Copper, Sabally, Thomas lead Mercury into WNBA playoffs - ESPN

Kahleah Copper and Satou Sabally sat across from each other at a restaurant in Miami in late January, two blocks from their apartment complex at Unrivaled, for a midmorning breakfast before practice.

They had played basketball against each other for years but never on the same team. They made small talk — how the inaugural season of the new 3-on-3 league would allow them to develop their games, how impressive the resources were at Unrivaled and how having 36 of the WNBA's top players together in one space would create a recruiting frenzy for upcoming free agents.

Only a few weeks earlier, Sabally had told the Dallas Wings she intended to find a new home, making her one of the league's top players on the market. And she had cheekily let her peers in Miami know she was open to bribes and coffee.

Copper texted her coach and general manager with the Phoenix Mercury, telling Nate Tibbetts and Nick U'Ren she was pitching the team to Sabally — and requested reimbursement for the meal.

«What are you looking for with your next team?» Copper asked Sabally as they ate.

«I need to go into a professional organization, top to bottom, where there are high standards,» Sabally recalled to ESPN. «Being surrounded by greatness… I want to be in a place where I am not setting the standard, but I'm living up to one.»

Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner set the bar in Phoenix for the last decade. But with Taurasi likely retiring and Griner rumored to be on the move, the Mercury were entering a new era. If they wanted to contend for a title, they had to redefine themselves and find a new identity.

Three weeks after that breakfast, Sabally informed Phoenix's front office that she wanted to play for the Mercury. U'Ren was already putting the