2025 WNBA season preview: Chicago Sky

Back in 2011, Vandersloot remembers, Sky players took their ice baths in garbage cans. The team’s vice president of basketball operations — now in her 20th year with the franchise — filled them, bucket by bucket.

Now Vandersloot is back in a Sky uniform for her second act, returning after two seasons with the New York Liberty. This time, the team has real ice baths — and a real plan. After missing the playoffs for the first time in five years, she believes the Sky are back on track: making the right changes, with the right people in place.

For now, the team still practices in a suburban mall, tucked behind The Dump furniture outlet and three different mattress stores. Clearly, change is overdue.

But a $38 million facility¹ is on the way, set to open by next year’s training camp. So is the next chapter for its sophomore cornerstones, Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese.

This is a team straddling two goals: compete now, and build for what’s next.

Pagliocca, Vandersloot share view on bold offseason

For general manager Jeff Pagliocca, Vandersloot’s return came with a sense of responsibility. You don’t bring back a future Hall of Famer to run a rookie daycare. You add proven stars around her.

Three weeks after signing Vandersloot, Pagliocca traded the No. 3 pick in the 2025 draft and a 2027 pick swap to land two-time All-Star Ariel Atkins.

It looked like a big swing. Maybe even a reckless one. Why give up that much draft capital for a player on a one-year deal?

To Pagliocca, it was good value.

“You don’t pass up on an Olympian, a WNBA champion, a two-way player that is about to go into her prime,” he told The Next after practice on Monday. “If I can get a year with her before free agency and prove to her all the value this organization has, I’d do it 100 times in a row.”

Vandersloot agreed, on both the perception and the logic behind it. 

“It looks like, what the hell is Jeff doing?” she told The Next. “You gave up a No. 3 pick. But you get a freaking Olympian in her prime.”

“He made moves that we don’t usually see in the W,” she added. “He did it a little bit aggressively. But he had a clear vision for the type of players and people he wanted here.”

Atkins checked all the boxes — and she still has room to grow. Pagliocca believes new head coach Tyler Marsh can help her reach an All-WNBA level. When asked what role he envisions for Atkins this year, Marsh responded forcefully: “score.”

“We don’t want to do maintenance work here,” Pagliocca told The Next. “We want to make changes and adjustments with high-level players.”

It’s the kind of investment that, Pagliocca hopes, will convince Atkins to stay long term.

But it also reflects his larger approach to roster building —  one that favors free agency and trades over the draft. He thinks the Sky got lucky in the 2024 draft when Cardoso and Reese fell to them — and he’s not waiting on lightning to strike twice. 

Now it’s about surrounding those foundational pieces with experienced players. Vandersloot — who has front-office aspirations of her own — shares Pagliocca’s view that free agency is the smarter bet right now.

“With 100-something free agents next year, no one’s really thinking about draft picks,” Vandersloot said. “You’re thinking about creating a winning culture so free agents look at you and say, ‘I want to go play there.’”

The draft still plays a role, though, and Pagliocca points to the assets it’s helped them retain. There’s Ajša Sivka, an international prospect the Sky see as a long-term piece, though Pagliocca said they don’t plan to bring her over this season.

There’s also Hailey Van Lith, the No. 11 pick and potentially Vandersloot’s successor, as well as a first-round pick from the Connecticut Sun in 2026².

But the Sky’s preference for the parts they can control is increasingly clear.

New era, new offense

For Pagliocca and the Sky, the willingness to take risks and make trades reflects a broader shift happening across the league.

Back in 2011, when the Sky were still icing in trash bins, players often spent their entire careers in one place. Think Diana Taurasi in Phoenix and Sue Bird in Seattle. Even Vandersloot stayed in Chicago for over a decade.

Now players change teams more often, and Pagliocca’s dealmaking reflects the modern landscape.

So does the new roster’s style of play.

Under former head coach Teresa Weatherspoon, the Sky attempted just 14.5 3-pointers per game — a number more in line with 2010 league averages than today’s offenses. That won’t fly under Marsh, who comes from a Las Vegas Aces system that launched more than 26 threes per game last season.

The Sky retooled accordingly, adding veteran shooters in Ariel Atkins, Kia Nurse, and Rebecca Allen.

“It’s gonna be really good for us,” Cardoso told reporters at training camp. “We can kick it out, or they can drive and dump it off for us.”

Developing sophomore cornerstones Cardoso and Reese

The spacing is there and the veterans are in place, but the Sky’s future hinges on how well Marsh can develop Cardoso and Reese. 

Both are being set up for bigger roles in 2025.

Cardoso, the No. 3 pick in the 2024 draft, had a solid rookie season (9.8 points, 7.6 rebounds per game) but never looked fully comfortable. She spent the offseason playing in China and returned with a more aggressive mindset. 

“I feel like a totally different player,” she told reporters at training camp.

Marsh’s system is designed to give her room — both literally and developmentally — to grow. On day one of camp, Vandersloot raved about Cardoso’s touch and hands. Marsh wants her to be more assertive in the offense.

Reese didn’t need anyone to tell her that last season. She came out firing as a rookie, rebounding at a historic rate. Now, the next step is evolving her offensive game.

Marsh wants her to become a blend of her Maryland and LSU selves — a threat both inside and out.

Extending her game will take time. Reese only attempted two outside shots in her first two preseason games. But the floor around her looked different: Chicago took 27.5 threes per game. And Reese’s motor was relentless as ever. She drew five fouls and posted a double-double in just 16 minutes against the Brazil national team.

“She doesn’t have a ceiling,” said Atkins, who played with Reese at Unrivaled.

How to measure the Sky’s reset

So how should Pagliocca and the Sky be judged in the short term?

There are a few threads to pull. Since the offseason began with Vandersloot, start there: does she still have the juice in her 15th season? Then comes Atkins: does she re-sign next year? Do other free agents follow? And maybe most importantly, can Marsh become the tactician and developer Pagliocca believes he is?

Anything less, and the Sky risk getting stuck in the middle. Because the rest of the league’s lower tier didn’t stand still. The Los Angeles Sparks added All-WNBA guard Kelsey Plum. The Atlanta Dream signed Olympians Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones. And the Dallas Wings landed rookie phenom Paige Bueckers through the draft.

Those teams will be standing in the way of a playoff spot. But as Vandersloot said on day one: a lot has changed in Chicago. If the Sky’s vision holds, and their young core grows the way they believe it can, this could be just the beginning.

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Want more team-by-team previews for the 2025 WNBA season? Read them all here!

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1. The cost of construction may increase. ↩︎
2. The Sky can swap Connecticut’s pick with the Phoenix Mercury’s first-round pick. ↩︎