Kahleah Copper Basks in Unrivaled's Return Home to Philly

There was no place like home for Unrivaled champ Kahleah Copper, who fully basked in a return home to The City of Brotherly Love.

Photo Credit: Unrivaled

PHILADELPHIA—Kahleah Copper fulfills many roles on the court and carries an absurd number of titles (i.e. Olympic gold medalist, WNBA Finals MVP, Unrivaled champion) that would cover two jerseys. She took on yet another one when Unrivaled engaged in a Philadelphia foray that broke of its Miami shell.

It’s been professionally sunny for Copper since a 2020 breakout in the WNBA’s Bradenton bubble. Capable of bringing fans and opponents alike to tremors, her story began in The Quaker City that hosted the three-on-three league’s first non-Floridian fracas.

“I grew up on 32nd & Berks, and then when I moved to 23rd and Diamond and Raymond Rosen, I heard a lot about Dawn Staley, because she lived there also,” Copper recalled before her Rose BC club took on the Lunar Owls last Friday. “Hearing about her from the those guys in the neighborhood and playing at Hank Gathers (Youth Access Center on West Diamond Street), they talked a lot about her. I was like, I’ve got to be the next one, I’ve got to be the next star.”

It’s safe to say that Copper has accomplished that goal and then some, building a resume that recently added another WNBA Finals appearance this past fall. She’s one of three Rose returnees (alongside Chelsea Gray and Lexie Hull) and the one with the most to prove after missing most of the three-on-three championship run with an injury.

An escape from the pressure and an entry into the cold was thus made just a little more meaningful: Copper and Co. braved freezing temperatures and northeastern ice to look through the living landmarks of her past, ones that made up her time between Preparatory Charter High School and Girard College.

“We see her hometown and just really walking around everywhere and you could just see the way she speaks about things. She’s so excited about this opportunity and this experience, she’s been rambling a lot,” lauded Shakira Austin, a new Rose teammate and one of the followers on Copper’s tour. “She’s probably been the most out of her shell since we’ve been here. This is so good.”

“She’s talking about school … She talked about high school sometimes, other people might skip class and she showed where they would stand. All the way from that to her favorite water ice flavor store, her gas stations that she goes to, just so many different things that like it might seem normal and regular for some people. But when you grow up in this community, that’s what really means a lot to us. So it’s just been nice to see her in her comfort zone.”

Time will tell if it’s enough for Copper to consider a move to Philadelphia’s upcoming WNBA team, which is scheduled to take the floor in 2030. The current desert dweller admitted it would be “cool” to take in the future Delco dramatics firsthand but left it up to faith with her current future not settled amidst the ongoing WNBA labor negotiations.

There are more pressing matters to take care of in the present: Copper was the undeniable attraction when she took the floor at Xfinity Mobile Arena, drawing the loudest cheers when she was introduced through a de facto corridor of fans before the latter half of the two-game showing under the banners of the Flyers and 76ers.

Kahleah Copper took Rose BC through North Philly. Even in the cold, they were down for a tour.

You can see a basketball hoop on a telephone pole, how Kah used to play basketball as a kid.

(via sugsutton, _nrh777, and lexiehulll | IG) https://t.co/8wFnMrFqH1 pic.twitter.com/02L0xjbATp

— haus hoops | wbb (@haushoops) January 29, 2026

Uniting with Austin to score two-thirds of Rose’s tallies, Copper impressed a record crowd with 19 points, and may have a legitimate percentage point among those who turned out: Copper said she had “60-to-64” tickets given out to friends, family, and inspiration, including her close friend and Philadelphia basketball mentor Keisha Hampton.

Alas for those in the Copper camp, Rose fell victim to Marina Mabrey’s historic breakout, falling 85-75 on Friday before dropping an 81-56 decision to Breeze back in the Miami hub. Despite the hardships, Copper continued to carry her sense of ironclad optimism she has forged with her own actions, taking keen interests in off-court affairs such as the WNBA labor strife and the ongoing debate around American immigration policy enforcement.

“Just to be able to be free, to be able to live my life the way I want to live it, comfortably, as myself, as a black woman in this world,” the Cradle of Liberty native said of her American Dream. “It sucks how the world is going right now, families being separated from each other. You take time and you just have to have some humbleness to yourself. It just sucks when you think about what’s going on in the world. But I’m just hoping that things just continue to get better.”

Currently holding the fifth and penultimate playoff spot at the Unrivaled February landmark, Rose (4-5) returns to action on Saturday in South Beach, where they’ll take on Vinyl in the first half of a doubleheader (7:30 p.m. ET, TruTV).

Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags