The Chicago Sky have had a shaky second half of the 2024 season. Chicago has gone 2-8 in its last 10 games and faced a plethora of injuries, including a major one to All-Star rookie Angel Reese. Despite being pushed to the bottom of the league standings with Tuesday's Atlanta Dream loss and the Washington Mystics' sudden ascent, the Sky still have a chance to make the WNBA Playoffs.
When the Sky started the 2024 season, the fans and analysts did not know what to expect. If anything, they did not expect the team to perform very well, given the host of changes that took place within a year's passing. Chicago hired a new coaching staff led by Teresa Weatherspoon and had just two players from 2023's roster return to the team. Nevertheless, one of the team's prized 2024 rookies, Angel Reese, believed in the team from the very start despite media outlets' last-place preseason projections.
“Obviously, there’s no way but up. We can’t go any lower. So, it gives us a lot of motivation because our team knows who we are, and being a new team, new coaching staff, I think we’re going to come together and surprise a lot of people,” Reese said after practice on May 14.
The Sky did surprise people. Their record had them as high as seventh place in the league standings before the All-Star break. However, injuries and a post-Olympic slowdown have the Sky partially leaning on outside factors to determine their playoff status.
The Sky can clinch a WNBA Playoffs berth with help from Dream, Mystics
Chicago, Atlanta, and Washington each have one more game remaining. The eighth-place Dream have a one-win advantage over the Mystics and Sky, who both sit at 13-26. For the Sky to take the final playoff spot, they must beat the Connecticut Sun on Thursday. In addition, the Dream must lose to the New York Liberty, and the Mystics must lose to the Indiana Fever, per ESPN Stats & Info.
The Liberty have already clinched the No. 1 seed in the playoffs and just beat the Mystics 87-71 on Tuesday night. It is unlikely Atlanta will beat New York on Thursday, which is in Chicago's favor. The Fever have clinched the No. 6 spot in the playoffs, and are the favorites to beat the Mystics, so the Sky have that working for them as well. The biggest thing Chicago needs is a win over the Sun on Thursday, and it will be no easy task.
The Sky have lost their first three Sun matchups of the 2024 season. Thursday's showdown could be the most intense of them all, given the stakes. Furthermore, former starting guard Marina Mabrey has a chance to knock her old team out of the postseason for good, adding extra fire to the game. The Sky traded Mabrey to the Sun just before the Olympic break.
Chicago has the odds stacked against them, but this team has proven they will not go down easy. As Teresa Weatherspoon has repeatedly said throughout the season, the Sky do not have a towel to throw in. Expect them to bring their best effort for the final day of the regular season as they retain hope for the 2024 WNBA Playoffs.
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