The Chicago Sky are on the clock to rethink their end-of-season strategy after star rookie Angel Reese suffered a season-ending wrist injury Friday.
Losing Reese, who was leading the WNBA in rebounding (13.1 per game) and the Sky in minutes (32.5), is clearly a significant blow. The 6-foot-3 forward had started all 34 games before the injury, anchoring the Sky on both ends of the court.
So what comes next? Let’s answer some of the biggest questions looming for the Sky (13-22) with five games remaining in the regular season.
What’s the next step for Angel Reese?
Reese shared a detailed timeline of her injury in a TikTok video late Sunday. She said she suffered a hairline fracture in the base of her left hand while attempting to catch herself after being knocked to the ground with a foul in the third quarter of Friday’s win over the Los Angeles Sparks.
Reese said she elected to undergo surgery because playing through the injury could have risked arthritis or further damage.
Angel Reese provides more details about her SEI via TikTok.
Hairline fracture incurred Friday. Technically could have played on, but elected for surgery to avoid arthritis, damage, etc.
Timeline: surgery on Tuesday, hard cast for 4 weeks, soft for 2 weeks, then into rehab. pic.twitter.com/Z8MSZbY551
— Julia Poe (@byjuliapoe) September 9, 2024
She will have surgery Tuesday, then spend four weeks in a hard cast followed by two more weeks in a soft cast. Then she can begin rehabilitation on her hand, meaning she likely won’t return to basketball activities until late November or December.
The timing still works in Reese’s favor as she prepares to compete in the inaugural season of Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 league created by WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart with games in Miami from January to March. Reese said she expects to be back to full strength by the start of the Unrivaled season.
Who will replace Reese for the rest of the season?
The Sky will turn to veteran Isabelle Harrison to fill in as the starting power forward. Harrison locked down the job in Sunday’s blowout win over the Dallas Wings, logging 21 points, nine rebounds, two steals and a block.
While their physical profiles look similar, the 6-3 Harrison is a fundamentally different player from Reese — and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Harrison doesn’t bring the same motor on the boards, so she won’t fully compensate for the volume of rebounds and second-chance points Reese provided. But Harrison’s midrange shooting will be valuable as the Sky work to balance the floor to create space for Kamilla Cardoso in the low post.
In her seventh WNBA season, the 30-year-old Harrison is one of the Sky’s most experienced players, an important factor in making a smooth transition to the starting lineup. While the Sky might become less explosive in certain areas of the court, Harrison should be well-equipped to prevent a significant drop-off in production.
Can the Sky sign a player to a hardship contract?
The Sky have placed two players on the season-ending injury list after starting center Elizabeth Williams underwent knee surgery in June. That qualifies them to sign a player to a replacement contract — but it’s unclear if they would do that with so few games remaining.
If two or more players are sidelined with an injury or illness for at least three weeks, the WNBA allows teams to sign an additional player to a contract worth 75% of the applicable base minimum salary. The second injured player must be sidelined for two games before teams can submit paperwork for a hardship exception, so the Sky won’t be eligible until after Wednesday’s game against the Washington Mystics.
The Sky aren’t necessarily concerned with cap space — they have more than $170,000 remaining — but would need to free up a roster spot if they wanted to bring in a new player.
That might not be necessary for the final stretch of the season. Coach Teresa Weatherspoon mostly sticks with an eight- or nine-player rotation, which means Harrison will absorb Reese’s workload and Brianna Turner will step up in the secondary rotation. Given the forward talent available, the Sky likely will ride with their current roster.
What’s a realistic expectation without Reese?
Losing Reese clearly reframes the final two weeks of the season — but the Sky remain in playoff position and showed last week they aren’t inclined to relinquish it over the final five games.
Back-to-back wins Friday and Sunday lifted them a game ahead of the Atlanta Dream (12-23) for the last playoff spot. The Mystics (11-24) are two games behind, so a Sky victory Wednesday would almost entirely narrow it to a two-team race.
The Sky currently hold the tiebreaker over the Dream with a 2-1 lead in the season series, though the teams meet again in the penultimate game Sept. 17 in Atlanta. The next tiebreaker is conference record, which the Sky (5-12) also currently lead over the Dream (4-12).
The teams face similar strengths of schedule to close the season — the Sky have to play the third-place Connecticut Sun (25-10) and second-place Minnesota Lynx (26-9) over the next five games, while the Dream face the Lynx and the first-place New York Liberty (29-6).
The Sky will need to make several crucial adjustments to maintain their current momentum. Cardoso must shoulder a heavier assignment as both a rim protector and a rebounder. And they will have to be comfortable with going smaller in the secondary rotation, which will lean guard-heavy to accommodate Harrison’s move into the starting lineup.
Still, the Sky should have just enough wiggle room to sneak into the playoffs even without their star rookie.
Past that, of course, expectations should be lightened. The Sky never were solid contenders to get past the first round — and losing Reese all but guarantees an early exit if they make it. For a team building around young players such as Cardoso and Chennedy Carter, a playoff berth would serve as a valuable learning experience while still allowing the Sky to secure a top-six draft pick to continue their roster construction.
