For Sky, the dream is far from over

This is exactly how the dream came true. After the draft in April, in which the Sky had two top 7 picks, it was decided that this season was not too sleepy to miss.

Since we didn't sleep, we dreamed a lot about this moment.

As you read this, Sky will be doing exactly the same thing as everyone else who jumped on the 2024 season bandwagon:
Watching the WNBA playoffs from the sidelines.

(Which is the best thing ever for both the team and us. What would it do to our psyches to watch them lose and see them suffer defeats like that against a No. 1 seeded Liberty team hellbent on avenging a finals loss from last year? Chances are we'll escape the beating.)

Yes, it would have been great to extend their annual playoff streak to six years—currently the longest streak of any professional team in Chicago—but when has guaranteed defeat and the loss of a draft lottery spot been the breeding ground for a team that is 14 games under .500 and has won just three of its last 16 games since the Olympics ended?

The Sky were not at all ready, prepared or tuned into the WNBA postseason this year. Any games they would have played after Game 40 without their three stars – Chennedy Carter, Camilla Cardoso and Angel Reese – would have been as (and I say this as nicely as possible) “not smart” as James Wade, including trading the 2025 first-round rights with the Wings to acquire Marina Mabrey before he left the scene of his own crime.

In the season review, we can all look back at three games they lost between August 23 and 28 against the Sun (82-80), Aces (77-75) and Mystics (74-70) – all games lost literally in the last minute, all games the Sky had real and genuine chances to win – as the games that undid them. That is if we are honest and if they are honest with themselves.

Games that came in the middle of a seven-game losing streak became the reality check they needed to turn around a playoff-or-bust approach and serve as proof that blood, sweat, guts, pride, heart and even luck are not enough to win the games they need to win, while a real three-point shooting threat, a solid offensive structure and a top-notch defensive stopper outside the post to slow down perimeter stars or put the opposition under pressure at the end of games are the things they need to win the games they have to win but aren't supposed to win.

Now the real work begins. Despite the 40,000-square-foot, $38 million training and practice facility under construction, a season-high attendance this year, slightly overachieving in game performance, great chances to re-sign Carter and Dana Evans (they wisely extended Elizabeth Williams earlier this week), coach Teresa Weatherspoon's rookie season now behind her, and the birth of Skye the Lioness, it's time for Sky to look in the mirror and in the rearview mirror of last season to see themselves and the work they left behind that is still unfinished.

The trade demands and post-trade comments from Kahleah Copper (“want to be competitive”) and Mabrey (“never been in a [championship] Environment like [this]” previously) that directly related to the non-championship qualities and characteristics within the organization must first be recognized for their merits and then addressed to resolve the problem.

The front office's main task is to sign a serious free agent (Satou Sabally or Natasha Howard, anyone? Bring back Gabby Williams, anyone? Anyone?). Reese's only task will be to finish at the basket and drastically increase her shooting percentage. Cardoso's only tasks will be to learn to be proactive on defense and avoid foul trouble. Not entering the lottery again in 2026 because of the record is the only organizational task from this moment on. Then there's the draft.

The names are a surplus of wealth and assets: Te-Hina Paopao, Olivia Miles, Azzi Fudd, Raven Johnson, Hailey Van Lith (Rori Harmon, Georgia Amoore and Shayeann Day-Wilson, all 5'7, may be too small to fill the position Sky needs at point guard, but all are good enough), Emily Ryan, Sonia Citron, Laila Phelia. The lead guard spot in this year's draft is generational. And Sky will have a first or second dip. And one is all they need.

The dream is to use that single selection with pick 2-4 to transform their backcourt, along with Carter, next season into a Sky adaptation of something very similar to what Caitlin Clark/Kelsey Mitchell were able to accomplish 180 miles down I-65. That means the pick has to be better than perfect.

It all comes down to the three games they lost in the middle of that seven-game losing streak. They're going to win those games next season. That means losing those last two games and not making the playoffs, which they're not going to lose next season. That means the upcoming draft, that means signing a key free agent, that means the entire offseason.

Then the dream is complete. But it is far from over.