Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- A WNBA franchise is struggling to maintain its rebounding dominance after a key frontcourt trade this offseason.
- The team has dropped significantly in both offensive and total rebounding rankings, while opponents now grab defensive boards at an alarming rate.
- The decision to move one standout player has left too much responsibility on a single teammate and raised questions about the front office's win-now strategy.
The Chicago Sky have been a disaster this WNBA season, and the team's decision to trade away Angel Reese has been a huge part of that. Now, I'm sure the Sky front office had its reasons for making that choice, and trading her gave it the cap space to make some other moves, but still...you can't help thinking that Chicago would be in much better shape if Reese were still on the team.
While Reese is finding success in Atlanta, the Sky frontcourt has struggled, and the team is bad in very specific ways that Reese would have helped fix.
The Sky could really use Angel Reese right now
Angel Reese is very good at grabbing rebounds.
Season | Rebounds Per Game | League Rank |
|---|---|---|
2024 | 13.1 | 1st |
2025 | 12.6 | 1st |
2026 | 12.3 | 1st |
Yes, if you want to get technical about it, some of Reese's offensive boards are a product of her inefficiency around the rim, which creates additional rebounding opportunities, but not nearly enough of her rebounds come that way for her rebounding to be viewed as a negative. No one in the WNBA is better at corraling the ball in than Reese is.
And losing her has single-handedly made the Chicago Sky into an awful rebounding team. The team as a whole is better this season after making a number of additions this offseason in an attempt to elevate the team into a playoff contender, something that didn't quite work, though the Sky will easily surpass last year's win total. But while the Sky are playing better overall, not having Reese in the middle is killing their ability to both generate second looks and prevent opponents from generating second looks.
Last season, Chicago ranked second in the league in offensive rebounds and total rebounds per game. This season? 12th in offensive rebounds and 10th in total rebounds per game.
Things look even worse if we look at advanced stats on the team's rebounding. Chicago is 14th in the WNBA in offensive rebounding rate and last in total rebounding rate. It was first and second, respectively, in those metrics in 2025. Reese was a perfect frontcourt complement to Kamilla Cardoso, but with Reese gone, too much of the rebounding need is falling on Cardoso, which is putting the Sky in a bad spot.
Also worth noting is how important Reese was to keeping the ball away from the other team. In 2025, Chicago's opponents had the lowest defensive rebounding rate in the league; this year, its opponents have the second-highest defensive rebounding rate. That's a stark jump, and it underlines just how much Reese's absence has impacted the team.
And look: you might make the "but the Sky sucked in 2025" argument here. I won't argue against that! They were a bad basketball team. But Chicago made strides this offseason, adding Skylar Diggins among other players. The roster had the potential to make some noise, but it hasn't panned out, and the season-ending Rickea Jackson injury sure didn't help.
But if the Sky had Reese instead of the two future late firsts they got from Atlanta? Then the team would be in much better shape. Reese toiled on bad Sky teams for two seasons and when the team finally decided to build a win-now roster, the result was that she was dealt away to make it happen. If I were the Sky, I'd want a do-over on that.
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