This Chicago Sky duo isn’t working — and the fix won’t be easy

The Chicago Sky have had some bright spots this season — 10 straight double-doubles from Angel Reese, continued growth from Kamilla Cardoso, a six-point win over the dominant Lynx.

But the negatives far outweigh the positives. They’re 7-16 and near the bottom of the WNBA standings. Courtney Vandersloot tore her ACL and is done for the season. Hailey Van Lith, the rookie guard they traded their 2026 first-round pick to acquire, has struggled mightily — and that pick they traded away currently has the third-best odds of landing at No. 1.

And while Reese has bounced back from a slow start, but signs of her frustration are mounting. She’s currently leading the league in technical fouls, just one away from a mandatory one-game suspension. The losing is certainly wearing on her, but new head coach Tyler Marsh may be as well. Reese was crushed when WNBA legend and her rookie coach Teresa Weatherspoon was fired. She’s already complained about getting “cussed out” by Marsh and on Wednesday night, he refused to take her out of the game even as she asked repeatedly for a breather.

Is it a coincidence that she’s listed on the injury report today for just the second time this season?

The bottom line is that the Sky are one of the worst teams in the league and face a big talent disparity, particularly in the backcourt, every time they take the floor. Their best player is having issues with her coach and the obvious paths to quick improvement aren’t clear.

The Chicago Sky might need to make a big trade

The Sky appeared to have locked in their frontcourt of the future when they landed Reese and Cardoso in the 2025 WNBA Draft. However, the partnership has been a disaster so far. Both players have been respectably productive, but the Sky are getting hammered whenever they’re on the floor together.

Neither frontcourt player has any shooting range to speak of, and Reese’s impressive development as a passer can only free-up so much halfcourt space. But take the other scenarios here with a grain of salt — Reese’s solo minutes are only marginally better, and Cardoso’s solo minutes are a pretty small sample. Better guard play would help, but it’s harder and harder to imagine that solves everything here.

Basically, they’re not working together, and the Sky have to consider a trade. But it’s not clear which player you’d want to keep and which you’d want to trade.

Reese may be better, on paper, but there is a reason Cardoso was taken much higher in the draft — she’s a legit center who can anchor a team at both ends of the floor. Her ceiling may not look as high right now, but she may be an easier player to build around with such a clear style skill archetype.For that reason, she’s also probably the easier player to trade.

Reese is already on a historic trajectory, even if it hasn’t translated to wins yet, and brings a degree of attention and excitement that Cardoso doesn’t. But again, the Sky haven’t looked particularly competitive with her as an offensive focal point. You also don’t want to trade Cardoso and then have the situation with Marsh boil over and be forced to trade Reese as well.

What trades might really be out there for the Chicago Sky

The WNBA trade deadline is usually fairly quiet anyway, so there just aren’t a lot of options out there for Chicago. Aaliyah Edwards went No. 6 in the 2024 draft, one pick ahead of Reese, but has been pushed out of the rotation in Washington and could be available. In theory, a one-for-one swap could work, but the Mystics have Kiki Iriafen as the emerging centerpiece of their frontcourt and her skill set doesn’t overlap particularly well with Cardoso or Reese. The Mystics can probably find a better deal somewhere else if they are determined to trade Edwards.

The Sparks are another possibility. Reese, in particular, might be a good long-term fit next to Cameron Brink and Kelsey Plum, assuming they’re able to re-sign the latter. But it’s not clear what the Sparks would be willing to send back that actually helps the Sky. Players like Dearica Hamby and Azura Stevens are both free agents, and the Sky may not want to flip Reese for a one-year rental. The Sparks also don’t have a first-round pick they could include.

The Connecticut Sun could be in the mix as well — with a roster that is similarly unformed, a pair of late first-round picks they could include as well as a young guard like Jacy Sheldon or Leïla Lacan. They could theoretically be interested in Cardoso or Reese but, again, it’s not clear that this is anything more than a lateral move for either team.

Which brings us back to the basic problem. The Sky aren’t good enough as presently constructed, and there are no easy answers for how to brighten their future. They could just roll through the rest of this season, hope they’re able to smooth things out for Reese and then find the backcourt help they need in free agency or with the No. 5 pick in the draft, which is coming their way from the Sun.

That’s probably the most likely scenario, as it’s the past of least resistance. But it also presents the significant risk of keeping the Sky locked into the status quo, until things get bad enough that they don’t have a choice anymore.

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