The last time the WNBA All-Star Game was here in Chicago, in 2022, the Sky were so much of an “it” team, their stuff practically strutted itself.
They were the league’s defending champions, having dominated Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner and the Mercury in the 2021 finals and raised the city’s first WNBA title banner.
At 16-6, they’d come back to post the league’s best record at the break and had every intention of repeating as champs, something that seemed entirely possible, if not probable. No fewer than four Sky players — Candace Parker, Courtney Vandersloot, Kahleah Copper and Emma Meesseman — were All-Stars, with the great Parker, still delivering the goods at 36, having been made the first All-Star drafted by young Aces star A’ja Wilson, one of the game’s team captains.
“When am I going to have another opportunity to play with Candace Parker?” Wilson said.
If Parker was on some sort of a farewell tour — there was a good bit of speculation about that — she sure didn’t sound like it.
“I just want to get more rings,” she said. ”That’s it. Then what are you going to say?”
Those Sky would enter the playoffs at 26-10, tied for the top record, but fall just short of the finals, a disappointment that — given all that has transpired since — seems a lot longer ago than merely four years.
As the All-Star Game returns to our city this week, marking the WNBA’s 30th season (and the Sky’s 21st), it’s hard to know where to begin to account for all the bad decisions, bad luck and — undeniably, at times — dysfunction that have boxed the Sky out of any sort of a position of prominence in a league that nonetheless is growing and, many would contend, thriving.
Entering their final game before the break — Wednesday at the Liberty — the Sky are 50-100 (.333) since the 2022 season. The record is even worse over the two and a half seasons since Jeff Pagliocca was promoted to general manager, a 32-78 (.291) odyssey during which the Sky have acquired and lost key players, been bitten by major injuries and seemingly ended up on the wrong end of multiple critical deals.
When he officially took the GM reins, Pagliocca said of his relationship with brand-new coach Teresa Weatherspoon — who’d been hired before he was promoted — “The compatibility is in a very, very good place.” But Weatherspoon lasted only one chaotic season before being dismissed. Angel Reese, a gem of the 2024 draft, was here two seasons before being traded. Both developments continued a trend that began when four of five 2022 starters — all but Copper — left in free agency before the 2023 season. Copper wanted out a year after that and got her wish, and Marina Mabrey asked out during the 2024 campaign and got her wish shortly after the All-Star break.
Faces from the Sky’s recent past will be all too prominent this week.
Lynx guard Courtney Williams, who played here in 2023, will link up with superstars Wilson and Caitlin Clark on Team Spoon, which was selected and will be coached by Weatherspoon, one of the early WNBA’s biggest names from her playing days in New York.
Dream forward Reese, Tempo guard Mabrey and Valkyries forward Gabby Williams (Sky 2018 to 2021) will join Breanna Stewart and Paige Bueckers on Team Coop, led by Cynthia Cooper, a two-time league MVP whose Houston Comets won the first four WNBA titles.
Meanwhile, representing the 9-17 Sky will be — sadly — nobody.
Sky fans will watch the exploits of Lynx rookie Olivia Miles and Mystics second-year guard Sonia Citron, too, while experiencing pangs of frustration about what might have been.
After their brutal 10-34 finish in 2025, the Sky would have owned the No. 2 overall draft pick if not for a pick swap with the Lynx resulting from an ill-fated Pagliocca trade; the rich-get-richer Lynx stole Miles, who has been spectacular in her debut.
Citron is a two-time All-Star already since the Mystics made her the No. 3 overall pick in 2025, a pick that was acquired from the Sky in exchange for Ariel Atkins. Atkins, who failed to make the desired impact here, plays for the Sparks now. Also part of that trade was a first-round pick swap in 2027 that clearly weighs in favor of the Mystics, whose 13-12 record is well above the Sky’s. Another fleecing.
Of course, no player embodies the Sky’s descent quite like Reese, who hit the ground running here as both a player and a celebrity but would have problems along the way with the organization as well as her teammates. The Sky had one of the most recognizable figures in the sport but didn’t know what to do with her. They had a budding, made-for-TV rivalry with Clark and the Fever but lost their grip on it.
And then there is the embarrassment regarding the Sky’s new practice facility, or lack thereof. Weren’t they supposed to be practicing in Bedford Park this season, finally turning the page after two decades of calling a suburban strip mall home? They’re out of the mall and — temporarily — practicing at Wintrust Arena, which, oh, by the way, apparently isn’t big-time enough to host this rendition of the All-Star Game, which takes place Saturday at the United Center.
Four years ago, it felt like the Sky had a whole hell of a lot to show off.
Alas, the show goes on without them.