Sky fire Weatherspoon: What's next for Chicago, Angel Reese?

Two days after Curt Miller and the Los Angeles Sparks parted ways, the Chicago Sky fired Teresa Weatherspoon. Miller had just completed his second season as coach in L.A., Weatherspoon her first.

Both were surprising moves. Neither team was expected to reach the playoffs this year -- the Sky were last in ESPN's preseason WNBA Power Rankings -- and the coaches appeared to have significant support from players.

Led by Weatherspoon, who played eight seasons in the WNBA, the Sky established an identity behind rookie forward Angel Reese, who had a league record 15-game double-double streak.

Chicago finished 13-27 -- winning only three games after the Olympic break -- and didn't make the postseason. Still, there seemed to be enough positive momentum from the best parts of the season for the Sky to build on for 2025, when they will have another lottery pick (Chicago selected Kamilla Cardoso with the No. 3 overall pick in April).

Reese, drafted No. 7 in April, posted on social media that she was "heartbroken" by Weatherspoon being ousted, which was first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.

"You didn't deserve this but I can't thank you enough. I love you Tspoon," Reese wrote.

We look at what the coaching move means for a franchise only three seasons removed from a championship in 2021.

How surprising was the Sky's decision to part with Weatherspoon?

Voepel: Not many saw this coming, especially since Weatherspoon has been on the job only since last October. And it was clear she bonded well with Reese, who quickly became the face of the team.

The Sky, an expansion franchise that launched in 2006, have had eight coaches. James Wade reached the highest peak, taking over in 2019, leading the Sky to their only championship and then leaving about midway through last year to take an assistant coaching job with the Toronto Raptors. Interim coach Emre Vantansever finished the season, and the Sky lost in the first round of the playoffs.

Weatherspoon was hired less than a month after that. She had spent four seasons as an assistant with the New Orleans Pelicans. She had a tall order to try to rebuild the Sky.

Three of Chicago's top five scorers from 2023 had left the team by the start of 2024: Courtney Williams and Alanna Smith went to the Minnesota Lynx in free agency, and Kahleah Copper was traded at her request to the Phoenix Mercury. Then Elizabeth Williams was lost for the season in June because of a knee injury, and Marina Mabrey was traded to the Connecticut Sun in July.

The Mabrey trade, which included a 2025 first-round pick and a 2026 first-round right to pick swap for Chicago, suggested the Sky front office was looking more toward building for the future than making the playoffs this year. If that was the case, it makes Weatherspoon's firing more unusual.

Angel Reese shared this message after the Chicago Sky parted ways with coach Teresa Weatherspoon. pic.twitter.com/6AeVDnIFOo

— espnW (@espnW) September 27, 2024

Where do the Sky stand now heading into the offseason?

Voepel: As Charlie Creme wrote in his assessment of the Sky, 3-point shooting and point guard play are big needs for Chicago in 2025. Although the Sky are in the lottery, they owe the Dallas Wings a pick swap for the 2023 trade that brought Mabrey from the Wings. As much as the chance to draft UConn guard Paige Bueckers would be an enormous help to Chicago, it's not going to happen.

Reese and Cardoso are a promising post duo, and guard Chennedy Carter led the Sky in scoring this year after being out of the WNBA in 2023. So Chicago seems to have things to build on.

After the season, Chicago players Dana Evans and Isabelle Harrison spoke to reporters about their disappointment in what they perceived as some fans' lack of support, and Evans indicated Weatherspoon didn't believe in her.

But considering how close Weatherspoon and Reese appear to be, one would think the Sky would be interested in making their young star as happy and comfortable as they can. Firing Weatherspoon feels like the opposite of that, at least right now.

Pelton: I'm most curious what this means for Carter's future in Chicago. After no team would take a chance on bringing her in during 2023, Carter was given the opportunity to play and eventually start by Weatherspoon. Unlike Reese -- whose tweet Carter retweeted Thursday night -- Carter was on a one-year contract. She'll be a restricted free agent this offseason.

Given how well Carter played this season, another team making a run at signing her to an offer sheet the Sky are unwilling to match now seems like a much more realistic possibility.

What might be in Weatherspoon's future?

Voepel: She and Miller are kind of in the same boat: Out of their jobs suddenly in places they thought they would be building for a while. It's always hard to know for sure what goes on behind the scenes on any team.

But it seems odd that not even a year ago, Chicago's management was touting Weatherspoon as the right person to take the franchise forward, and then gave her very little time to do that.

Then again, Jeff Pagliocca was hired to be the Sky's general manager a couple of weeks after Weatherspoon became head coach last October. The previous four seasons, he had worked with the Sky assisting on player development and advising the head coach. Did Pagliocca and Weatherspoon clash?

Is there a chance Miller and Weatherspoon might actually switch jobs?

Weatherspoon spent her last season as a WNBA player with the Sparks, in 2004. Considering the Sparks also had two lottery picks this year who were post players -- No. 2 Cameron Brink and No. 4 Rickea Jackson -- Weatherspoon's experience with Reese and Cardoso should be in her favor. Plus, Weatherspoon was a very respected point guard leader in her playing days, so she could bring that expertise to the Sparks.

All that said, there are also three more teams coming to the WNBA: Golden State next season, and Toronto and Portland in 2026. So both Weatherspoon and Miller might be candidates for those jobs.

What other coaches might be on the hot seat?

Voepel: Seattle Storm coach Noelle Quinn made some comments Tuesday after the Storm's season-ending loss at Las Vegas that suggested she has concern about her future, even saying she was on "borrowed time."

Quinn took over the Storm early in the 2021 season when Dan Hughes stepped aside for health reasons. Seattle has made the playoffs three of four seasons under Quinn. But she said Tuesday that some of the Storm players were not giving the kind of effort they needed to.

"Moving forward, the appreciation for putting on a Storm jersey has to come in the way in which you value the game," Quinn said. "And that is how you show up and play. I will be better, our team will be better. Effort will never, ever be a thing for us again.

"Going from 11 wins (in 2023) to 25 and the playoffs feels successful. I feel like I want more. I'm on borrowed time, so I realize the importance of not wasting moments. We had some success, but I feel this group could have done more. I feel responsible for that. I'm not satisfied."

Also, we'd be remiss not to bring up the other two teams that missed the playoffs: Dallas and the Washington Mystics. Latricia Trammell led the Wings to the semifinals last year; this year they had the league's second-worst record. Injury circumstances have to be taken into consideration with Dallas.

However, Trammell is also the fourth Wings coach -- not counting a brief interim coach at the end of 2018 -- since the franchise moved to Dallas in 2016. So there hasn't been a lot of coaching stability with the franchise.

As for Washington, the Mystics started the season 0-12 but rallied to push for a playoff spot all the way until the last day of the regular season. Elena Delle Donne didn't play -- we don't know if we'll see her in the WNBA again -- and Washington also had a lot of injuries.

There's also the fact that Mystics coach Eric Thibault is the son of Washington general manager and former coach Mike Thibault. So that potentially complicates coaching moves the Mystics might make. Looking at how Washington played when most of its players were healthy, a case also can be made that Eric did a good job when Washington had all of its parts.