4 Bold Predictions for the Chicago Sky in 2024
Predicting the Sky’s 2024 including contract extensions, playoff buzz, end of season accolades and more.
With 2023 — a bizarre but weirdly hopeful year for the Sky — nearly in the rearview mirror, it’s almost time for the path to the 2024 season to come into view with the start of offseason activities in January and the opening of free agency on February 1st. Before we get to previewing free agency next week, I take a stab at a few predictions for the new year:
Dana Evans signs an extension before the May 15th deadline.
By virtue of having her fourth-year option picked up by the Sky last May, Evans is eligible to sign an extension (of up to three years) starting February 1st. Free agency opens the same day, and we should expect to see a lot of conversation around the point guard position as the Sky will likely explore the possibility of re-signing Courtney Williams and/or signing another veteran like Skylar Diggins-Smith.
Evans, however, seems to be a fit with the direction of the Sky’s new ethos — from star player to head coach to general manager. Given the exclusive chance to negotiate an extension, the Sky could end the dialogue around the future of a player that, for many, is an important part of the franchise’s upward trajectory by agreeing to a long-term deal before the season tips off. In securing Evans through the 2026 or 2027 season, the Sky would also allow Teresa Weatherspoon to move forward with a clear direction at the position she played in her first season as a professional head coach. Quickly solidifying that position with a young player who is well-respected around the W would also be a clear statement of intent from a new front office and the ownership group. Dana, of course, still has room to grow as a player, but the trajectory she has been on suggests that her price next winter (when she would be a restricted free agent) is only likely to increase from its present value.
The Sky’s current salary cap situation also means the move makes sense. The extension would not become effective until the 2025 league year opens — meaning the Sky’s 2024 plans, which may well include resigning Williams to another one-year deal, would not be impacted. With just two players (Copper and Mabrey) under guaranteed contracts for the 2025 season, Jeff Pagliocca would still have plenty of flexibility next offseason as well. In truth, Evans may be the sole party who is against an extension at this time. Even if her desire is to play in Chicago long term, it’s very possible that she parlays a strong season into a top-dollar offer sheet in free agency which the Sky would then have to match. To avoid that exact scenario, I anticipate the Sky bringing a competitive offer to the table which, in the short term, may feel aggressive but could well end up being a great value deal as Evans’ evolution as a floor general continues.
2. Kahleah Copper is an All-WNBA selection.
Saying that Kah will be an All-Star again feels too easy, but anything more lofty (DPOY, for instance) feels very difficult to achieve given the way media attention dictates these awards. Thus, after a season where Copper was, to me, clearly the best perimeter defender in the league and didn’t even make second-team all-defense, I think a jump to the All-WNBA team represents a relatively bold prediction. To do so, Copper really just needs the Sky to win more games next season. In addition to her performance on the defensive end in 2023, Copper was one of just seven players to shoot more than 40% from three while also scoring in double figures. In doing so, she also happened to have the highest scoring average (18.7 PPG) and third highest rebounding average (4.4 RPG — behind Ionescu and Courtney) amongst that elite group. In other words, Copper is already playing at (or well above) an all-WNBA level — the recognition just wasn't there due to the Sky’s 18–22 record a season ago.
It’s difficult to say how many games the Sky would need to win for Copper to get that recognition, and I trust the competition for these places will be fierce in 2024. However, with T-Spoon at the helm, I anticipate a significant amount of national media attention being on the team during the first half of the regular season. If Copper continues her 2023 levels during that stretch, makes the Olympic team and performs well in Paris, her name will already be at the forefront of people’s minds when they start thinking about awards in the latter half of the W season. From there, it’s hard for me to look at Copper’s improvements in the last couple of seasons and come up with any reason why she wouldn’t be able to capitalize on the attention and earn the spot her play last season justified.
3. Sika Koné is voted Most Improved Player.
I had initially planned to predict “Sika Koné finishes the season as the Sky’s starting power forward”, but I genuinely believe the two predictions could well be one and the same. First things first: Alanna Smith would need to sign with a different team for either of the two predictions to come true. If Lan returns alongside Isabelle Harrison and Elizabeth Williams, I don’t see a path to the minutes Sika would need to win this award. Personally, I’ve made it no secret that I hope to see Smith resigned long term, but the feeling in many other corners of the media seems to be that the Aussie will be playing elsewhere next season.
If that’s the case, I think Sika’s infectious energy at both ends of the court will pretty quickly make her a favorite of Spoon and earn her consistent playing time. As we’re seeing with Avenida in Spain, Sika’s willingness to learn and adaptability to changing situations means that — with patience — she’ll likely turn that on court time into quantifiable improvement reading the game. From there, she already has all the physical tools to execute on what she’s seeing and play at a dominant level. That dominant level, of course, has to be backed by statistical production in order to garner media attention, and I think Koné can deliver in that department as well.
As I highlighted in my player season in review for Sika, the Sky were 11th of 12 teams in rebounding percentage last season without the Malian on the floor and 1st of 12 with her. The sample size for those metrics was small (just 186 minutes), but the underlying principle is still valid. Given she’s a strong free throw shooter (78%) and is shooting near 60% from the floor in Europe, it’s very feasible for Koné to average near a double-double (her per-30s last year were 11.6 points and 9.7 boards) with the right share of minutes in the W next season. Given the Sky’s aforementioned struggles on the glass last season, there’s also a very clear path to those minutes if Koné can continue to provide the type of impact she did in limited minutes last season.
4. The Sky make the WNBA playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.
I think if you polled the Sky fanbase this is a no-brainer. However, I get the feeling national fans and media may not be so generous. I’ll likely expand more into this theory throughout free agency and the lead up to the season, but I’m not sure if the Sky, in their current iteration, are ‘sexy’ enough for the national media. For starters, Kahleah Copper is a very unique type of star player. Her game is rooted, first and foremost, in being really, really good at all aspects of basketball which — weirdly — doesn’t always do as well as it probably should with some of the league’s national media partners.
In that way, I see the Sky’s direction as being analogous to that of the Miami Heat in the NBA. Yes, the Heat have made the NBA finals in two of the last four seasons, but they’ve done so with an outside the box star in Jimmy Butler (whose game is weirdly reminiscent of Kah’s) and a collection of good, but often under appreciated, players around him. Consequently, the Heat typically get forgotten about in the national media dialogue until they start to get their flowers in the latter rounds of the NBA playoffs. I’m not sure if the Sky — in year one of their new era — can replicate that level of success once the playoffs start, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them outperform (what I expect to be) tepid preseason media expectations of their finishing position during the 2024 regular season.