After finishing the 2025 season with a league-worst 10-34 record, the Chicago Sky have a lot to re-evaluate in the offseason. With the organization seemingly at rock bottom, all options are on the table, from firing first-year head coach Tyler Marsh to trading star Angel Reese.
It seemed as if nothing could get worse after the Sky went just 13-27 in 2024. Chicago discovered a gem in the rookie Reese, but nearly nothing else went according to plan.
The Sky responded by blowing it up and fully committing to Reese as their franchise cornerstone. Chicago held the No. 3 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, but traded it to the Washington Mystics for guard Ariel Atkins. General manager Jeff Pagliocca made subsequent “win now” moves by acquiring veterans Courtney Vandersloot, Kia Nurse and Rebecca Allen.
Nobody expected the Sky to win the 2025 WNBA Finals, but the team clearly committed to the 2025 season. The team doubled down on its offseason transformation by firing then-head coach Teresa Weatherspoon after just one year, handing the reins over to Marsh.
One year later, the results could hardly be worse. The Sky appear to already be regretting betting all their chips on Reese, who might have burned her bridges with the team at the end of the season. Chicago has quickly fallen apart at the seams, and hiring Marsh has already seemed to be a nightmare decision.
The Sky were officially eliminated from the playoffs one month before the end of the regular season, but their 2025 campaign had been over long before that. Chicago is easily the most dysfunctional team in the WNBA, and needs to address the glaring weaknesses on its roster immediately.
Sky need to address obvious Angel Reese situation
It is difficult to pinpoint just one flaw within the Sky, but Angel Reese made the team's biggest issue crystal clear at the end of the year. Chicago is currently a team without leadership, and that will never pass on any professional team.
Reese is the clear on-court leader, but she has a long way to go to earn respect in the locker room. Any influence she had as an emotional leader is certainly long gone at this point. Everything fell apart when Reese not-so-subtly put her teammates on blast and subsequently received a team-issued suspension.
Chicago attempted to gain a leader by signing Vandersloot, who re-joined the team after two years with the New York Liberty. Vandersloot clearly has the respect of her teammates, but she went down just seven games into the year. It was difficult for Vandersloot, who is not typically very outspoken to begin with, to lead a new group of players while on crutches.
Chicago's locker room was all over the place in 2025, and the issue clearly derives from the top. Tyler Marsh never seemed to have control from the jump, and his grip on the organization only loosened as the season progressed. If the Sky had not just fired a first-year head coach last offseason, he would easily be the top candidate on the hot seat.
Marsh joined the team in an awkward transitional phase, which never gave him the upper hand. Several players, including Reese, were thrown off and disliked the Weatherspoon firing, stacking the odds against him from day one.
The Sky had too many issues to identify in 2025, but they need to address their clear lack of internal leadership. Perhaps they will move on from Reese in the offseason, but regardless, changes are required.
Sky need to develop consistency
The Sky have obvious ground to cover, but they need to be careful not to overdo it. They attempted to make wholesale changes in the 2024 offseason, a decision that has yet to pay off. Now, they need to avoid making the same mistakes and continue to sacrifice consistency.
Even if Chicago opts to move on from Reese, it is still a very young team. Kamilla Cardoso just wrapped up year two, and the team certainly hopes to see more from rookies Hailey Van Lith and Maddy Westbeld in 2026. Even Atkins, their prized offseason acquisition, has yet to turn 30.
Fans might not want any part of the team to stick around, but the Sky cannot afford another hectic offseason in 2025. They got too over-eager last winter and paid the price, producing even worse results in 2025 than they had in 2024. Rebuilds take time, and Chicago is likely realizing that it gave Weatherspoon the axe far too soon. They cannot make the same mistake with Tyler Marsh, despite his atrocious year-one results.
While a full-blown implosion is still possible, only the team truly knows the extent of the Angel Reese situation. They can only hope that cooler heads will prevail. Chicago was a subpar team with Reese on the court, but an absolute disaster without her.
The Sky have multiple areas to cover in the 2025-2026 offseason, but they need to remain calculated. Another chaotic period will only lead to more losing and prolonged pain.
