Your 2025 Chicago Sky Season Preview!

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WNBA season is upon us! A lot has happened this offseason, so I’ve put together some quick and handy guides for every team to help you start the season off right! Planning to go to a game? My sponsor, Turn The Paige Travel, has got all of your travel needs covered! Let’s talk hoops!

What’s New

If you are reading these in order, you will quickly start noticing a developing theme. Head coach Teresa Weatherspoon was let go after just one season in which she had to contend with a roster that was riddled with injuries and ill-fitting pieces. While she certainly got a raw deal, the Sky hired one hell of a replacement in former Las Vegas assistant Tyler Marsh. He developed a lot of the key pieces for the Aces’ back-to-back title runs.

They did lose last year’s leading scorer Chennedy Carter to, well, uhh, look, she’s just gone, okay? PGs Dana Evans and Lindsay Allen were also traded. Who they brought in gives us a pretty good idea of what Marsh wants to do. You want spacing and experience? You got it!

Offensively, Courtney Vandersloot is back and has more left in the tank offensively than we saw last season. Ariel Atkins is one of the more underrated 2-way wings in the league. Kia Nurse and Bec Allen are both solid, versatile role players. It’s also unwise to leave Allen open. They also drafted Hailey Van Lith and Maddy Westbeld.

What’s Good

In a league where you need elite bigs to win, it’s pretty awesome to have Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese with a hopefully-healthy Elizabeth Williams as your bench option. The plan on offense appears to be to have Reese in the high post and Kamilla in the low post. Reese can still crash the glass from here and also utilize her post-passing skills. It also opens up space down low for Cardoso to go to work. Send help? She’s one of the best passing bigs in the W. With the shooting they’ve acquired, that skillset will be highlighted even more.

What Could Go Wrong

This roster makes a hell of a lot more sense than last year’s, but there’s still work to be done. There’s only so much the defenders behind her will be able to cover for Sloot’s struggles on that end of the court. When Sloot isn’t on the court, who initiates the offense? Could get very 2024 Sky out there. The biggest issue is that their key contributors’ best days are either ahead of them or behind them. And, of course, it takes time with a new coach.

What To Expect

It’s awesome that there are now offseason options for players right here in the US with Unrivaled and AU, but the gold standard for development, especially for post players, is still the WCBA. Some basic math tells me that a dominant season in that league + being coached by one of the best player development minds in the league = a breakout season for Kamilla Cardoso.

The Sky’s other second-year phenom, Angel Reese, did stay stateside and participate in the inaugural season of Unrivaled. While we don’t know how 3v3 will translate to the W, she performed well, taking home Defensive Player of the Year honors as her Rose club won the championship. Contrary to popular belief, she doesn’t need a “bag” to be a high-level player. She needs to improve her finishing around the rim and develop a midrange jumper. We’ll see the jumper this season.

Overall, this will be an educational year for the Sky. The young players will learn and develop. Marsh will get his footing as a head coach. The front office will get an idea of what pieces fit with their long-term plans. They won’t set the world on fire yet, but expect to see them in the postseason.

Thank you for checking this guide out! Don’t forget to read up on all the other teams as well. Also, do you need to know which sporting events to watch each week? Subscribe to get my weekly sports watch guide! I hit you with what you need to watch, why you need to watch it, and some interesting stories from the sports world that you may have missed!