WNBA's Sky dismiss head coach Teresa Weatherspoon after 1 season
Team had 13-27 record and missed playoffs for 1st time since 2018
The Chicago Sky fired coach Teresa Weatherspoon after one season despite having two of the WNBA's most promising rookies.
The Sky confirmed the decision Friday, a day after two newspapers reported the move.
"After careful consideration, we have decided it is in the best interest of the organization to part ways with head coach Teresa Weatherspoon," Sky co-owner and operating chairman Nadi Rawlinson said in a statement. "We are deeply appreciative of Coach TSpoon's contributions to the Chicago Sky, and the energy and passion she brought to the head coaching role.
"We thank her for inspiring a competitive, resilient spirit across the team, synonymous with Chicago Sky basketball."
Chicago finished this season 13-27 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2018, despite drafting star rookies Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso. The next coach will be the team's fourth since the Sky won the WNBA championship in 2021.
Weatherspoon's firing could affect the future of Reese, who along with Indiana's Caitlin Clark helped draw record ratings and attendance figures after taking their rivalry from the colleges to the pros.
Reese expressed her support for Weatherspoon in a post on X.
I’m heartbroken. I’m literally lost for words knowing what this woman meant to me in such a pivotal point in my life. She was the only person that believed in me. The one that trusted me. Many don’t even know what it’s like to be a black women in sports when nobody believes in…
—@Reese10AngelReese likely would have set the league record for rebounds in a season had she not missed Chicago's final six games because of a wrist injury. That didn't stop her from setting several other marks. She averaged a league-record 13.1 rebounds, and her 26 double-doubles were the most by a rookie. Reese and Weatherspoon also had a connection, having been coached by Kim Mulkey.
The Sky hired Naismith Hall of Famer Weatherspoon in mid-October 2023 after going 18-22 and losing in the first round of the playoffs. Former coach and general manager James Wade left in the middle of the season to take an assistant coaching job with the Toronto Raptors and was replaced on an interim basis by Emre Vatanseyer.
A few weeks after hiring Weatherspoon, the Sky promoted Jeff Pagliocca to general manager. The new regime did what it could to put Chicago in position to get Cardoso and Reese.
In early February, the Sky dealt 2021 Finals MVP Kahleah Copper to the Phoenix Mercury for four draft picks, including the No. 3 choice. They acquired the No. 8 pick from Los Angeles two weeks later and traded up a spot with Minnesota.
The Sky took Cardoso with the No. 3 pick after she led South Carolina to a perfect season and the NCAA championship. Reese, the LSU star, was selected seventh overall.
Weatherspoon returned to the WNBA after working with the NBA's New Orleans Pelicans since 2019. She first was a player development coach and then an assistant starting in 2020. The team released her this past June.
Weatherspoon had a stellar playing career with the New York Liberty, earning WNBA defensive player of the year honours in each the league's first two seasons. She led the Liberty to the Finals four times, the last in 2002.
League attendance up 48 per cent
WNBA regular-season attendance was up 48 per cent over the 2023 season, the league announced Friday.
The WNBA averaged 9,807 fans per game in 2024, a hefty increase from last season's 6,615.
The league said 2,353,735 fans attended WNBA games, the most in 22 years.
WNBA teams combined for 154 sellouts this season after 45 in 2023.
Three games drew more than 20,000 fans, including a single-season record 20,711 when the Caitlin Clark-led Indiana Fever visited the Washington Mystics on Sept. 19. The other two also involved the Fever — 20,366 against the Las Vegas Aces on July 2 and 20,333 versus the Mystics on June 7.
Clark's impact was a big reason for the increased interest in the league. The Fever set a single-season home attendance record of 340,715 fans.
Clark, a rookie, set WNBA records for assists in a season (337) and a single game (19).
Las Vegas star A'ja Wilson set single-season records for scoring average (26.9 points per game), total points (1,021) and total rebounds (451). She won her third MVP award in unanimous fashion.
Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese set a single-season record by averaging 13.1 rebounds per game.
Also, the league said a record 22 regular-season telecasts averaged at least 1 million viewers.
With files from Field Level Media
