USA 3-0

31/ 6'7"

Anybody?

“Freedom’s claim that he was removed from Wintrust Arena due to his speech is false,” Chicago Sky owner Michael Alter said in a statement released Friday.

"We look forward to the truth prevailing in court.”

I'm expecting harsh reactions from actual Sky fans so lay it on me:

This is way too early. A lot can change between now and the start of the 2027 season. But we have a long FIBA World Cup break, with no WNBA basketball, so let's get unnecessarily ahead of ourselves.

Seven teams have already been eliminated from the playoffs. Over this series, I'm going to rank those seven teams by their potential to improve from where they finish the 2026 season to what their roster looks like on opening day in 2027.

This is not a ranking of which team will be best in 2027. We're measuring improvement from each team's own starting point. We'll look at four things: draft capital (25 points), the improvement potential of players already under team control (25 points), cap space and the team's ability to attract free agents (35 points), and confidence in the front office to actually make good use of those opportunities (15 points).

For consistency, I'm going to assume the current standings don't change over the final four games and that the draft lottery plays out according to the order of each team's lottery odds.

Projected 2027 Draft Picks

Using current standings and accounting for picks that have already been traded:

And the projected average cap space across those 7 eliminated teams heading into the 2027 off-season is projected to be $3,792,683.

The Chicago Sky are somehow not in terrible shape

Despite gracing our Top 10 Mistakes list twice, the Sky still sport solid young talent and are projected to own two of the top twelve picks in next year's historic draft. They seem to have waffled back and forth between building for the future and winning now. That's put them pretty much where you'd expect: not yet good, but not terrible, and somewhere in the middle in terms of the resources they have to improve.

So why are they all the way down at #6? Let's explain.

Draft Capital (12/25 points)

Projected picks: #9, #12, #35

This is an unusually deep draft, which makes having two first-round picks particularly valuable. Unfortunately for Chicago, both of those picks come just after the portion of the draft where the truly elite prospects are expected to come off the board.

Still, missing out on the elite prospects doesn't mean missing out on very good prospects, especially with this class. To get an idea of the caliber of player who could still be available in this range, consider two players who have recently been mocked to Chicago:

Ashlyn Watkins - 6'3" F, South Carolina
Watkins may be the best rim protector in the class and is an exceptional athlete for her size. Before tearing her ACL, she averaged 1.9 blocks in just 18.9 minutes per game as a junior. If she returns healthy and maintains that athleticism, she has the tools to become a premier WNBA defender and would pair formidably with Kamilla Cardoso.

Talaysia Cooper - 6'0" G, Ole Miss
Cooper averaged 16.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.7 steals at Tennessee last season while shooting 34.3% from three. She's long, athletic, disruptive defensively and capable of creating offense off the dribble.

Whether those are actually the two players Chicago drafts isn't really the point. A lot will change during the college season. The point is that in a draft this deep, picks #9 and #12 could still produce legitimate WNBA talent that can immediately improve the roster.

Internal Improvement (22/25 points)

Look at this list of young talent who will remain under Chicago's control after this season:

• Kamilla Cardoso — signed for 2027
• Rickea Jackson — signed for 2027
• Jacy Sheldon — signed for 2027
• Gabriela Jaquez — signed through 2029
• Sydney Taylor — Reserved entering 2027

Now look beyond the obvious talent and focus specifically on the potential for improvement. What's crazy is that the players with the least obvious room for significant improvement might include Kamilla Cardoso and Jacy Sheldon.

Given where both players started when they entered the league and where they are now, it's hard to expect another huge leap from either of them. But they've shown enough season-to-season progress to make us think there's still at least a decent amount of improvement to come. Cardoso can continue developing as a passer while expanding her offensive game away from the basket, and Sheldon still has considerable room to improve as a three-point shooter and secondary creator.

Not only did Rickea ball out as soon as she hit Chi-Town, she was lost to injury so quickly that simply getting her back represents a significant improvement over what Chicago had for most of this season. Then you look at the additional upside she still has, and she could be a complete game changer for this team.

I don't actually expect Jaquez to make a huge jump, but she'll be entering just her second season, and she had enough moments this year to make us believe anything's possible. At the very least, another offseason and a year of WNBA experience give her a reasonable path to becoming a more consistent contributor.

And then we get to Sydney Taylor. Is this an All-Star just waiting to fully blossom?

