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The Chicago Sky had two picks in the top 10 of this year’s WNBA draft, selecting South Carolina center Kamilla Cardoso at No. 3 overall before selecting former LSU forward Angel Reese with the seventh overall pick.
Both Cardoso and Reese promise to be two of the league’s most exciting players for years to come, and the value the Sky has in Reese in particular has caught the eye of the rest of the WNBA.
In the league’s annual survey of its general managers, Reese was voted the draft’s biggest steal. The Sky rookie received 27% of the vote. The second-highest vote-getter in the poll was Las Vegas Aces rookie guard Dyaisha Fair, who tallied 17% of the vote.
Also receiving votes for top draft steal were Atlanta Dream guard Isobel Borlase, New York Liberty guard Marquesha Davis, Connecticut Sun guard Leïla Lacan, Las Vegas Aces center Liz Kitley and Seattle Storm guard Nika Mühl.
Angel Reese Can Show Why GMs Believe She’s the Steal of the Draft Immediately
The Sky kick their regular season off against the Dallas Wings on May 15. With Cardoso out for at least six weeks due to a shoulder injury, Reese should be in the starting lineup and will likely have an opportunity to show why GMs around the league think so highly of her.
A 2023 national champion with LSU, Reese averaged 20.9 points, 14.4 rebounds and 1.9 steals in 32.6 minutes a game in her two seasons with the Tigers.
The Sky lost its first preseason game on May 3 to the Minnesota Lynx, 92-81, before handing the New York Liberty a 101-53 loss on May 7.
Reese finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and two steals in 24 minutes against the Lynx, and she followed that up with 13 points, five boards and two steals in the win over New York. We’ll see what she can do in her debut in Dallas.
Chicago Sky Ready for a Fresh Start in 2024
Chicago finished with an 18-22 overall record last year, the team’s worst mark since 2018, when it finished 13-21. The Sky won it all in 2021, but the team has gone downhill since. They hope to change that this year.
The Sky parted ways with former head coach James Wade and brought in Olympian and former WNBA legend Teresa Weatherspoon, who promises to place a renewed emphasis on defense.
In her eight years in the WNBA, Weatherspoon won Defensive Player of the Year honors twice. The new Sky coach was a five-time All-Star and an excellent floor general back in her day, and there’s good reason to be excited about what Weatherspoon will bring to the mix.
“The one thing I tell all of them is, we all cannot become complacent,” Weatherspoon told the Chicago Sun-Times. “You have to sustain this. You can’t just be OK now, you have to want more. When you walked into camp, you were hungry. You have to remain [hungry].”
“There’s no way to go but up,” Reese said during the preseason (h/t Christopher Smith of ClutchPoints). “We can’t get any lower, so it gives us a lot of motivation, because our team knows who we are. I think we’re gonna come together and surprise a lot of people.”
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