CHICAGO — After being named the Chicago Sky head coach last October, Teresa “Spoon” Weatherspoon took in her new home on an architectural boat tour. She looked up at buildings built decades apart, co-existing and not in competition with one another, and saw her blueprint for the culture she wanted to instill within the Sky.
“There’s a rich history here — rich, rich history and sports history,” Weatherspoon told Dime before the Sky’s triumphant 88-87 comeback victory over the Indiana Fever at Chicago’s Wintrust Arena last Sunday, June 23. “We don’t want to compete against it; we want to complement it. There’s a lot that we want to be a part of. The Chicago Sky want to complement the sports history, and how do we do that? Between the four lines, compete, play hard, go out and win every single day to represent this organization and this city in the right way.”
Chicago has warmed quickly to this year’s Sky (6-9). Weatherspoon, a Hall of Famer and six-time All-Star WNBA icon, received a standing ovation when taking the floor for the first time as the head coach on May 7, a preseason game against New York, but she is far from the only new face. After a February trade sent Kahleah Copper to Phoenix, Diamond DeShields and Dana Evans are the only players remaining from the 2021 team that won the franchise’s first WNBA championship. The foundation of the Sky’s rebuild was solidified by drafting center Kamilla Cardoso (No. 3) and forward Angel Reese (No. 7) — affectionately known as the “Skyscrapers” — in April, which immediately sparked an uptick in merchandise and ticket sales.
“They’re here,” Weatherspoon said about what would become the team’s third sold-out game this season that drew 2.3 million viewers on ESPN, the most-watched WNBA game in 23 years.
The palpable electricity coursing through Wintrust Arena couldn’t possibly be translated through a screen, however.
“I know I have a lot of little girls look up to me,” Reese said by the Sky’s bench during pre-game warmups. “All of these people here are coming to see all of us, so knowing that my voice and my impact is leading and continuing to use my platform is what’s important.”
One fan named Shakira Miller traveled from Louisiana to see Reese. She wore a custom graphic tee with three versions of Reese in a Sky jersey printed on the front. Miller grew up hooping and dreaming of playing at LSU, so she lives vicariously through Reese. Now, she teaches P.E. and sees Reese’s impact in her school gym every day, with her students wearing one leg sleeve like Reese (who took inspiration for the look from the back-to-back WNBA MVP, A’ja Wilson). “She’s making a difference wherever she goes,” Miller said.
Another fan named Andre hung a No. 5 jersey over the rails, as he’s done before every Sky home game, hoping for Reese’s signature and mere seconds of her time. “She’s just been a really big influence for the city of Chicago since being drafted,” he said. “Her charisma and personality makes the total package that you want in a player, and I think it’s a perfect fit to help us rebuild and get back to where we were in 2021.”
Sunday’s battle with Indiana — Reese competing against Fever rookie and No. 1 overall pick Caitlin Clark, and all that their proximity to each other entails — evoked a playoff atmosphere. Beloved Chicagoans Chance The Rapper and Lil Durk sat courtside, as was Chicago Bears president Kevin Warren, and the Sky demanded their attention.
Reese played her most efficient and well-rounded game as a pro with a career-high 25 points and 16 rebounds for her eighth consecutive double-double (a WNBA rookie record). Cardoso posted a career-high 16 points and 10 rebounds. DeShields played ferocious defense, especially evident on an emphatic block on a Clark layup. Chennedy Carter opened the scoring for Chicago and was a consistent bucket on 8-of-12 shooting. Lindsay Allen was the glue, leading the team in assists. Marina Mabrey, the Sky’s leading scorer this season, struggled (2-of-14 from the floor, including 1-of-10 from three), missing two free throws that would have put the game away with 18 seconds left, but her calming leadership never waned.