That sounds ridiculous for an undrafted rookie who wasn't even expected to make Chicago's roster a few months ago, but I'm not sure it is anymore. Taylor has already shown that she can score at a high level in this league, including multiple 30-point games, and once Chicago moved her into the starting lineup, she averaged 17.4 points while shooting 47.2% from the field and 40.3% from three over her next stretch of games.

And this is Year 1. She's still learning how to play at this level, still developing as a creator, and still figuring out exactly how much offense she can handle. If the shooting she showed as a starter becomes sustainable and the playmaking develops around it, the improvement potential is vast.

Free Agency (16/35 points)

Projected cap space available: $1,988,176

This is where things get a little tougher for Chicago. The Sky already have more money committed for 2027 than any of the other non-playoff teams we're evaluating, with eight players under contract. That doesn't take them out of free agency, but it gives them less flexibility to dramatically reshape their roster than teams entering the off-season with fewer commitments. Their projected cap space is about $1.8 million below the $3.79 million average among the seven teams we're evaluating.

Chicago is a major market, and its long-awaited $60 million performance center should finally give players the kind of facilities expected from a modern WNBA franchise. However, there are still reasons for hesitation. The delays surrounding that facility have contributed to questions about the organization, and Chicago doesn't currently have the same proven basketball environment or coaching draw that some of the teams ahead of them have.

Overall, it's not attractiveness that will limit the Sky's ability to improve via free agency; it's their financial situation.

Front Office (3/15 points)

The problem isn't that Pagliocca can't find talent. It's that his asset management has repeatedly worked against the talent he's found. Chicago swapped picks with Washington to acquire Ariel Atkins and a 12 out of 25 Draft Capital rating on our scorecard. Then there's the Jacy Sheldon trade. But unless I want every Sky fan coming down on me, I have to mention the trade that handed Olivia Miles to the Lynx. Chicago originally gave Minnesota 2026 swap rights as part of the 2024 move up for Angel Reese. Then in April 2025, Pagliocca gave Minnesota the 2026 first-round pick in exchange for the #11 pick in 2025, which Chicago used on Hailey Van Lith.

We're not debating whether the Sky have ever made a good move. We're assessing our confidence in their ability to maximize the resources Chicago has available between now and opening day 2027. I'm gonna just check "no".

Potential Improvement Total (53/100 points)

We expect the Sky to be a competitive team next year, and even upset a few contenders throughout the season. We just don't believe their potential for improvement is enough to make them contenders themselves.

How they can beat expectations: If the team frees up cap space and the GM starts making sound, fundamental decisions instead constantly swinging for the moon, our criteria organically moves this team to the head of the class.

If you disagree with our assessment, we'd love to know why. Please join our sub and give us your feedback!

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Enes Kanter Freedom has filed a lawsuit against the Chicago Sky for ejecting and subsequently banning him following an in-game dispute with Sky guard Natasha Cloud.

Freedom filed the lawsuit in the U.S District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Thursday. The complaint lists the Sky, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority and the City of Chicago as defendants. Freedom is requesting a jury trial. He is seeking a declaration that his First Amendment rights were violated, that his ban from Wintrust Arena be lifted and that his legal fees are covered, as well as “an award of nominal and compensatory damages.”

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7564263/2026/09/03/enes-kanter-freedom-sues-chicago-sky-ban-ejection/?unlocked_article_code=1.-lA.DHhP.IQ4K58XITNXQ&source=emp_shared_article&smid=re-share-ta

So glad that we got to witness her incredible career turnaround!

(She was undrafted, went to Europe to improve her skills, and made a triumphant return to the US!)

One Player to Watch from Every Nation at the 2026 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup: Groups A and B
Aicha was the only Sky player in the running to be in the World Cup, but isn't on Mali's final roster.

With the Mystics, Dream, and Tempo being the last teams of the season for the Sky. Two away and two at home. Do you think they will even try? The liberty game was their 3rd lowest score of the season. The camera has caught Marsh looking like he was praying before tip-off of the last two games.

Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud did not address Enes Kanter Freedom by name and called him “irrelevant” during her first media availability since the pair got into a verbal altercation during a game on Aug. 23.

Read for free.

Vs NY Liberty.

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Injury-Report_2026-08-28_07_30PM.pdf

Not sure if any of the Liberty's bounty of World Cup players will leave early. I haven't see any players suspended for them yet.