Bold Predictions for the Sky's 2025
What to expect next year as Chicago welcomes another new coach and continues to build around its young duo of Reese and Cardoso.
With 2025 just around the corner, it’s prediction time once again. After going 1 for 4 on last year’s predictions, I’m back with five new takes (with varying degrees of heat) for how the Sky will draft, transact, play and fare in year two of the Reese and Cardoso era at Wintrust Arena. Let’s dive right in!
The Sky select Sonia Citron with the third pick in April’s draft (but only if…).
The early indication is that the Sky’s first-round pick will make the short journey from South Bend, IN after the draft on April 14th. The only question is whether that pick will be guard Olivia Miles or wing Sonia Citron. Miles is a fantastic player, and I think the Sky could reap the benefits long-term if they select her; however, I think the addition of Citron could give the Sky a truly unique dynamic thanks to the size and versatility she could offer. If Michaela Onyenwere returns and continues to grow into a starting role at the three, Citron could eventually become the team’s starting shooting guard—giving Chicago one of the league’s most versatile and physically imposing line-ups.
That being said, a draft priority for the Sky has to be finding the team’s point guard of the future—especially with the knowledge that their 2026 pick may not be a strong one given the swap they owe to the Lynx from the Angel Reese trade. Thus, the way the picks later in the first-round fall could have a big impact on where the Sky go at #3. If, for instance, Te-Hina Paopao is expected to be available at the 10th overall pick, Chicago’s best course of action could be to draft the South Carolina guard—with time for her to grow into the starting point guard role with Lindsay Allen under contract for at least the 2025 season. With that long-term option at the one already planned for later in the draft, the Sky would then be free to swing for the fences with Citron at #3—plugging her in as one of the team’s wing starters for the foreseeable future.
The dilemma, of course, is that the Sky won’t ever be able to know if Paopao will truly be available at 10. Last season’s bold move for Angel Reese also means the Sky have more limited options for moving up (like they did to select Reese) in the 2025 draft—though they could still give away their swapped ’26 pick or the additional ’26 first they acquired from Phoenix in the Kahleah Copper trade. In any case, further trades that involve mortgaging future picks to jump up a couple of places in the draft seem incredibly risky—with the strategy already proving to be an unsustainable one. The best case for Chicago is that their scouting process leaves them sold on a couple of the high-profile point guards expected to be available in the latter part of the first round (PaoPao, Georgia Amoore, Shyanne Sellers), and they can choose Citron with expectations that at least one of their chosen names makes it to #10. But, if there’s only one that stands out at #10 (or Paopao and the others climb up the board during the NCAA season), expect Miles to become much harder for the Sky to turn down at #3.
Angel Reese works way more from the elbow under Tyler Marsh.
While Reese’s offensive game was always going to be a work in progress upon arrival in the WNBA, one of the areas where I expected her to excel in her rookie season was when working off the dribble from catches near the elbow. At LSU, Reese was almost always the most dominant athlete on the court; so, it came as no great surprise that her first step was plenty to get her past most opposing defenders. At the pro level, she was never going to blow by defenders in the same way, but the way she rebounded the ball in 2024 showed that she’s still amongst the top percentile of athletes at the professional level too.
Thus, you would’ve thought that Reese would get lots of chances to work off the dribble as a rookie and, perhaps, get to the foul line where she was impressive (74%) last season. And early on, there was flashes of Reese working off the dribble with a solid degree of success. Yet, that aspect of her offensive game—for one reason or another—disappeared as the season went on with fewer and fewer offensive actions putting her in position to even attempt to attack off the dribble.
With Marsh putting more emphasis on the Sky shooting the ball and Chicago looking to add some floor spacers via the draft and free agency, the chances to spread things out and give Reese space to work off the dribble should return in her second season. Of course, if these looks become too predictable, defenses will still have chances to pack the paint and limit their effectiveness, but sharing the floor with a player of Kamilla Cardoso’s size means that the option of an offload around the rim is always a percentage possibility. As the front court pair continue to settle at the professional level, I expect to see a healthy dose of opportunities for Reese to attack from the elbow in Marsh’s offensive plans.
The Sky are a top three shot-blocking team.
