The Chicago Sky entered the 2025 WNBA season with plenty of hope. A big jump by Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso was expected in their second season, and new head coach Tyler Marsh was supposed to have all the answers that former head coach Teresa Weatherspoon did not.
However, the Sky sit at just 2-6 this season, with their only two victories coming against the 1-10 Dallas Wings. Not only that, but Chicago has lost by 13 points or more in five of its six losses. The Sky have both the second-worst offense and the dead-last defense in terms of points scored and allowed per game (via Pro Basketball Reference).
In short, Chicago needs to find a way to rebuild, and that is typically done through the draft. Unfortunately, they may have missed a key opportunity to do so with a trade that may plague them for years to come.
The Chicago Sky are poorly situated for the 2026 WNBA Draft
Just before the 2025 WNBA Draft, the Sky made a trade with the Minnesota Lynx to get the No. 11 overall pick. While that netted them TCU guard Hailey Van Lith, who has been solid this season, it cost them dearly for next year.
Chicago does not own their first round pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft as they gave Minnesota the full rights to swap. This means that the Lynx, one of the best teams in the league, could own a top three pick next year because of the Sky's trade.
Fortunately, Chicago will still have an early pick because they have the rights to the Connecticut Sun's first-rounder in 2026. However, the current odds would indicate that the Sky will now pick at No. 5 instead of No. 3, which turns out to be a world of difference.
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Lauren Betts, Azzi Fudd, Olivia Miles and Flau'jae Johnson are the crown jewels of next year's class, but after that, there is a bit of a dropoff. That would mean that the Sky could miss out on a potential game-changing player once again.
General manager Jeff Pagliocca made this mistake this year as well, considering he sent the No. 3 overall pick to the Washington Mystics in exchange for veteran guard Ariel Atkins. While Atkins has played well for the Sky thus far, the Mystics used the No. 3 pick on Sonia Citron, who has been a bit of a revelation through the first quarter of the season.
While Reese, Cardoso and Van Lith are three solid building blocks for a struggling franchise, the outlook could be a lot more positive if the Sky had not made these poor decisions.