Chicago Sky Should Pursue Euro League Sensation

The Chicago Sky may not be looking for a starting center for the next season or two. The team drafted center Kamilla Cardoso during the 2024 WNBA Draft with the second overall pick out of the University of South Carolina.

A collegiate champ, the Sky are hoping to win a second WNBA title in franchise history with Cardoso and teammate Angel Reese. The two were solid draft picks two springs ago, following the 2023 WNBA season, when Chicago struggled with rebounding. They were in the bottom half of the league in that category.

While Reese averaged a double-double her first two seasons in the league, Cardoso has also been productive on the glass for the Sky. However, neither big for Chicago has produced the offensive explosion like former Sky center and newly inducted Hall of Famer Sylvia Fowles.

Fowles was a part of the 2013 roster that saw Chicago make the postseason for the first time ever. The two-time WNBA champion has done something for the Sky that no other player has done for the team.

This league has already seen international talent do well over the years. For instance, point guard Ticha Penichero kept fans and opponents in the WNBA on their feet with her strong passing abilities and flashy playmaking.

Penichero debuted in the league with the now-defunct Sacramento Monarchs. She won a title with them in 2005 and finished her career in 2012 with the Sky. Penichero is originally from Portugal.

Another international talent has been catching people’s attention. Her name is Alicia Tournebize.

The Euro League basketball star is still a teenager, but she is a center that can dunk. Only one player for the Sky has been able to do that. Fowles did it during the WNBA All-Star game.

Another former Sky legend, three-time WNBA champion Candace Parker, has also dunked in the WNBA. Neither occasion was while Parker played for Chicago.

At 6’4” tall, the 18-year-old athlete has shown versatility in her game early on. In seven games during the FIBA U18 Women’s EuroBasket, Tournebize has averaged 12.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. That’s a vast improvement during her six games of the 2024 FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup, where Tournebize averaged just 3.3 points and 1.8 boards a game.

According to the collective bargaining agreement between the WNBA and its players’ union, “all NCAA players who graduate from a four-year college within three months of the draft, or are four years removed from high school graduation, or turn at least 22 years old during the year in which the draft takes place are eligible to renounce any remaining NCAA eligibility and opt in to the WNBA draft.”

Furthermore, “International draftees must be at least 20 years old during the year in which the draft takes place.” Unfortunately, the French basketball player isn’t eligible for the WNBA Draft for a few more years.

While it remains to be seen if Tournebize has any interest in joining the WNBA or playing basketball stateside, the Sky should do more than entertain the idea. Chicago should go recruit the female dunker.

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