Ahead of Friday’s WNBA expansion draft, the Sky gave up a modest amount of draft capital to ensure the expansion teams would not select any players from their Unprotected List.
The first deal was a second-round swap with the Portland Fire, sending the Sky’s No. 17 pick in exchange for Portland’s No. 21 pick. They also sent their No. 26 pick — the final selection in the second round — to the Tempo.
In return, the Tempo and Fire agree not to select any player from the Sky’s Unprotected List in the expansion draft.
The Tempo and Fire will build their rosters by selecting players from each of the 13 other teams.
What this deal shows is that the the Sky are prioritizing existing players — specifically holding onto the rights to their 2025 draft picks, Hailey Van Lith, Maddy Westbeld and Aicha Coulibaly, along with point guard Sevgi Uzun.
Teams can protect only five players, meaning Chicago may have had to part ways with one of them. Higher-value players such as Angel Reese, Kamilla Cardoso, Ariel Atkins and Ajša Sivka were likely to be protected.
The Tempo and Fire were unlikely to select any of the Sky’s unrestricted free agents.
For now, the Sky hold onto their top asset upcoming draft: the No. 5 pick. That could yield college stars such as Kiki Rice (UCLA), Lauren Betts (UCLA) or Flau’jae Johnson, according to recent mock drafts.
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