Chicago Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot’s season-ending ACL injury drastically changes the team’s trajectory for 2025.
Vandersloot went down with a knee injury during a June 7th matchup against the Indiana Fever at the United Center in Chicago. The veteran guard was near the sidelines, driving to the basket with a defender in lockstep. As she approached the paint, she stopped for a pull-up jumper, but immediately grabbed her knee mid-play and went down to the floor.
Several Sky players rushed to her side as Vandersloot writhed in visible pain on the court, clutching her knee. Eventually, she was helped to the locker room by the training staff, unable to put any pressure on her leg. Vandersloot did not return to the matchup and was ruled out during the Sky’s 79-52 loss to the Fever.
The veteran guard’s injury makes the vision for Chicago’s 2025 season (and possibly beyond) a bit cloudier. What will the Sky look like without Vandersloot as floor general? Who could replace her?
The answers to such questions aren’t exactly comforting. Transparently, the Sky are in a bind.
Chicago’s future could be Hailey Van Lith or bust
The Sky don’t have very many options to backfill Vandersloot’s role.
Unfortunately, even with the veteran done for the season and guard Morah Jefferson missing time as she rehabs a leg injury, they don’t qualify for a hardship contract. Chicago doesn’t have enough injured players to warrant bringing another in for help. (A hardship contract allows teams who are under 10 healthy players to sign short-term help while any injured players are out. Once the team returns to 10 players, the hardship contract is typically waived unless the team has the cap space to turn the agreement into a standard contract.)
Then, there’s the matter of the Ariel Atkins trade. In February, Sky general manager Jeff Pagliocca traded the No. 3 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, a 2027 second-round pick and the rights to swap 2027 first-round picks to bring Atkins to Chicago. That feels particularly heavy now as the team possibly ways options to replace Vandersloot. In essence, if Chicago wanted to give up future draft picks to trade for help, the Atkins trade might make it that much harder.
Which brings Chicago to its only possible option: rookie guard Hailey Van Lith. Whether Van Lith is ready or not, she’s the only feasible option for the Sky. It’s Van Lith or bust. Nothing else really feels great. Chicago’s limited cap space also further complicates signing anyone from an already strained free agent market. The best thing the Sky can do is start Van Lith and do a point guard by committee approach to help her development. The immediate benefit to starting the former TCU guard is that she has no problem dishing it out to Chicago’s post players, and she’s a willing scorer, which the team could sorely use right now as the offense finds its identity.
The Sky don’t have a lot of time to adjust to life without their top floor general. On Tuesday, they play the undefeated New York Liberty at 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.
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