Former Chicago Sky Star Allie Quigley announced her retirement from the WNBA.
Quigley said her goodbyes on June 10 in a heartfelt letter on The Players’ Tribune, which is a media platform athletes use to start deep conversations.
“Alright, guys……… that’s it for me. I guess I didn’t pull an Irish goodbye on you after all,” wrote Quigley.
WNBA Dreams
Quigley was drafted No. 22 overall in the 2008 WNBA draft. However, she would suit up for the Phoenix Mercury in her rookie season. She went on to play 14 seasons in the WNBA and played for five different franchises.
The DePaul product played two seasons with the Mercury, one season with the Indiana Fever, the San Antonio Superstars, and the Seattle Storm. She played the rest of her career with Chicago and helped the franchise capture its first championship in 2021.
Quigley is the second-leading scorer in franchise history for the Sky. Courtney Vandersloot, who is married to Quigley, broke the record on May 29.
Gratitude of the W
The three-time all-star continued to express her gratitude to the WNBA in her Players’ Tribune letter.
“So when I look back on my childhood, it really does feel like I grew up in that moment. Like – there’s “before,” when I was just a kid. And then there’s “after,” when I was a kid who dreamed of making it to the WNBA,” Quigley wrote.
“And in that sense, I kind of feel like I’m part of this unique generation of players. Where we’re the last generation who can remember a time when there wasn’t a W. Or to put it another (better) way: We’re the last generation who will ever have to remember a time when there wasn’t a W. I’m so proud of that.”
“And I think there’s a pretty cool perspective that comes with it – especially when I look back on how far our league has come since then,” Quigley wrote.
“I see all these great players like Stewie and Sabrina and A’ja now starting to have signature shoes, and I just think back on how exciting it felt when my mom first bought me a pair of Cynthia Coopers in the late ’90s.”
“Or I see kids wearing #14 Quigley jerseys at Sky games, and I just think back on how much wearing a WNBA jersey meant to me when I was a kid (one year my friends and I actually all dressed as W players for Halloween- I wore a bright yellow Lisa Leslie #9 Sparks jersey and thought it was so cool). Or I’ll watch the Draft now, and see what a huge deal it’s turned into, with the Orange Carpet and prime time on ESPN.”
Chicago Legend Signing off
Quigley played her last season with the Sky in 2022 but took time off after the season. In her Tribune letter, she joked about the “Irish goodbye” and how she knew she was close to retiring.
“Well I heard someone say recently that I pulled an Irish goodbye on the W. That made me laugh,” wrote Quigley.
“I didn’t tell a lot of people, but I played in 2022 thinking it would probably be my last season. I really, truly soaked it all in. I never retired, though.”
“I just took the 2023 season off… then I took the 2024 season off… then I took the 2025 season off….. you get the idea. But all jokes aside, I never actually meant to do an Irish goodbye.”
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