply Ledger Tier 4 scan-tail reserve (Scan Tail Wave 4 banked), scan #2170. SCOPE GATE: 747 Supply Ledger Tier 4 scan-tail reserve banked by Scan Tail Wave 4; corpus-gap-candidates rank #2170; Scan Tail Wave 5 Batch C assignment. Vital status: Living — verified active in dated 2026 sources: re-signed by Phoenix on Apr. 12, 2026 (Arizona Republic) and named to the 2026 USA Basketball Women's World Cup roster (USA Basketball). STATISTICS — Counted and dated from opened sources only. Rutgers Athletics (Oct. 17, 2021): 1,872 career points at Rutgers, ranked third in program history by that source; 2021 playoffs 18.6 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists per game; 2021 Finals (four games) 17.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.3 steals per game. Arizona Republic (Apr. 12, 2026): 15.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.1 steals in 28 games in her second Mercury season (2025), when Phoenix reached the WNBA Finals. USA Basketball 2026 World Cup roster: age 31 as of Aug. 6, 2026. No conflicting figures were found among the opened sources; career WNBA totals circulating in secondary coverage were not carried because no league statistics page was opened. MEDIA: photo HELD (HELD — candidate: the 2021 WNBA Finals photograph carried on the Rutgers Athletics report (Getty Images image 1235947465, shown on scarletknights.com). No license is claimed or verified; status HELD under CTL-PHOTO-001 pending a cleared record. — named candidate only; file-level rights verification per CTL-PHOTO-001 still required; no license claimed); chart FILLED (charts/chart-ctl-e-6182-kahleah-copper.svg); video HELD (no matching-entity CTL Short or verified-rights archival video staged); audio HELD (no rights-cleared matching-entity audio staged); map N/A (person record). MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Person record; map specification applies to place records only, per brief (Persons N/A).) | visual_assets = HELD: | chart = FILLED (CTL-created chart (black / deep red / gold) built only from this record's sourced statistics and timeline fact) | video = HELD (Checked against the CTL Shorts Link Map (shorts-link-map-2026-10-15.json, 233 entries) by entity name and titl) | audio = HELD (No audio asset staged. No CTL audio record for this entity was located in the materials checked.)

Relationships

• Chicago Sky — played for
  Kahleah Copper was the 2021 WNBA Finals MVP for the champion Chicago Sky; Copper is homed at CTL-E-6182, whose record centers her championship run with the Sky (2021 Finals Game 4 clincher vs. Phoenix).

Referenced by

• Rutgers University — has alumnus → this record

Sources

• Rutgers University Athletics (scarletknights.com), Finals MVP Kahleah Copper Wins WNBA Title with Chicago Sky, Oct. 17, 2021 (accessed 2026-10-16) — Rutgers Class of 2016; 2021 WNBA championship and Finals MVP with Chicago Sky; playoff and Finals averages; seventh overall in 2016 draft; 1,872 Rutgers points, third all-time per this source; 2014 WNIT tournament MVP — http://scarletknights.com/news/2021/10/17/womens-basketball-finals-mvp-kahleah-copper-wins-wnba-title-with-chicago-sky (primary source · build store)
• Arizona Republic / azcentral.com, Phoenix Mercury re-sign a trio of big weapons for 2026 season, Apr. 12, 2026 (accessed 2026-10-16) — Phoenix re-signed Copper on Apr. 12, 2026; in her second Mercury season she helped lead Phoenix to the 2025 WNBA Finals, averaging 15.6 points in 28 games — https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/wnba/mercury/2026/04/12/phoenix-mercury-re-sign-kahleah-copper-alyssa-thomas-2026-season/89582628007/ (build store)
• USA Basketball, 2026 Women's World Cup Team alphabetical roster (accessed 2026-10-16) — 2026 World Cup roster lists Kahleah Copper, No. 7, guard/forward, WNBA team Phoenix Mercury, college Rutgers, hometown Philadelphia, age 31 as of Aug. 6, 2026 — https://prowly-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/landing_page_image/image/700806/441ad55084d64cef62345af1166db3f5.pdf (build store)

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Record CTL-E-6182 · Combined Graph record U-07381 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources · 2 mapped relationships.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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