The WNBA playoff door has already closed on the Chicago Sky, but their biggest star isn’t going through the motions to close out the regular season.
Following Saturday’s 94-84 loss to the Connecticut Sun, second-year forward Angel Reese was asked about what she and her teammates use as motivation with little to play for in terms of the standings.
Reese responded that she goes up against “the best talent every single night” and that “not everybody gets this opportunity.”
“We don’t take it for granted,” she said.
When watching the 2024 postseason, Reese was confident the Sky would get there this year. Instead, Chicago is tied for the WNBA’s second-worst record (9-27) and on pace to have the second-lowest winning percentage in franchise history.
Losing five-time All-Star Courtney Vandersloot to a torn ACL in June was a massive blow for a team that already had some depth problems at point guard. Reese and Ariel Atkins, another big offseason addition along with Vandersloot, have missed time through injuries as well. That helps to partially explain why things have spun off the rails.
The Sky have eight games left in the regular season. If nothing else, everybody on their roster should treat those as auditions for 2026.
Reese, Kamilla Cardoso, Hailey Van Lith and Maddy Westbeld are the only players signed with Chicago next year. Almost every veteran in the WNBA is going to be a free agent, so this team will look a lot different one summer from now.
The Sky players hitting the open market will want to bump their value up a bit, while the four coming back can show the front office why they remain long-term building blocks.