With a big draft ahead, the Chicago Sky is looking for more big players
Monday night’s WNBA Draft provides plenty of opportunities for teams to make a splash.
With college stars like Paige Bueckers, Hailey Van Lith and Aneesah Morrow in the pool of draftees, there’s a lot of players who could make a big impact right away in their rookie seasons. The Chicago Sky wants to make sure its draft picks provide not only big impacts but big wingspans as well.
“We want to keep adding athletes and length,” Sky General Manager Jeff Pagliocca said. “This draft class has a lot of depth to it. We’re paying attention to everybody.”
Pagliocca must pay attention to everybody because his team traded the third overall pick. The Sky traded the selection to the Washington Mystics in exchange for Ariel Atkins, a mainstay in Washington’s starting lineup since 2018. For Pagliocca, Atkins’ proven track record of success in the WNBA outweighed the potential of some of the prospects who will be available in Monday night’s draft.
“The decision to try to go get Ariel Atkins was an Ariel Atkins decision,” Pagliocca said. “If anything, it shows just how much we’re dedicated and how much we believe in her that we were willing to move such a strong pick.”
The decision to trade the pick was controversial, especially given that this draft class is considered extremely talented. For ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo, the Sky’s decision to trade away its high pick shows that Chicago’s front office believes the team is ready to win now.
“Teams that have an opportunity to win a championship do their work through free agency,” Lobo said. “Teams that are rebuilding do their work through the draft.”
But the Sky still has some work to do in the draft. Thanks to a trade with the Indiana Fever, Chicago will make the 10th pick on Monday night. Yet while most observers are focusing on the guards in this draft — specifically Bueckers, the UConn star — Pagliocca is focusing more on the wings. Saniya Rivers, who’s listed at guard but grabbed 6.6 rebounds a game last season at North Carolina State, is one of the most intriguing prospects at that position.
“She’s maybe the best overall athlete in the draft, and she’s got a lot of length too,” Pagliocca said. “She’s proven that she can guard multiple positions, which always matters in our league.”
But offense also matters in the WNBA. And after the Sky finished 11th out of 12 teams in field-goal percentage during the 2024 season, Pagliocca is fully aware that the team still needs a shooting boost. He’s confident that Notre Dame forward Maddy Westbeld could provide it.
“Westbeld’s a pick-and-pop four, someone that can face up a little bit,” Pagliocca said. “She was hanging around 35, 36% from 3. There’s not a lot of players at her size that shoot the ball as well as she does.”
With Reese and Cardoso almost certainly set as starters in the frontcourt, and Atkins joining fellow offseason acquisition Courtney Vandersloot (returning to Chicago after two seasons and one championship with the New York Liberty) in the backcourt, the only spot left in the presumptive starting lineup is at a forward spot. And whether the Sky fills that spot with Rivers, Westbeld or a different prospect entirely — such as Florida State’s Mikayla Timpson — the reasons for the selection will be the same.
“Continuity means a lot when you’re building a team,” Pagliocca said. “We’ve got a plan, and we’re gonna stick to it.”