When Angel Reese walked onto the Wintrust Arena court Thursday for the final time this season, she was greeted — like always — with a resounding cheer.
This wasn’t anything new. Since the moment she was selected at No. 7 in the 2024 draft, Reese has driven a new wave of fandom and support to the Chicago Sky. But Thursday’s crowd took on a different tone and tenor.
Fans lofted signs that read “Free 5” and “Angel was right” and “Sell the team!” A fan wearing a homemade “Free Angel Reese” shirt sat in courtside seats on the baseline directly adjacent to the Sky bench for the second half. In the third quarter, a chant of “Fire Jeff” — calling for the removal of general manager Jeff Pagliocca — erupted from the section behind the Sky bench while Reese sat silent.
After the game — a 91-86 Sky loss to the New York Liberty to close the book on a 10-34 season — Reese shared a simple sentiment on X: “I love you guys.” A few hours later, she boarded a private jet to Las Vegas, leaving behind a frenzy of confusion focused on the same question:
Will Reese play for the Sky again?
The last 10 days marked a seismic shift in the relationship between Reese and the organization. On Sept. 2, the forward voiced concerns and critiques about her teammates, the coaching staff, front-office decisions and ownership in an interview with the Tribune.
Reese apologized in a private team meeting the next day after the article’s publication sparked dissent and discontent throughout the locker room. The team took two more days before deciding to suspend Reese for the first half of Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Aces. After fulfilling her suspension, Reese sat out for the remaining 2½ games, citing a back injury that has lingered for the latter half of the season.
The back issue was legitimate — Reese missed nearly three weeks after the All-Star break to rehab the injury. The front office and coaching staff did not publicly or privately question whether Reese’s absences were connected to Sunday’s half-game suspension. If she was sitting out in protest, a source said, the decision was never openly articulated.
Coach Tyler Marsh emphasized this point at shootaround Thursday, saying he did not believe Reese sat out for any reason outside of her injury. He said daily communication with Reese remained consistent after the suspension: “We speak every day.”
Marsh added that Reese’s primary desire was to get back onto the court — and that he had “no reason to believe” that she was any less willing to play for the Sky this season or next year.
Marsh bluntly reiterated this belief when answering a question about whether Reese had a future in Chicago: “Sure.”
Reese, 23, has never publicly broached the idea of forcing a trade out of Chicago. Her most recent comments focused on how she would approach the end of her rookie contract, which is not set to expire until 2027, assuming the Sky pick up their team option. When she intermittently chose to vent her frustrations publicly about the roster or the team’s facilities, Reese always focused on her desire to help build a better version of the Sky.
But could that have changed in the last few weeks?
Reese’s critical comments about her teammates and coaching staff hurt feelings and undermined trust. Similarly, the ensuing suspension fractured confidence for Reese. The result is an awkward impasse that the Sky front office will spend the upcoming months attempting to navigate.
The value on the court is obvious. Reese averaged 14.7 points, 12.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 30 games, repeating as the league’s top rebounder and earning a second-straight All-Star selection while leading the Sky in scoring. During exit interviews Friday, Pagliocca praised Reese as an “ascending young talent in the league.” Marsh described Reese as a model for the team’s mantra: “Commit and compete.”
The Sky mortgaged their future by trading away draft picks in the hopes of building a veteran core around Reese and center Kamilla Cardoso. Team sources indicated that the tumult of the last week was not enough to sway the front office’s internal belief that Reese and Cardoso are the franchise’s stars of the future.
And that means all of this, ultimately, comes down to Reese.
A decade after the fact, the Sky still are recovering from the damage wrought by their refusal to honor a trade request from Hall of Famer Sylvia Fowles, who sat out half of the 2015 season to force a move out of Chicago. Over the last few years, the Sky have worked to improve their reputation as a player-first organization — even if that means trading away a valued star.
The team traded Kahleah Copper at her request in 2022 and Marina Mabrey at her request last summer. This is the new ethos for the Sky — if a player doesn’t want to be in Chicago, the front office will attempt to honor her wishes efficiently. But if Reese wants out, she will have to ask.
“She’s a special player,” Pagliocca said. “I have good conversations with Angel daily, with her team daily. They’re constant and they’re productive. Until I hear differently, that’s the direction we’re going to move in is that she’s on the roster.”
Reese’s team has not communicated any desire to leave the Sky this offseason, per a league source. The team is hoping that space during the early weeks of the offseason will offer time for all parties to cool off and reassess the best path forward.
Inside the Sky organization, that cooling-off period already has begun. On the last day of the season, players and coaches praised the “strength” of the locker room.
“I don’t think it ever was really fractured,” Marsh said. “That was a narrative that was out there, but if you’re here every day like some of y’all are and see what the vibes are day in and day out — whether it’s practices or whether it’s shootarounds — you’ve seen that the energy has been and still continues to be pretty high.
“We’re not immune to going through adversity, just like any team, but for us unfortunately it’s just a little more public. But outside of that, more often than not this team has been pretty connected this season.”
The franchise is still Reese’s if she chooses to stay with the Sky — but there will be work ahead on all sides to mend and maintain strong relationships.
One crucial step would be repairing her relationship with Courtney Vandersloot, who is considered internally to be the player most upset by Reese’s questioning of whether the Sky can rely on the veteran to return from a torn ACL.
The Sky front office still holds hope for the vision of Vandersloot, 36, anchoring the team at point guard.
“If she’s healthy, she’s going to be playing basketball here,” Pagliocca said.
Multiple sources within the organization voiced concern about whether Reese and Vandersloot can repair their relationship. Vandersloot did not give an exit interview Friday but is expected to speak with the media in the coming week.
Reese also is scheduled to speak with the media in an exit interview next week. The forward’s approach to that public availability could set a tone for the offseason — or could prolong speculation surrounding her future.
But even after a week of turmoil, the messaging from the front office is clear: The Sky still believe in a future with Reese.
“The criticism that she gets daily isn’t fair,” Marsh said after Thursday’s season finale. “She’s someone that we’ve also got to remember is in her early 20s as well, in a position that not many of us know what it’s like to be in, on and off the court. The grace that she deserves should be afforded to her regardless of what her stardom looks like.
“There’s a whole lot of good that Angel embodies as well. That should be talked about just as much as all the other stuff.”