The Sky seemed to be building for the future but surprisingly fired their coach Thursday. What does it mean for Angel Reese and Chennedy Carter?
Two days after Curt Miller and the Los Angeles Sparks parted ways, the Chicago Sky fired Teresa Weatherspoon. Miller had just completed his second season in L.A., Weatherspoon her first.
Both were surprising moves. Neither team was expected to reach the playoffs this year — the Sky were last in ESPN’s preseason WNBA Power Rankings — and the coaches appeared to have significant support from players.
Led by Weatherspoon, who played eight seasons in the WNBA, the Sky established an identity behind rookie forward Angel Reese, who had a league record 15-game double-double streak.
Chicago finished 13-27 — winning just three games after the Olympic break — and didn’t make the postseason. Still, there seemed to be enough positive momentum from the best parts of the season for the Sky to build on for 2025, when they will have another lottery pick (Chicago selected Kamilla Cardoso with the No. 3 overall pick in April).
Reese, drafted No. 7 in April, posted on social media that she was « heartbroken » by Weatherspoon being ousted, which was first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
« You didn’t deserve this but I can’t thank you enough. I love you Tspoon », Reese wrote.
We look at what the coaching move means for a franchise just three seasons removed from a championship in 2021.
Voepel: Not many saw this coming, especially since Weatherspoon has been on the job only since last October. And it was clear she bonded well with Reese, who quickly became the face of the team.
The Sky, an expansion franchise that launched in 2006, have had eight coaches. James Wade reached the highest peak, taking over in 2019, leading the Sky to their only championship and then leaving about midway through last year to take an assistant’s job with the Toronto Raptors. Interim coach Emre Vantansever finished the season, and the Sky lost in the first round of the playoffs
Weatherspoon was hired less than a month after that. She had spent four seasons as an assistant with the New Orleans Pelicans. She had a tall order to try to rebuild the Sky.
Three of Chicago’s top five scorers from 2023 had left the team by the start of 2024: Courtney Williams and Alanna Smith went to the Minnesota Lynx in free agency, and Kahleah Copper was traded at her request to the Phoenix Mercury.Then Elizabeth Williams was lost for the season in June with a knee injury, and Marina Mabrey was traded to the Connecticut Sun in July.
The Mabrey trade, which included a 2025 first-round pick and a 2026 first-round right to pick swap for Chicago, suggested that the Sky front office was looking more toward building for the future than making the playoffs this year. If that was the case, it makes Weatherspoon’s firing more unusual.
