The Chicago Sky fired head coach Teresa Weatherspoon after just one season, the team announced Friday.
The Sky missed the playoffs with a 13-27 record.
Per the Chicago Sun-Times, players were “outwardly supportive” of Weatherspoon throughout the season, however exit interviews revealed a bit of “disconnect.”
“After careful consideration, we have decided it is in the best interest of the organization to part ways with head coach Teresa Weatherspoon,” Sky co-owner Nadia Rawlinson said in a statement. “We are deeply appreciative of Coach TSpoon’s contributions to the Chicago Sky, and the energy and passion she brought to the head coaching role. We thank her for inspiring a competitive, resilient spirit across the team, synonymous with Chicago Sky basketball.”
The Sky, who featured rookies Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso, were in playoff position when Reese got hurt on Sept. 6 against the Los Angeles Sparks. Chicago won its next game, then lost its final five to fail to grab a postseason berth for the first time in six years.
Reese decried the reported move with a post on X (formerly Twitter).
“I’m heartbroken,” Reese wrote. “I’m literally lost for words knowing what this woman meant to me in such a pivotal point in my life. … You didn’t deserve this but I can’t thank you enough. I love you TSpoon.”
I’m heartbroken. I’m literally lost for words knowing what this woman meant to me in such a pivotal point in my life. She was the only person that believed in me. The one that trusted me. Many don’t even know what it’s like to be a black women in sports when nobody believes in…
— Angel Reese (@Reese10Angel) September 27, 2024
The Sky won the 2021 WNBA championship under coach/general manager James Wade, who resigned midseason in 2023 to take a job as an assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors.
Under interim coach Emre Vatansever, the Sky wound up 18-22 last year, then got swept in the first round of the playoffs by the eventual champion Las Vegas Aces.
Weatherspoon got the job in October, and Chicago began this season 11-15. A seven-game losing streak followed. Then came two victories before the season-ending skid.
Reese, selected seventh overall in this year’s draft, broke the WNBA’s single-season rebounding record on Sept. 1. However, when she missed the last six games, A’ja Wilson overtook her for that mark.
Marina Mabrey led the Sky with averages of 14 points and 4.5 assists per game. Reese contributed 13.6 points and 13.1 points per contest. Elizabeth Williams averaged 10 points, and Cardoso put up 9.8 points and 7.9 boards per game.
Weatherspoon, 58, is a Basketball Hall of Fame member after a career that included an NCAA championship at Louisiana Tech, five WNBA All-Star appearances with the New York Liberty and an Olympic gold medal with Team USA at the 1988 Seoul Games.
–Field Level Media
