CHICAGO — Last year, Angel Reese publicly called out her Chicago Sky teammates for their poor season, questioning the team’s lack of “great players.” The franchise responded by suspending Reese and ultimately trading her to Atlanta after the season.
Over the weekend, the Sky found themselves in a similar situation with their new star—just as Reese’s return to Chicago was around the corner.
Seven-time All-Star Skylar Diggins, who the Sky signed in the offseason, called out her team for a lack of effort, maturity, and “loser mentality” after a blowout loss to Toronto on Sunday. Questions then arose about possible division within the team after Diggins went viral for passing off a question about the team’s halfcourt offensive struggles. (Chicago is third-to-last in the league in offensive efficiency.)
“That’s a Tyler question,” Diggins said of head coach Tyler Marsh.
Marsh ultimately took responsibility for the loss, but the team followed it up with another loss Tuesday at home to the Atlanta Dream in Reese’s first regular season game against the Sky. Reese and the Sky have both maintained that there’s no bad blood and that Chicago helped facilitate her move to her preferred destination.
The Dream have become a true championship contender with Reese, moving to 8–3 after the win, tied for second in the WNBA. Reese has also brought added attention to the franchise, whose average ticket price is $172 this season, up 34% from last year, according to SeatGeek, the highest among all WNBA teams this season.
Reese has continued to express her gratitude for Chicago, while also generously describing how happy she is to be in Atlanta.
“I have a lot of great memories here. It’s always good to see familiar faces. But I’m here with the Dream this time, and I’m excited to be with them,” Reese said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Sky fell to 4–8, including losses in seven of their last eight games. Reese’s departure has also negatively impacted local interest in the Sky who are averaging 7,130 fans per game this season, about 2,000 less than last year. (Attendance is still down 11% even after excluding last year’s two games at United Center.)
But despite the losing streak and Diggins’s call out, the response from Chicago’s players has been noticeably different from last year.
After Tuesday’s loss—which saw the Sky ahead with 5:07 left—veteran guard Natasha Cloud gave an impassioned speech praising the team’s effort. She also showed support for Diggins’s public call out.
“That kind of lit a fire under our ass, and she does that intentionally,” Cloud said. “So while y’all are thinking that she’s kind of going crazy, it’s very intentional. And we responded today. We’re not happy with the loss, but what we all said in the locker room is that if we play this hard … We’re going to be in a really good position.”
Kamilla Cardoso, who was drafted to Chicago alongside Reese, shared Cloud’s optimism: “This game was great for us because now we know we can do it.”
Marsh, who is 14–42 through two seasons as a WNBA head coach, has consistently stated that the team remains “on the same page” since Diggins’s statements Sunday.
“The mindset is there across the board in terms of not being satisfied with where we’re at,” Marsh said Tuesday morning at shootaround.
After Tuesday’s loss, he credited their “veteran locker room” as a reason they are able to withstand conflict: “You want that intensity that keeps a level of urgency amongst everyone.”
Diggins may have been better positioned to call out her team than Reese was. Diggins is an 11-year veteran and future Hall-of-Famer, who has long been known as one of the most passionate players in the league. Reese has had a strong start to her career, but was only in her second season when she made her statements to the Chicago Tribune in September.
Reese also blasted specific players, including Courtney Vandersloot, one of the longtime cornerstones of the franchise. The only person Diggins specified in her criticism was herself.
“We’re pros. We have to all step up when you’re pros, starting with myself,” Diggins said Sunday.
Diggins did not speak to the media after Tuesday’s game. But she spoke to two reporters, including Front Office Sports, two hours before tip-off.
FOS asked Diggins her thoughts on Marsh saying they were on the same page, to which she simply responded: “I agree with him.” Pressed later on by the Chicago Sun-Times, Diggins said: ‘‘If we had a problem, I’d just come out and say it.”
Asked about her place in the Sky’s offense, the 11-year veteran also said the team she envisioned when she signed in Chicago has changed, largely due to the team’s growing injury list.
“What we imagined changed so much,” Diggins said. “A lot has changed. I think a lot of our vision is pivoting. With that, rediscovering what that is—that’s what we’re still in the process of doing. Maybe not what I imagined, but we don’t even have the personnel that I imagined.”
Sky GM Jeff Pagliocca said before the season that Chicago will always be in “win-now” mode as long as he is in charge—and his offseason moves were designed to have the Sky competing for a playoff spot, outside of trading Reese for two first-round picks.
But the team has been hampered by injuries—a few that were expected (Vandersloot, DiJonai Carrington), and some that were not. The most impactful loss came four games into the season when Jackson tore her ACL. She was Chicago’s leading scorer during a 3–1 start, and her loss has thrown a wrench in the Sky’s offensive identity.
Diggins ultimately expressed optimism that things can change in Chicago: “We’re still in the first 25% of the season so I do think that we can turn it around.”
