{"id":619866,"date":"2026-05-02T20:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T20:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/619866\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T20:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T20:27:09","slug":"sydney-taylor-gives-the-sky-something-to-think-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/619866\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney Taylor gives the Sky something to think about"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before the Sky\u2019s<\/a> preseason matchup against the Dream, most fans had no clue who Sydney Taylor was.<\/p>\n

They do now.<\/p>\n

Her second-half scoring burst brought a sleepy Wintrust Arena back to life.<\/p>\n

The young guard entered the game in attack mode, breaking down defenders and scoring at every level. She finished with 24 points on 7-of-13 shooting \u2014 almost as many points as the entire Sky team scored in the first half.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you saw today is what she does,\u201d coach Tyler Marsh said. \u201cShe can light it up quickly. Everyone could use a scorer like that. She has no fear. She believes every shot is going in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor\u2019s buckets came against Dream reserves Wednesday night. But her performance throughout training camp has showed how her speed, handle and shooting translate to the WNBA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just got my opportunity,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cI\u2019m grateful to be here, I\u2019m grateful I got the opportunity to go out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor played college ball at the University of Massachusetts, a mid-major program, before transferring to Louisville for her final season. She went undrafted in 2024, then played professionally first in Lithuania, then Poland.<\/p>\n

She believes overseas competition helped prepare her to adapt to a faster pace of play \u2014 and toughened her up.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverseas is an experience,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cYou really have to love the game of basketball to go seven months away from family. You don\u2019t have a lot of resources, you don\u2019t have a lot of recovery. I think it makes you a little more tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

This offseason, the Sky front office was hunting for athletic shooting guards who had been productive overseas. Taylor stood out. She averaged 22.7 points per game on 40.8% shooting from 3-point range with her Polish club, though that percentage dipped to 32.6% in EuroCup play.<\/p>\n

General manager Jeff Pagliocca contacted Taylor\u2019s agent right after her club season ended.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my first training camp, so I said, sign me up,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n

In her first few days in Chicago, Taylor admitted she was starstruck by veteran guards Skylar Diggins<\/a> and Courtney Vandersloot, players she grew up watching. But she has impressed Marsh throughout camp with her shot-making and confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeen doubted my whole life,\u201d Taylor said after her preseason breakout. \u201c\u2018Mid-major, she can\u2019t do it, didn\u2019t get drafted, still can\u2019t do it.\u2019 There\u2019s so many doubters, so many haters \u2014 just trying to prove them wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor survived the first wave of training camp cuts, as the Sky have waived Jordan Hobbs, Megan Nestor and Sidney Cooks over the last several days. The final two roster spots will come down to six players: Taylor, Hailey Van Lith, Maddy Westbeld, Aicha Coulibaly, Latasha Lattimore and Tonie Morgan.<\/p>\n

Van Lith and Westbeld should have the inside track given their year of experience with the team, but nothing is set in stone. The front office wanted the final decisions to be difficult, and Taylor is making sure they are.<\/p>\n

The team also has two developmental roster spots available, which Taylor said she would be open to. The catch: the new system is designed to benefit players, not teams. The Sky would have to waive her first \u2014 giving another team the chance to claim her for a full roster spot. And if signed to a developmental deal, she could still be poached by another franchise offering a full spot at any point.<\/p>\n

Marsh said it himself: many teams could use a scorer like Taylor. She has until May 7, the date final rosters are due, to make sure he doesn\u2019t forget that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before the Sky\u2019s preseason matchup against the Dream, most fans had no clue who Sydney Taylor was. They…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-619866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}