Angel Reese’s trade another example of the Chicago Sky’s inability to hold onto stars

A twinkling is something that happens in an instant. And in a twinkling, a star whose light was expected to shine as bright as the city’s skyline was gone.

News broke on Monday morning that the Chicago Sky had traded two-time All-Star Angel Reese to the Atlanta Dream.

When she was drafted with the seventh pick in 2024, Reese, alongside Kamilla Cardoso, was expected to be the hope and future of a franchise whose one championship in its history had stoked a fire in fans that better days were surely coming.

After an interview with the Chicago Tribune in which Reese openly voiced her frustrations with the Sky’s season, Reese was suspended for half a game because of “statements detrimental to the team.” The move was a signal of what appeared to be the beginning of the end of Reese’s time in Chicago.

During Chicago’s last game of the 2025 season, the fans’ chants calling for the firing of general manager Jeff Pagliocca echoed throughout Wintrust Arena. Courtside, a fan wore a “Free Angel” shirt. While collective bargaining negotiations continued during the offseason, no moves could be made. But with a deal in place and the expansion drafts completed, the Sky made a trade with Atlanta.

Reese’s trade is just another in what’s become a Chicago Sky trend: losing a star – whether by force or by choice.

It wasn’t the first time Chicago had let an impactful player leave the organization, and it wasn’t the first time it traded a star after a player publicly expressed displeasure with the team. In fact, it wasn’t even the first time the Sky had traded a star drafted out of LSU.

Chicago drafted LSU star Sylvia Fowles with the No. 2 pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft. But in 2014, Fowles, who had been a three-time All-Star selection with the team, declined to sign an extension. Negotiations went nowhere with Fowles opting to sit out part of the 2015 season to demand a trade. Fowles was traded to the Minnesota Lynx after the All-Star break, where she was a WNBA champion and Finals MVP in 2015 and 2017.

Fowles’ teammate, Olympian and 2015 MVP Elena Delle Donne, would make a similar decision to part ways with Chicago two seasons later. Delle Donne, a Delaware native, expressed a desire to be traded so she could be closer to her family. In a December 2016 interview, Delle Donne shared the possibility that she would even sit out the 2017 season if her request was not honored. She was traded to the Washington Mystics in exchange for Stefanie Dolson, Kahleah Copper, and the second overall pick in the 2017 WNBA Draft. Delle Donne went on to be named MVP for a second time in 2019 while with Washington.

Then there was Gabby Williams.

In 2021, after suspending Williams, the fourth pick in 2018, the Sky traded her to the Los Angeles Sparks in exchange for Stephanie Watts, the No. 10 pick in the 2021 draft. Williams’ participation as a member of the French national team was considered a factor, though the Sky declined to provide a reason.

Next was Candace Parker.

In the 2021 offseason, the Sky made headlines when they signed Parker. A native of Naperville, Ill., Parker was already an All-Star, an MVP, and a champion. (And this year, she became a Hall of Famer.) Her resume and veteran leadership were a boon for the Sky, who had fallen into irrelevance over the years with no dynamic superstar at the helm. In Parker’s first season in Chicago, the Sky won the first championship in franchise history. But Parker would be with the team for only one more season, choosing to leave for the Las Vegas Aces as a free agent in 2023 to be closer to her family in Los Angeles.

And then it was Kahleah Copper.

Copper, the 2021 WNBA Finals MVP, had been a sparkplug on the Parker-led Sky. The last remaining core member of the championship team, Copper, was the face of the franchise in Chicago’s new era with WNBA legend Teresa Weatherspoon as coach and Pagliocca as GM. But just weeks after an appearance at Weatherspoon’s introductory press conference, the Sky sent Copper to the Phoenix Mercury in exchange for four draft picks, including the No. 3 overall pick in 2024, Brianna Turner, and Michaela Onyenwere.

I could also throw Emma Meesseman and Marina Mabrey in the mix. Messeman, who was brought in to help the Sky attempt a second championship run, chose to leave the WNBA after the 2022 season to focus on her Belgian national team commitments. In 2025, she returned with the New York Liberty.

In Mabrey’s case, Chicago, under then coach/GM James Wade (now with the NBA’s Toronto Raptors), traded rights to Leonie Fiebich, a 2024 second-round pick, a 2024 third-round pick, a 2025 second-round pick, a 2023 first-round pick, and a 2024 first-round pick to acquire Mabrey from the Dallas Wings. But during the following season, Wade was gone, and Mabrey wanted out posthaste.

“I came to play for James Wade, the system he had built and the vision he saw for me. I don’t like to jump ship, so he left, and then I thought, ‘OK, let’s see what happens,’” Mabrey said after she was traded to Connecticut midway through the 2024 season.

It had been rumored that Mabrey’s trade demand was due to not getting along with Reese, but Reese asked Mabrey directly if that was the case.

“Money Mabrey, we have a conspiracy. People wanna know: Marina, did you leave Chicago because of me?” Reese asked with a giggle.

Mabrey not only denied the rumor but said she loved Reese. It was another departure that left more questions about the Sky’s direction.

Hometown star Allie Quigley left the Sky, and basketball altogether, without a goodbye season. After sitting out the 2023 and 2024 seasons, Quigley announced her retirement in 2025.

And now Reese departs for potentially greener pastures in Atlanta.

At a time when the WNBA is experiencing record growth in multiple directions – viewership, fans, franchises and valuations – a team in one of the league’s premier markets remains stagnant, unable to produce a perennial contender.

Fans in Chicago are thirsting for a winning basketball team. It seemed as if the Sky, at minimum, had the keys to delivering that, but it’s all dimmed by a persistent inability to perform even just below expectations.

When players leave the Sky, they complain about a lack of personal space, private locker rooms, and a pro-ready training facility. Often, players who leave find success in their new cities. Though the Sky appear to be trying to play catch-up with a new training facility scheduled to open at some point this season, they historically cannot seem to retain a star.

The Sky’s decisions to part with big-name or impactful players show that perhaps their strategy is that peace of mind – however they view it – at any cost is worth the expense.

But it begs the question: What is going on in Chicago?

And that may lead to an even more frightening question: What’s next?

Because if recent history tells us anything, whatever’s next is not good.