Teresa Weatherspoon and Sky players GET REAL about their EMOTIONAL season after ELIMINATION!
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4 things we heard during Chicago Sky exit interviews, including Angel Reese and veterans planning offseason workouts
After being eliminated from WNBA playoff contention Thursday for the first time in five years, the Chicago Sky enter a critical stage in their rebuilding process.
Here’s what we heard Friday during exit interviews with players, coach Teresa Weatherspoon and general manager Jeff Pagliocca.
1. Angel Reese and veterans plan offseason workouts
Less than 24 hours after their season finale — an 87-54 loss to the Connecticut Sun — Sky veterans already were making plans for next year.
Guard Rachel Banham said players who are not heading abroad for offseason leagues will host training sessions and practices throughout the winter. That group includes Banham, Reese, Elizabeth Williams and Moriah Jefferson. Other players who remain stateside during the offseason also will be invited to participate in the training sessions.
“There are going to be standards set, and we’re going to follow them,” Banham said.
Offseason workouts are relatively new for WNBA teams. Many players play in another league, either overseas or domestically with Athletes Unlimited (5-on-5) and Unrivaled (3-on-3). Players gravitate toward offseason leagues as a supplementary source of income and an important source of development because of the truncated WNBA season.
As the WNBA evolves to become a year-round employer for players, Williams emphasized the importance of the winter workouts.
“It sets the tone,” the center said. “It’s very common in the NBA for people to do this. As we’re transforming our league and people are staying stateside, it creates a lot of advantages. If you look at past championship teams, a lot of those players had the opportunity to work out with each other in the offseason.”
2. Kamilla Cardoso and teammates head abroad
Sky center Kamilla Cardoso tries to pass over the Fever defense on Aug. 30, 2024, at Wintrust Arena. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
While some Sky players are staying in the U.S., the majority of the roster will play in another league this winter — including No. 3 pick Kamilla Cardoso.
Cardoso will compete for the Shanghai Swordfish in the Women’s Chinese Basketball Association, a league she selected because of its heavy emphasis on post players. While her immediate focus is recovering from a lingering shoulder injury that sidelined her for the last two games of the season, Cardoso said she also will work on her defensive switches, timing on blocks and finishing efficiency at the rim and in the midrange.
Here is where the rest of the roster will compete this offseason:
Angel Reese: Unrivaled
Brianna Turner: Adelaide (Australian WBL)
Chennedy Carter: Wuhan Shengfan (WCBA)
Dana Evans: Beşiktaş (Turkish WBSL)
Diamond DeShields: Undetermined (will play in Europe)
Isabelle Harrison: USK Prague (Czech NBL), Athletes Unlimited
Kamilla Cardoso: Shanghai Swordfish (WCBA)
Lindsay Allen: Botaş SK (Turkish WBSL)
Not playing: Elizabeth Williams, Moriah Jefferson, Michaela Onyenwere, Rachel Banham
3. Chennedy Carter will not play in Unrivaled
Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon speaks with guard Chennedy Carter during a game against the Fever on June 23, 2024, at Wintrust Arena. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
Despite speculation earlier this season, Carter will not be joining Unrivaled — a new 3-on-3 league launched by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart — during the offseason.
Carter previously shared on X in August that she had not been invited to join Unrivaled but amended that statement with a post on her Instagram story showing a screenshot of a text from an agent offering a deal with the league. But during her exit interview Friday, Carter said she will not be playing in the league despite an interest in competing professionally in 3-on-3 basketball in the future.
“I don’t think that they have any interest in me,” Carter said. “So my interest just has to be somewhere else at that point. But am I really good at 3-on-3? Yes. And will you see me playing somewhere in the future? For sure.”
For now, Carter’s primary concern is recovering from a heel injury suffered in the Sky’s loss to the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday. Carter said the injury occurred on her first shot. Although it initially was diagnosed as plantar fasciitis, Carter said the Sky’s medical team is still pursuing the source of the heel pain, which sidelined her for the final two games.
Once she is cleared, Carter said she expects to return to the Women’s Chinese Basketball Association, where Cardoso also will play.
4. Dana Evans still uncertain about her future in Chicago
Sky guard Dana Evans, left, tries to protect the ball from Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale on June 20, 2024, at Wintrust Arena. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
Long before it ended, Evans was blunt about her disappointment with the 2024 season.
The longest-tenured Sky player left from the championship roster, Evans opened the season as the starting point guard — a position she had fought to obtain for four years. But she lasted only 12 games before being supplanted as the Sky attempted to fix their slow starts and unwieldy offense.
By the final third of the season, Evans had dropped deep in the Sky rotation, hitting a low point when coach Teresa Weatherspoon chose not to play her in a Sept. 6 win against the Los Angeles Sparks.
As she enters restricted free agency, Evans didn’t specify if she expects — or wants — to return. Her main priority is finding a fit with a team that will highlight her desired role as a point guard — and to “get back to being Dana.”
“In this league, I feel like you’ve got to have someone that’s going to give you some grace,” Evans, 26, said. “This league is so good, I say it all the time. You’re not going to be perfect. But you also need someone that’s going to trust you to run the team. I feel like that just makes you more confident, not feeling like you have to look over your shoulder and hesitate yourself and doubt yourself ever.”
