LAS VEGAS — Tuesday will likely be the Sky‘s last game this season as currently constructed.
The Sky’s 9 p.m. game against the Aces is their last ahead of the All-Star break, which leads into a nearly month-long WNBA hiatus for the Olympics. The Sky are the only team in the WNBA without a single rostered Olympian. When they return to play on Aug. 15 against the Mercury either a trade or signing a new player to a seven-day contract will have been executed by Sky general manager Jeff Pagliocca.
Trading guard Dana Evans is an option being considered, according to multiple league sources.
Evans will be a restricted free agent in January, which means that Pagliocca will have the option to match any offer she’s presented to keep her with the the Sky. However, the question is does Evans have a fruitful future in Chicago?
If the answer is no and the franchise has no intention of matching any offer she gets as a free agent, then trading Evans is the pertinent option in order to ensure they get a return.
Now, there’s certainly a scenario in which Evans remains in Chicago through the end of the season. First, if Pagliocca can’t get a valuable return for Evans now there would be no sense in moving her. However, it’s clear, based on Evans’ minutes, that the Sky don’t presently see her as a cornerstone to their success, which leads to the other possibility that could keep her in Chicago.
Evans remaining in Chicago in the long term would have to mean space is cleared in the team’s backcourt.
The Sky’s backcourt is crowded and yet is still without a long-term option at point guard. Evans was tapped as the Sky’s starting point guard through the first 12 games of the season before she was promptly replaced by Lindsay Allen. Guard Chennedy Carter replaced wing Diamond DeShields.
The only valuable trade asset beyond Evans is Marina Mabrey. However, Mabrey’s three-point production — even while in a slump — is not sensible for the Sky to part trade away. Her max-protected veteran contract, which runs through the 2025 season, is not going to be an easy one to sell other teams on, either.
Aug. 20 is the WNBA trade deadline, five days after the Sky return to play following the Olympic break.
The second option aside from the above trade scenarios is Pagliocca signing a player to a seven-day contract. The Sky are currently playing with 10 available players, which means that Pagliocca could sign a player without trading anyone.
He could have signed someone at the beginning of July after waiving guard Kysre Gondrezick. His delay in doing so could be for multiple reasons. The first is the most obvious in that he doesn’t see any valuable options to meet the Sky’s needs on the waiver market.
The Sky is in need of a big guard to help Mabrey space the floor with their three-point shooting.
Currently, the strongest option for Pagliocca there is the Sky’s 13th overall pick who they waived at the beginning of the season: Brynna Maxwell. However, it’s unlikely that she’s even WNBA ready, considering she hasn’t been with a team since being waived by the Sky.
The other factor in Pagliocca’s decision not to sign anyone ahead of the break is the salary cap. The Sky currently have just under $200,000 in cap space, according to HerHoopStats.com, which is the most in the league by a considerable margin.
The Sparks ($147,902) have the second most cap space and the Mystics are third ($85,895).
Maintaining that cap space could be another indication that Pagliocca is valuing a trade over signing a player to a temporary contract.
