Sky season turns into waiting after late losses

Sky season – Chicago Sky star Courtney Vandersloot is practicing at full speed but won’t play this week against the Liberty and Wings. With the team reeling from late-minute losses and an offense stuck in low efficiency for most of the season, the frustration is physical—y

Close, but not quite has become the Sky’s new reality.

In their last two games, Chicago played well enough to take shape against playoff-caliber teams. They still lost both, slipping away in the final minutes. Now the season’s momentum feels hostage to a different kind of clock: injured players returning on progress, but not on schedule.

Courtney Vandersloot and DiJonai Carrington are making progress, yet neither has a specific timeline to return. Vandersloot, the closest of the two, is practicing at full speed. She is still not available this week against the Liberty and the Wings.

“I got a little bit of muscle to build still,” Vandersloot told the Sun-Times.

Her road back has become more precise than hopeful. She’s working to close the gap between her left and right knee, careful after a year of rehab not to rush the last step.

It’s the smart move. But for a team that has lost seven of its last eight and is trying not to let the season slip away, waiting hurts in a very specific way—because the evidence of what’s missing keeps showing up on the court, right when games get tight.

Vandersloot is already thinking beyond the minutes she can’t play. She believes once she returns, she can bring comfort and structure to the offense.

“That’s where my strength is,” Vandersloot said. “Getting the offense to flow and run well. I can get people the shots that they’re used to getting. But I think the biggest thing is the leadership out there. People feel comfortable when I’m on the floor with them. I’m hoping that helps us a little bit in certain moments.”.

From the sideline, she’s watching things move in small ways—enough to feel like momentum building. In the Sky’s most recent performances against the Dream and Fever, Vandersloot saw the team responding and fighting through stretches.

“We’re responding well,” Vandersloot said. “We’re sticking together, making our own runs. We have certain lapses at times where we can’t make a shot or whatever it may be, and we don’t just quit. We keep fighting. I think that’s been the biggest difference in the last couple games.”

She also sees the way the offense looks when it’s actually clicking, even if it hasn’t been consistent.

“The offense is flowing a little bit better. In my opinion, when that’s clicking, all of a sudden it becomes a little bit easier to defend. Coaches will say the opposite, but that’s how I see the game.”

The numbers tell part of the story. This season, the Sky’s offense ranks 13th out of 15 teams. Over the last two games, though, it has climbed to 8th—evidence that something changes when the shot-making begins.

The problem is that the season has too often been about waiting for those shots to fall.

They’ve made fewer than 30% of their three-pointers in nine of 13 games. They’ve also shot 75% or worse from the free-throw line in more than half their games—especially punishing for a team that takes the second-most attempts in the league.

“I think when you lose a couple games, that rim gets a little tighter,” Vandersloot said. “Even the best shooting teams go through times where you’re not making shots. That’s part of the game. For us, it’s just finding other ways to score when those nights are happening.”

And still, it’s the recent results that keep the Sky from giving up on what’s next.

Despite the last two losses, the shooting has started to shift. Point guard Skylar Diggins has hit six of her 10 attempts from deep in that span. including the three-pointer that sent the Fever game to overtime. Rookie guard Sydney Taylor—who leads the team in three-point attempts—went 4-for-7 against the Fever.

“When you get that going, that kind of stuff is contagious,” Vandersloot said. “If you can get somebody that can start hitting some shots, that rim looks a little bit bigger.”

It’s tempting to call it a breakthrough in the making. It might be. Or maybe this team is still just in the same uncomfortable holding pattern—one more week, one more set of finals-minute mistakes—until the shots finally start landing as consistently as the Sky are beginning to believe they can.

Chicago Sky Courtney Vandersloot DiJonai Carrington Skylar Diggins Sydney Taylor WNBA Liberty Wings Fever Dream injuries shooting slump