“To me, she’s the sixth woman of the year already.”
A pretty bold statement not even a month into the season but first-year Chicago Sky head coach Teresa Weatherspoon had seen enough. The Sky had just beaten the Washington Mystics 79-71 in front of a sellout crowd at Capital One Arena in D.C. and despite it being a homecoming for teammate and Maryland native Angel Reese, Chennedy Carter had stolen the show by scoring 25 points off the bench. It was a season-high for Carter and the most points scored off the bench in the WNBA since another current Sky player, Marina Mabrey scored 28 for the Dallas Wings in 2021.
Coach Spoon on Chennedy Carter: “To me, she’s the Sixth Woman of the Year already.” pic.twitter.com/Ln7pVf6udm
— CHGO Sky (@CHGO_Sky) June 7, 2024
Prior to her first start of the season on June 16th, Carter was leading all bench players in scoring and was top ten in steals and assists. Add in the rest of the league and she is down to the 28th leading scorer in the league, but she’s the only player in the top thirty doing it in less than 20 minutes per game.
And the scoring punch Carter provides doesn’t just benefit her own statbook, it lifts the Sky as a whole. For the 2024 season, Chicago has an offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) of 97.4, which is ninth in the league. When Carter is on the floor, she brings an offensive rating up to 105.
That success for Carter was coming at a time of stagnating offense for Chicago’s starting unit and the noise around social media began begging for the star of the second unit to step into the starting role.
That eventually happened against the Indiana Fever and it came without any kind of drop off in production. Carter scored 18 points as the Sky lost a tough one late against Indiana, but it seemed like the offensive woes for Chicago had been broken.
The following game against Dallas again saw Carter starting and Chicago flourishing on the offensive end of the court. The Sky took down the injury plagued Wings, 83-72 with Carter scoring 19 points on 8-10 shooting from the field.
After the game Carter was blunt about her feelings on the role change, saying “I’m feeling great in the starting role.”
She went on to add, “My ability to space the floor…when I am in attack mode things are constantly happening. I think it’s a testament to me coming off the bench and being comfortable in that mode and working on my game no matter what and when my number is called, I’m ready.”
When asked how it felt to be in the starting lineup, Carter was quick with a response, “It’s the role I wanted. I was ready for it…I was excited.” Her teammate and co-starting guard Marina Mabrey quipped while sitting beside her “I was excited too.”
Changing and adapting to new roles has been nothing new to Carter who has had to wear a number of hats and has been given a number of labels during her short time in the league. She was a McDonald’s All-American coming out of high school and turned that into an All-American career at Texas A&M. Along the way she was also named the national Freshman of the Year in 2018 and became the first player in Texas A&M history to be named to an All-American team in the first three years of her career. This was all enough for Carter to become a lottery pick in the 2020 WNBA draft, going with pick number four to Atlanta.
That time with Atlanta began a rocky period that marked the early days of her professional basketball career. She became the youngest player in league history to score 25 points in a game during her rookie season, but injuries derailed what could have been a Rookie of the Year season. Still, she ended up being selected to the All-Rookie First Team at season’s end.
Later in 2020, her first season playing overseas was cut short due to homesickness. Then in 2021, her time with the Dream would end due to a suspension, and she would be traded to the Los Angeles Sparks. The change of scenery offered little playing time for the guard and L.A. eventually waived her during the 2022 season.
In 2023 however, things began to turn around. Despite not playing in the WNBA at all that year, Carter found success playing in China and Turkey, including scoring 28.9 ppg for Heliongjiang in the WCBA (according to Eurobasket.com). That success would pull her back to the U.S. and she signed a training camp contract with the Chicago Sky, her third team in as many seasons.
The third time around is proving to be a charm, though. Carter’s toughness and explosive athleticism fit in with a Chicago team that despite low expectations from the public (they were last or next to last in many preseason power rankings articles) have proven themselves to be brash and capable while not backing down from any challenge.
Most of all, Carter seems to mesh well with first-year coach and WNBA legend Teresa Weatherspoon, someone who in their playing days displayed a similar intensity on the court. The coach has been effusive in her praise for Carter and her place on this team, saying “One thing that I love about Chennedy is she accepts her role and accepts her role well…and is trying to do it the best way.”
And based on what we’ve seen in 2024, the best could still be yet to come for Chennedy Carter.
