After just one season of seeing Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso play, the Chicago Sky made a bold decision. Instead of going through a proper rebuild and using their lottery pick to get another young talent, the Sky decided to trade that pick for Ariel Atkins and pursued several veterans in free agency.
The gamble seems to have backfired. Courtney Vandersloot’s season-ending ACL injury was a tough blow to the Sky, but even before that, the team wasn’t doing well. The Sky started the season with four consecutive losses. Thirteen games into the season, they have only won three games. Last season, it took the Sky only six games to get three victories.
Unlike last season, it also hasn’t been a great individual year for Angel Reese. She recorded her first triple-double, but she has also struggled immensely. This is not the sophomore season fans expected to see from Reese. The Sky’s decision to skip steps in her development is one reason for it.
Angel Reese isn’t having a great second season
Angel Reese’s best game of the season was her triple-double in a much-needed win over the Connecticut Sun. Her latest game against the Atlanta Dream was impressive, too. Reese finished the game with 10 points, 19 rebounds, four assists, three steals, and one block. The Sky didn’t get a win, though.
The sophomore has been able to put together some big games, but the opposite has been just as true. She is turning the ball over more than last season, averaging fewer field goal attempts, and shooting an even lower field goal percentage.
Her inefficiency as a scorer, especially close to the basket, was one of the big knocks on Reese’s rookie season. She shot only 39.1 percent from the field last season. Now, that number is down to 37.4 percent, and she still struggles to score efficiently around the basket.
The Sky may be better off if they had kept their lottery pick
The Sky are far from competing for a playoff spot in Reese’s sophomore season. That was the ultimate goal, the reason for all of the team’s offseason moves. Surrounding Reese and Cardoso with a more veteran roster was supposed to catapult the Sky into the playoff picture. Right now, they are closer to finishing the season with a lottery pick they won’t even be able to keep. Because of a previous trade, it will go to the Minnesota Lynx.
The Sky moved too fast. Ariel Atkins has been solid for most of the season, but there is no guarantee that she will re-sign with the team next season, and she is not a young player to develop alongside Reese and Cardoso. Sonia Citron, who was drafted with the pick the Sky traded, is, however.
Citron is one of the best rookies in the league and could have been a great fit next to Reese and Cardoso. Reese wants to win. She made it clear during the offseason that she wanted good, veteran teammates. The Sky obviously agreed, impatient to improve the team. However, she probably would have been better off with another season to develop before chasing a playoff spot and another young teammate for the Sky to build around.