Angel Reese ruled out with back injury for Sky’s final game

Franchise star Angel Reese was ruled out with a back injury for the last game of the Sky’s disappointing season.

She hasn’t played since questioning the franchise’s direction in an interview with the Tribune last week.

Her comments set off a chain reaction including a half-game suspension and a strange couple of days in Las Vegas, where she sat out with a back injury and spoke with teammates only sparingly.

Nothing to see here, folks.

Before Thursday’s game, head coach Tyler Marsh said he has “no reason to believe” Reese’s buy-in to the organization has changed. He dismissed the idea that her injury was connected to the suspension, and called talk of locker-room fractures a “narrative that was out there.”

When asked if Reese has a future in Chicago, Marsh said, simply, “sure.”

Lottery luck

With the Sky missing the playoffs by a mile, the focus now shifts to free agency and the draft.

On lottery night, the Sky will have the second-best odds at the No. 1 pick — but if they win, the pick goes to Minnesota. That’s the cost of last year’s deal to draft Reese and this year’s deal to draft Hailey Van Lith.

The Sky will still be in play, though, thanks to owning the Sun’s first-rounder. The Sun have a 7% chance at the No. 1 pick, but odds suggest the Sky will be picking closer to No. 5. Names projected in that range include LSU’s Flau’Jae Johnson and South Carolina’s Ta’Niyah Latson and Chloe Kitts — the alma maters of Reese and Kamilla Cardoso.

The Sky also plan to bring over its 2025 No. 10 pick, Ajsa Sivka, a 6-foot-3 wing currently playing for a Spanish club. Sivka averaged 7.7 points for Slovenia at EuroBasket, hitting 50% from deep.

Attendance record

After the 2024 draft class brought new eyes to the league, interest kept building this season. The WNBA averaged 11,009 fans per game entering the final day. If that number holds, it will go down as the highest-attended season in the league’s 28-year history. The expansion Valkyries led the charge, selling out every home game.

The Sky’s attendance climbed as well, though they rank ninth out of 13 teams. Part of that is stadium size: Wintrust Arena maxes out at 9,025 seats, while more than half the league plays in NBA- or NHL-sized arenas.

Team president Adam Fox said Wintrust remains the plan for the Sky’s foreseeable future.

“We’ve shown the ability at times to be able to draw crowds that are bigger than Wintrust, but it’s been a great place to be right now,” Fox told the Sun-Times last month. “If it gets to the point where we’re bursting at the seams every night and the demand is far outweighing it, we will always consider all options.”