“For me, the biggest thing I would say is just that, with all the controversy surrounding Chennedy Carter [after her Flagrant 1 foul on Clark on June 1] and Angel and their ‘attitudes’ or their ‘issues,’ you can see in the games how supportive they are of each other,” native Chicagoan Sarah Spain, an Emmy-winning journalist and host of Good Game With Sarah Spain, wrote to Dime. “[Coach Spoon] has been able to keep the team super tight and super connected to each other.”
The Sky’s togetherness was apparent throughout their riveting 15-point comeback, clawing back and learning from their mistakes in real time. Before the game, Reese told The Chicago Tribune‘s Julia Poe that Carter is “the Chenn to the Barbie,” referencing her former Bayou Barbie nickname, and they danced to Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” after sealing the win. After the game, Weatherspoon assured the press that Mabrey would be harder on herself than anyone for her missed free throws and lauded Mabrey as a “warrior.” Sure enough, Mabrey posted a self-deprecating TikTok showing her practicing free throws. An animated Weatherspoon cared so much that she screamed affirmations to her players during her in-game ESPN interview, which they’ve internalized. “We aren’t supposed to be perfect right now,” Reese said postgame.
The most promising piece is how unequivocally comfortable they are to be imperfectly themselves.
“Spoon encouraging people to be exactly who they are and go out there and have that confidence, that’s what she brings to the table,” said Mabrey, who arrived in Chicago via trade in February 2023. “She challenges me to be a leader, scorer, and creator at the same time — being that game-changer for us. I’m starting to take that on and believe in it. I learned from the people ahead of me, and now, I’m trying to figure it out along the way. I’m not doing everything perfectly, but I have Spoon constantly in my ear and encouraging me, like, ‘You got it.'”
Forward Brianna Turner, a two-time WNBA All-Defensive First Team selection, is in her first season with the Sky and feels a difference from her previous five years in the league.
“Even the fan base, Chicago just has such a high percentage of Black people, which wasn’t case with previous teams I’ve been on from a community aspect,” she said. “We can reach more fans, more people — young, old, gay, straight — there’s somebody [on our team] for everybody. [Coach Spoon] has really implemented a championship culture. Obviously, we’re still building our team and growing each game, but she demands excellence, and that’s the standard.”
Reese’s excellence earned a hug postgame from Sheryl Swoopes, the first-ever signed player in WNBA history who became a four-time champion, three-time MVP, and Hall of Famer. Reese declined to go into specifics about what was said during their embrace, but while explaining what it means to have a legend like Swoopes believe in her, she made sure to note she’s “already being coached by a legend.” Reese and Weatherspoon both won NCAA championships in Louisiana, after all; Reese at LSU in 2023 and Weatherspoon at Louisiana Tech in 1988. Reese and her teammates follow Weatherspoon’s lead because her words are backed by decades of lived experience.
“When you experience something in life, and as much as I’ve experienced in the game of basketball, the beautiful part of it for me is to give back,” Weatherspoon said in response to a question from Maya Goldberg-Safir. “You don’t experience things to keep; you experience it to give it back. It’s emotional for me, sometimes, when I think about it because a group of young women are under my leadership, and it’s my duty — and I love my duty, and I love my challenge — is to make sure that they are the best version of themselves. […] It’s not all about the Xs and Os for me. It’s about the relationship with them.”
So, the Sky snagged their first win against what promises to be their long-running rival in front of a reinvigorated fan base on Sunday. But Coach Spoon didn’t take this job to win one game in June. On Thursday night, June 27, the Sky will host the back-to-back defending champion Las Vegas Aces for the first time this year — serving as a long-term measuring stick.
“We’re still growing,” Weatherspoon said. “We’re still learning each other. We’ve had to do it at a really fast pace being so young and new — and new to each other. But we’re doing it. We’re embracing it. We’re embracing what’s necessary for it to be done. There’s a lot that goes into what’s necessary for it to be done, so we’re embracing it every single day.”
Under Coach Spoon, the Sky have already collected tangible proof that the hard way is the only way forward because it’s the most rewarding way, and if they have it their way, they will earn a lasting place in Chicago history.
