Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky ended the 2025 season with a bad vibe: another losing record, a suspension for “comments detrimental to the team”, and a star frustrated with the organization’s inability to build a competitive team around her.
The Sky’s inability to build a winning team always comes down to the same issue: the organization has a horrible reputation with players around the league. That means no star who has other options wants to go there. All-Stars Courtney Williams and Gabby Williams have been very vocal about their negative experiences in Chicago. Rebecca Allen is the latest veteran to join that list and criticize the Sky’s owners and leadership.
Players like Kahleah Copper, Chelsea Gray, and Skylar Diggins, among others, may love Reese and would like to play with her in the W—the former two even convinced her to come back to the Rose—but not for a Sky organization with a reputation of not taking care of its players. The Sky are building a new practice facility that should open soon. It’s a start, but it may not be enough to shed the reputation the franchise has built up over recent years.
If it isn’t, Reese’s time with the Sky may come to an end sooner rather than later. Her rookie contract is up after the 2027 season, but she could also demand a trade earlier. And who could really blame her? No professional athlete wants to spend years in a losing culture.
Rebecca Allen didn’t hold back on the Sky
Allen was one of the Sky’s prized free agent signings last offseason. Adding her, Kia Nurse, Courtney Vandersloot, and Ariel Atkins to the team didn’t equal success, and it also wasn’t a pleasant experience for Allen. When she appeared on The 6th Woman Basketball Podcast, Allen aired all of the Sky’s dirty laundry, giving the top free agents even more reason to avoid the franchise.
It started when Allen was asked about the difference between facilities and resources now and when she started her WNBA career. Allen noted that the difference didn’t depend so much on when you played but where.
“It’s depending on what team you go to,” Allen said. “I didn’t realize how lucky I had it in New York until I left. There were two other organizations that I was like, ‘Oh, wow. So, that’s why they have minimum standards.’”
She played for three teams since leaving New York: Connecticut, Phoenix, and Chicago.
After that, Allen got more specific, calling out the Sky directly when asked what advice she would give to WNBA owners.
“Put your players first,” Allen responded. “You have to put your players first because if people aren’t happy, the performance goes down massively. If people don’t feel valued, if people don’t feel like they’re taken care of, they get frustrated. I think that was something that I experienced in my last season.”
She also noted that not sharing a locker room “with the random public” should be a minimum standard and that the first time she ever experienced that was in Chicago.
Allen then put the nail in the coffin during a game of rapid fire in which she had to associate one word with each place she played in. Turkey was “unexpected,” Spain was “loved,” and Chicago was…“a little bit miserable.”