UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The Sky signed center Elizabeth Williams to a one-year contract extension.
“I’m so excited and grateful for the opportunity to represent the Chicago Sky organization once again,” Williams said in the team’s release. “The Sky have valued me from the second I joined and despite my injury this past season that support has never wavered. I look forward to doing my part in fostering an elite culture here and bringing a championship back to Chicago.”
Signing Williams in free agency last year was one of the best moves former Sky coach/general manager James Wade executed before departing midseason in 2023. For a franchise in flux, Williams has been a steady force.
Williams averaged 9.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game last year for the Sky and was named to the WNBA’s All-Defensive second team.
She played nine games for the Sky this year, starting all of them, before being ruled out for the season with a torn meniscus in her right knee. She had surgery in June and has been with the team all season since.
Williams will be entering her 11th season next year. The value she brings to the Sky cannot be overstated from a leadership perspective.
Sky rookies Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso are undoubtedly the future of the franchise. However, Williams has proven to be one of the best rim protectors in the WNBA and a player that both Reese and Cardoso can learn from with at least one more year together.
The WNBA players union has until November to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement, which would move its expiration date up to the end of the 2025 season versus the 2027 season. This is setting the league up for a blockbuster 2026 free agency period and season.
Every roster in the league will experience some reconstruction because almost every veteran is set to become a free agent in some form.
The league announced an 11-year media-rights deal with Disney, Amazon and NBCUniversal in July valued at $200 million a year beginning in 2026. This means the salary cap and player salaries could see a significant spike. This makes it highly unlikely that any player signing an extension or as a free agent in the new year will sign more than a one-year deal, as exemplified with Williams.