It’s not quite disaster yet.
But the opening four games of the WNBA season have raised critical concerns for the Chicago Sky, who will seek their first win of the year Thursday against the Dallas Wings at Wintrust Arena.
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The Sky racked up four losses in the first 10 days of regular-season play — a pair of blowouts to the Indiana Fever and New York Liberty followed by a couple of closer defeats to the Los Angeles Sparks and Phoenix Mercury. The Sky are one of only two winless teams along with the Connecticut Sun, who are 0-5.
This Sky team under first-year coach Tyler Marsh was never going to contend among the heavy hitters of the league. For that reason, the opening results against the Fever and Liberty — albeit demoralizing because of the point differential (a combined 60 points) — didn’t necessarily come as a surprise. But the Sky should be able to compete among the middle tier of playoff contenders such as the Mercury, Sparks and Wings.
What has gone wrong? Here are four areas of concern for the Sky after the first four games of the season.
1. Defensive deficiencies
Few things have stood out more painfully than the Sky’s lack of defensive consistency. They have the worst defensive rating (113.6) in the league after allowing opponents to score a league-worst 94.3 points per game. The Sky are the only team that has yet to hold an opponent under 90 points.
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This might seem strange given the personnel on the Sky roster. Angel Reese is the best defensive rebounder in the WNBA. Elizabeth Williams is averaging the sixth-most blocks (1.3) in the league. The Sky have limited opponents to 33 points in the paint per game, a reflection of the defensive consistency provided by the frontcourt. But while the paint has been secured, the Sky defense has struggled from three notable weaknesses.
First: The Sky can’t defend the 3-point line. Teams shoot a staggering 45.1% from behind the arc against the Sky, a weak point that accounts for 41.4 opponent points per game. This is a direct reflection of the team’s success in limiting paint production — opposing teams incite the Sky to collapse around the basket, creating improved catch-and-shoot opportunities behind the arc. Notably, opponents are taking 8.8 corner 3s per game, a high-value look for a shooter.
Second: The Sky are dead in the water in the open court. The defense seems to fall into disarray every time an opponent pushes the floor in transition, leaving the central lane of the court open for teams to run straight up the gut to the basket. This is why the Sky give up 13.5 fast-break points per game, which takes away from their ability to profit off a fast-paced style.
Photos: Meet the 2025 Chicago Sky
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Third: Even in the half-court, the Sky’s off-ball defense remains incredibly sluggish, which allows opposing teams to pick the court apart if they keep the ball moving and switch sides with consistency. And their defense generally lacks disruptiveness, creating only 13.8 turnovers per game. Without any pressure on the perimeter, teams are allowed to feel comfortable on the attack, leaving the Sky in a constant state of reactive defense.
2. Turnover troubles
The Sky are the most mistake-prone team in the WNBA. They average 19 turnovers per game and give up 19.8 points off those errors. Only four Sky players — Courtney Vandersloot, Kamilla Cardoso, Ariel Atkins and Hailey Van Lith, who has played limited minutes because of injury — are averaging more assists than turnovers.
This creates a sizable margin for opposing teams outside of their half-court offense, an issue exacerbated by the lack of defensive pressure because the Sky aren’t making up enough of these points by creating turnovers.
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Their turnovers derive from a few sources. Some have been genuinely baffling examples of individual error — players dribbling off their own foot or tossing lazy passes into the hands of a defender. But much of the Sky’s turnover problem seems to reflect a teamwide discomfort within the offensive system.
The Sky are one of the fastest-paced teams in the league, but this insistence on pushing the pace often leads to miscalculated passes up the court that squander transition opportunities before they begin. Entry passing remains a concern for the Sky as guards such as Vandersloot and Atkins develop a two-man game with Cardoso, Reese and Williams. And similarly, the posts have struggled with getting stuck in double teams on the low block, resulting in poor outlet passes that are intercepted.
A small silver lining is that errors can be one of the more fixable weaknesses for a team. The Sky are working with an almost entirely new backcourt. Growing pains were to be expected. But until they reduce their turnovers — preferably to 14 or fewer per game — the Sky will have barely any breathing room offensively.
3. The long ball
An important piece of the Sky’s new ethos revolves around the proliferation of the 3-point shot. The Sky were last in 3-point shooting last season and want to flip that identity on its head. On a perfect night, the Sky aim to take 30 shots from behind the arc. The entire offseason acquisition list — Vandersloot, Kia Nurse, Atkins and Rebecca Allen — was predicated on making this offensive shift.
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The Sky average more 3-point shots — 23.8, a massive jump from last year’s 14.9 — but also started with a dry spell. The are shooting 28.4% from behind the arc.
Shooting can be streaky. This truth was reflected by guard Nurse, who started the season 1-for-15 from behind the arc before going 4-for-7 against the Mercury on Tuesday. But for the Sky, the real concern is the quality of shots being created.
They have struggled to create corner looks — the highest-efficiency version of the 3-point shot — instead relying heavily on above-the-break shooting to sustain their 3-point volume. And the offense has struggled to create the space showcased in the preseason through dribble handoffs and perimeter screens to create quality looks from deep.
Carving out improved 3-point looks will be a key for the Sky to shake out of this slump.
4. Same old finishing woes
The 3-point misses have been a glaring issue. But the Sky are also particularly poor at the rim, eliminating one of their supposed strengths. The Sky have shot 46.2% from within 5 feet of the rim — making them the only team in the league to average below 50% from that range.
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This is an issue headlined by the frontcourt, which is shooting a collective 36.2% in the 5-foot range: Reese averages 33.3% shooting on nine attempts per game; Williams 40% on 3.8 attempts; and Cardoso 54.5% on 8.3 attempts. This low efficiency means the frontcourt produces only 18 points per game from close-range shooting despite the team’s expected strength in the post.
The issue extends to the entire roster — Atkins, for instance, is averaging 20% shooting on shots within 5 feet. But the frontcourt’s finishing is the bigger concern for the Sky, who have crafted their entire offensive system around the ability to beat opponents at the rim.
A lack of efficiency at the rim diminishes the effectiveness of the pick-and-roll game. It disrupts the balance the Sky are attempting to create between the perimeter and the low block, providing less of a challenge for opposing bigs and producing less punishment for defensive errors. And it prevents the Sky from leaning into one of their greatest advantages — their size — when other areas of their offense are struggling.
