“It just all happened so quick.”

When Kahleah Copper found out Candace Parker, Allie Quigley, Azurá Stevens and Courtney Vandersloot weren’t returning to the Chicago Sky, she experienced a wave of emotions. They were not just her teammates but her friends.

“To have built such a great relationship on and off the court and for them to go, it was a lot,” Copper told the Tribune. “It was a lot to process in such a short time and then still have to figure out the team … just trying to keep everybody calm and out of the media. We’re going to be OK.”

The two-time All-Star wasn’t too worried. She was built for this. Growing up in “Norf Philly” made Copper a competitor with “toughness” and “swagger,” things she said shaped her and made her harder to handle.

We’re all products of the places and people we’ve been around. For Copper, that’s North Philadelphia and the departing quartet, but now it’s on her to mold the Sky — both in terms of her teammates and as an organization.

With a new season on the horizon, Copper has accepted a new role. She’s the veteran leader now and knows younger players will be looking to her to stay consistent and set the tone. She plans to “walk the walk and talk the talk.”And while fans might have been thinking about what was ending, she was looking at what was beginning.

“This year is very important because I’m now the Sky’s longest-tenured player, which is crazy,” Copper, 28, said. “I’ve had such great leaders throughout my career and it’s important for me to be able to step into this role.

“I think I’m ready for sure. I had great leaders show me the way, and they let me take a back seat but still lead, but now it’s no back seat, I’m driving.”

Sky coach/GM James Wade agrees.

“You can see her grow in front of your eyes,” Wade said. “Every year she’s taken bigger and bigger steps. She’s proven that there’s really no cap on what people think that she can be. She’s burst through every ceiling that people have tried to put on her. And so the next step is this.

“Her leadership is going to be key. She’s the one that’s been around to see our culture grow. So she’s going to be a main proponent of that on the floor and in practice and off the floor as well.”

Copper had been an assistant women’s basketball coach at Purdue University Northwest since 2020 when the WNBA wasn’t in season. Former Rutgers player Courtney Locke hired her, and Copper learned the ins and outs of coaching, recruiting and scouting. It helped Copper become more vocal, a trait she thinks will be necessary in helping bring success to the new-look Sky roster.

“I had a lot of responsibility and I could directly relate to the players as an active player,” she said. “I kind of got to them in different ways and I know how some will respond. So that was a great experience for me because I could see things from the coach’s lens and I could see that the different things was very important.

“I just made this joke with James about when I was doing scouting reports, and how important it is because I spent so much time watching film, breaking film down, and it makes me appreciate the coaches more because they put so much time into it. So you know when they give you a scout and they tell you don’t let your player go left, don’t let the player go left! Some of those small things were funny, but I think that the responsibility and just the communication and to be more vocal definitely helped me.”

Copper made use of that lens during free agency when she helped Wade with recruiting new players. She refers to herself as “assistant general manager.” Copper was “directly involved,” she said, with landing new players Isabelle Harrison, Marina Mabrey and Courtney Williams.

She was “in constant communication” with Wade as the two navigated the losses of the team’s core. They discussed what the roster was going to look like and how to find — and recruit — players who would compliment Copper and the rest of the team.

Chicago Tribune reporter Julia Poe contributed.