The Sky are remade again — and Chicago’s coach says the critics are missing it
· Yahoo Sports
For a third consecutive season, the Chicago Sky's roster will look noticeably different.
Each year, under general manager Jeff Pagliocca, Chicago has endured significant changes to its team makeup. Since 2024, multiple starters have left the franchise, whether it's via trade, like forward Angel Reese and guard Ariel Atkins, or the Sky choosing to move on as they did with guard Chennedy Carter. WNBA free agency, ahead of the 2026 season, brought even more change.
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Chicago signed guards Skylar Diggins and DiJonai Carrington and reunited with forward Azurá Stevens, who won a 2021 championship with the franchise. It also acquired forward Rickea Jackson in the Atkins trade. So much change all at once has heightened the online chatter about the team. On Wednesday, head coach Tyler Marsh and Pagliocca defended the Sky's moves.
"What I feel good about is that you don't land the players that we've landed without doing something right. Like, we're heading in the right direction. We're doing things the right way. We got the right people in the building," Marsh said.
"Players are aware of the negative things that get said on a daily. We're all engaged in social media. We're all engaged in what's going on around us, and we're aware of it."
The Sky head coach then listed reasons why players like Diggins, Jackson and Stevens might want to play for Chicago. He noted that Diggins is a veteran who knows "the fake from the real" and has discernment about what's been said. According to Marsh, if Jackson didn't want to join the Sky, she could've acknowledged that during conversations. For Stevens, Marsh said that Chicago would not have been able to land her again if it were not "doing things the right way."
"As much as the negative stuff that people want to speak, make sure that you're speaking about the stuff that we do well just as loudly, too," Marsh said.
Chicago's head coach later added that the Sky communicate from what they feel is an honest, authentic perspective when engaging with players and agents, while also having honest, "tough" conversations behind closed doors about the team and where it wants to be as an organization. Pagliocca backed Marsh's assessment of where Chicago stands as a franchise, saying it was important for the pair to maintain their core values during free agency and the WNBA draft as the Sky added players.
"There's a lot of really good people here, and everyone's gonna have opinions. This league has a lot of eyes on it now. The attention has changed dramatically. So you know, narratives can be fair or unfair, but, you know, we're very self-aware," Pagliocca said. "You know, we're in a new place, and we're excited, but again, we're just gonna keep telling the truth, being honest, and, you know, trust goes both ways, so we're looking forward to it."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chicago Sky are remade again —and coach says critics are missing it