Chicago Sky can’t handle the truth — Angel Reese suspension exposes deeper franchise issues

The Chicago Sky doesn’t have the appetite for a rebuild. All of the moves it made last off-season indicate a certain level of impatience. However, on Friday, the Sky punished its star player for espousing those same views.

If this is an organization that is trying to be taken more seriously, then accountability starts with the front office itself — not with a player saying what everyone around the league is already thinking.

Angel Reese found herself in hot water earlier this week after she gave an interview to the Chicago Tribune that criticized the current direction of the franchise. In it, she said the Sky needed to bring in better players but that there wasn’t much that would attract the best free agents to Chicago. Reese also said she would look elsewhere if things didn’t change.

After the article was published, she apologized to her teammates for the attacks on their abilities, saying, “I really didn’t intentionally mean to put down my teammates.” That should have been the end of the matter — at least publicly.

Instead, the Sky decided to suspend Reese for the first half of Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Aces. Chicago couldn’t discipline her for the Sky’s next game against the Indiana Fever because Reese has already been suspended for that contest due to technical foul accumulation.

The team’s press release deemed her comments “detrimental to the team.” It said: “The Chicago Sky values the safety, respect, and well-being of every player. We are committed to accountability so our players can stay focused on playing basketball.”

The statement shortly concluded: “This matter has been handled and resolved internally, and we are moving forward as a team.”

If it had really been resolved internally, the Sky would not have needed to make a public statement, but it is trying to draw attention away from its shortcomings and deflect attention onto the way Reese presented the message.

Reese is hardly the first player to bemoan the state of the Chicago Sky. On a StudBudz stream, Courtney Williams complained about having to share space at the team’s practice area, particularly when players and other attendees of the recreation center need to shower. Kahleah Copper, the 2021 WNBA Finals MVP, asked for a trade and pointedly celebrated how she could focus on basketball alone as a member of the Phoenix Mercury. Candace Parker talked about finally getting a locker to put her stuff in after she left the Sky for the Aces in 2023.

People around the league are familiar with the player experience in Chicago (or Connecticut, Dallas or Los Angeles); Reese highlighting the disparity between her organization and others that receive more investment is common practice. The Sky is obviously aware of the issues because it is building a practice facility that is supposed to open by the start of the 2026 season.

Where Reese likely erred was in directly calling out her teammates, most notably when she referred to herself and Kamilla Cardoso as the only cornerstones of the franchise moving forward, and when she said Chicago couldn’t rely on Courtney Vandersloot as its point guard in 2026 at the age of 37, coming off of an ACL injury.

There is validity to those statements, but Reese could have taken more care with her language, considering she was talking about people she shares a locker room with.

However, all that demanded was an apology, not retribution from the organization itself.

Coaches constantly talk about the need to play harder and bring effort. Reese merely flipped that axiom on its head by asking to be coached harder.

Reese wants great players in Chicago? So too does the front office, which traded away multiple draft assets, including the ability to draft All-Star Sonia Citron, to acquire former Olympian Ariel Atkins in the 2025 off-season. The Sky went after a veteran point guard in Vandersloot, who has won two titles and led the league in assists seven times. It targeted shooters to complement its frontcourt in Kia Nurse and Rebecca Allen while re-signing Michaela Onyenwere.

Perhaps the franchise is upset that Reese’s comments pointed out the missteps in the front office’s team-building approach. Reese wants to skip through the rebuilding process, but doing so has already put Chicago in a position in which building a stronger talent base is going to be much more difficult.

It isn’t as if Reese gave this interview without the awareness of the organization.

She spoke to a beat reporter at practice with a member of the public relations staff watching along. Surely, they knew what was coming.

Fans of Chicago’s other basketball team will be reminded of a game in 2017 when the Bulls benched stars Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade for comments they made calling out their teammates’ effort levels. The coaching staff couldn’t stomach sitting them for more than five minutes, however, and the message rang hollow.

That the Sky’s punishment will last longer than five minutes is merely a reflection of the team’s place in the standings. The fact remains that it can’t tolerate an honest assessment from the face of its franchise. The 2025 season will last for only four more games, and the organization could have let this disappointing campaign come to a merciful end. However, their actions ensure their shortcomings will remain a part of the public conversation.

© 2025 The Athletic Media Company. All Rights Reserved. Distributed by New York Times Licensing.