The Chicago Sky made their last three roster cuts Sunday, finalizing the 2025 roster less than a week ahead of the team’s season opener against the Indiana Fever.
No. 11 overall pick Hailey Van Lith and second-round pick Maddy Westbeld earned the final two openings after the Sky waived Jessika Carter, Morgan Bertsch and Ally Wilson. The move highlighted the team’s emphasis on youth development, opting to stick with two 2025 draft picks over several more experienced non-rostered players.
Van Lith made an early strong impression as the team’s potential backup point guard. She logged 13 assists and only two turnovers through three preseason games, showcasing a gritty dependability on both ends of the court. Westbeld’s performance was less flashy, but that’s her expected M.O. as a consistent backup power forward. The Sky were impressed by her ability to stretch the floor during the pre-draft scouting process, creating more versatility for the frontcourt.
Still, the preseason also showcased limitations that both rookies will have to overcome to earn meaningful roles this season. Although Van Lith easily outperformed other bench guards, she struggled under the perimeter pressure of first-rotation defenders while facing the Minnesota Lynx. And Westbeld did not register a single shot in either matchup against the Lynx.
The Sky’s two other draft picks — No. 10 pick Ajša Sivka and late second-rounder Aicha Coulibaly — did not participate in training camp. Sivka is a Slovenian national who will spend the first half of the WNBA season competing in EuroBasket, while Coulibaly suffered an ACL injury in January and is still undergoing the early stages of recovery. Neither is likely to report to Chicago or fill a roster spot this season.
Even without those two rookies jockeying for spots, first-time head coach Tyler Marsh said it was difficult to narrow players down. And for Marsh, the final round of cuts also highlighted the stark constraints created by the league’s roster rules.
“It’s kind of the good and bad part of creating a training camp as competitive as we did,” Marsh said. “We knew we were going to have tough decisions to make with limited roster spots — and hopefully the league gets to the point one day when we can have expanded rosters. Because it’s unfortunate.
“A lot of good players are going to end up not having places to go. We’re trying to build confidence. Hopefully the players who don’t make it around the league are able to put some good film together for future opportunities.”
Roster spots will be a key focus as the WNBA approaches another negotiation window for its collective bargaining agreement with the players union later this year. While players and coaches aren’t advocating for an immediate jump up to 18-player rosters, Marsh feels the league is ready to expand the limit to 14 roster spots.
The WNBA limits each team to 12 players, which is six players fewer than NBA teams’ rosters. Under the similarly stringent salary cap — set at just over $1.5 million this season — some WNBA teams opt to only carry 11 players to facilitate larger contracts for star players.
Twelve players are barely enough for teams to fully scrimmage against one another, much less accommodate for the inevitable injury absences that occur in any given season.
Every season, WNBA teams rely heavily on non-rostered players to fill this void through injury replacement contracts — temporary deals that are prorated at 75% of the league minimum. These contracts aren’t a stable form of gainful employment for players and often force individuals to decide between heading to Europe for the summer or staying in the U.S. for a chance at the WNBA.
For coaches like Marsh, adding more roster spots would increase the overall dependability of the team.
“I think having a couple of developmental spots where you don’t have to search outside if something happens to anybody on your current roster — having someone currently in the system that has been around and been able to practice and knows your terminology and your system and can able to kind of plug and play when you need to — I think that will benefit everyone,” he said.
For now, the Sky are forging ahead with their 12-player team headlined by Angel Reese, Kamilla Cardoso and Courtney Vandersloot, with a season opener slated Saturday against the Fever at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.