Until rosters come together, this one is a real shot in the dark, but I see the path for the Sky to quickly ascend on this list after finishing 8th with 151 blocks last season. For starters, the return of Elizabeth Williams from injury will mean that virtually every minute of the Sky’s season should be played with at least one elite rim protector on the floor. While Isabelle Harrison has been an impressive shot blocker in the past (and likely will be in 2025), her return from a year-long absence due to injury came with an adaptation period that meant her defense—while always solid—was not consistently at its peak level. Of course, Williams will face some of the same hurdles as she returns from injury, but I suspect her history as an all-defense player means the return to her defensive peak could be much quicker.
With the combination of Williams and Cardoso likely enough to help the Sky jump the teams directly in front of them, the challenge becomes passing one of the league’s three standouts from a season ago: Seattle, Las Vegas and Phoenix. Yet, personnel changes could impact each of the three—with league leaders Seattle (206 blocks) likely to be most impacted if Nneka Ogwumike departs in free agency. If she does leave the Pacific Northwest, expect the Sky, thanks largely to Cardoso (1.9 blocks per 36) and Williams (1.7), to really push the teams led by Magbegor (2.6 B/36), Wilson (2.7) and Griner (1.9) for a spot near the top of the league-wide list.
Lindsay Allen extends with Chicago before the September deadline.
Everything you’ll hear from around the W over the next few months (including from me) will be about how everyone in the W is (or wants to be) a free agent with the new CBA set to arrive sometime between the 2025 and 2026 season. Dominant franchises like the Aces that have traditionally done a great job of quickly tying up renewals for their key players have yet to put pen to paper on a 2026 contract with a single player, and it’s no great secret why. With A’ja Wilson’s current level of dominance, signing an extension that bridges the current and future CBA wouldn’t just be a poor decision, it would essentially represent actively denying a chance at greater future earnings.
And yet, here I am predicting that one of the Sky’s key players from a season ago—Lindsay Allen—will sign an extension at some point during the 2025 season that ties her to the Sky for one or two more years.
Before we talk about Allen’s situation, let’s level set. This prediction is based on my assumption that salaries in the WNBA won’t jump immediately once the new CBA is brought into place. The level of financial success that the league is experiencing (plus the advent of new, high-paying ventures like Unrivaled) suggest there’s room for substantial immediate growth in salaries, but American sports owners are famously fickle about sharing out revenue.
Obviously, if the WNBPA has a feeling that salaries will increase a huge amount as soon as 2026, they’ll likely advise players to steer clear of extension talk during the 2025 season. If the expected increases are more gradual, there’s less risk in committing. If I had to guess, the latter is the more likely outcome, but Allen will have more information to base her decision on as she sits just a few lockers away from the player’s association’s Secretary Elizabeth Williams.
Getting back to the extension, Allen could do worse than the 20% raise she’d be entitled to under the terms of the current CBA. Given she’ll be 30 when the 2025 season tips off, a two-year extension to the initial deal Allen signed in February would carry her through the remainder of her prime years and offer a chance to get another deal as a veteran contributor ahead of her age 33 season. In an offseason that’s sure to be full of roster turnover league wide, Allen would be promised security heading into 2026 while the Sky would keep a key veteran piece in place to mentor whatever point guard they draft on what—even with 20% added—would still be a team friendly deal (especially if the cap expands).
The Sky ____ the playoffs.
At this point, I feel pretty confident in saying that Las Vegas, Seattle, Minnesota, New York, Indiana and Phoenix will make next season’s playoffs. If you figure that at least one of those teams (like last year’s Wings) will likely fall on hard times and ultimately miss out, that leaves 7 teams to fight for the last three slots in next year’s playoffs.
If I go one step further and anticipate that Dallas and Atlanta will bounce back from disappointing 2024 seasons, that leaves just a single spot with five teams fighting for it. The key decider, then, becomes where DeWanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas land in free agency. If they somehow sign with one of the aforementioned playoff teams, there’s room for the Sky to box out the Mystics, Sparks, Sun and Valkyries. If not, the team they land with (presumably back in Connecticut) becomes the odds on favorite.
Of the best of the rest group I just mentioned, I expect the Sky to finish near the top, but the math tells me that’s only good enough for 9th place as things stand—meaning Chicago would narrowly miss out on the playoffs once again.