Chicago Sky Season in Review: Ariel Atkins

Rarely can a team keep itself grounded without a proper anchor.

The Chicago Sky, after adding a number of veteran options while gambling away their recent future, learned the hard way after falling to a 10-34 record and tying with the Dallas Wings for last place in the WNBA. The Sky showed some sparks of life towards the end of their turbulent season, but were never able to fully guide themselves toward calmer waters as they stumbled to their worst win percentage in almost two decades. The Sky’s offense, which had been a point of pride for the Windy City squad in the past, sputtered to a spot just behind the Washington Mystics at near last place in the WNBA in offensive rating.

The trade for Ariel Atkins fully signaled the direction Chicago wanted to go in well before the 2025 WNBA draft. The former Texas guard brought in several years of excellence with the Washington Mystics, where she earned two All-Star and five All-Defensive Team selections in seven years with the squad. The 5-foot-10 guard remains Washington’s all-time leader in made 3-pointers, which she reflected in spurts during her 34 games with the Sky. While Chicago may not have lived up to its sky-high expectations, Atkins proved to be one of the few bright spots in what was ultimately a lost season.

In a year where the Sky lacked the playmaking and scoring punch of old, Atkins proved she could at least shoulder a decent portion of the load on offense when needed.

Atkins ended the season with just over 13 points per game while averaging a career-high 3.6 assists per contest. She worked well when feeding the Sky’s bigs on the inside and finding players on the perimeter. The 29-year-old assisted forward Angel Reese 25 times and center Kamilla Cardoso 31 times last season, which were some of the highest on the squad for the young bigs.

Atkins’s scoring performances seemed to be a flip of a coin during her first season with Chicago. Land on one side, and she’d confidently drop 20 or more while looking like a sniper from the 3-point line. She scored a season-high 30 points as she hit jumper after jumper on the Sky’s home floor in late August. Land on the other, and she’d look like a completely different player. Atkins still finished the year with seven games with 20 points or more, or one fewer than her last season with the Mystics, while being one of the Sky’s top scoring options on a team that desperately needed them.

Atkins ended the year with 1.6 steals per game, which was barely her most since 2021, as she continued to prove to be a strong perimeter defender. Her ability to play tough on and off the ball, navigate through screens and know when to switch made her a valuable part of a Sky defense that ranked last in the WNBA and earned its lowest rating since 2018.

Atkins had a knack for starting and capping off the break with a good eye for the ball and the range to play like a safety on defense. She logged four steals on two occasions this season, including in an early win over the Dallas Wings, where she expertly covered a screen and lunged for a key steal while the Sky were up by three. While the Sky weren’t close to their fastbreak production from even a few seasons ago, it always helped to have a player who could at least light the occasional spark and nab an extra possession or two.

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