UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The Sky were battered, bruised and barely hanging on by the time the regular-season finale came Thursday against the Sun.
Injuries plagued the team all year and the final injury report read like a lengthy receipt, the sum of which proved far too costly to overcome. Without rookies Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso and leading scorer Chennedy Carter, the Sky were a shell of themselves.
The Sky’s hopes for a sixth consecutive playoff berth were shut down with their 87-54 loss to the Sun, officially entering them into the WNBA Draft lottery. Coach Teresa Weatherspoon’s first year ends with a 13-27 record.
“We lost a lot,” Weatherspoon said. “We lost a lot with all of them being out. Without a doubt in my mind [without the injuries], we would have definitely been in the playoffs, not fighting for the eighth seed.”
Dana Evans scored a team-high 14 points and Isabelle Harrison finished with a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Kaela Davis, who the Sky signed to a hardship contract following Reese’s injury, had 12 points, three rebounds and two blocks.
The Sky played just two games this season with a healthy roster.
Cardoso started the season on the bench with a shoulder injury. Two games after she made her return, center Elizabeth Williams suffered a torn meniscus in her right knee and was ruled out for the rest of the season.
The most complete the Sky looked — minus Williams — was for a brief stretch coming out of the Olympic break, and even then, they struggled to win. They went 1-8 immediately out of the break — Carter was absent for four of those games — and finished the season on a five-game skid.
“We didn’t execute,” Weatherspoon said. “We weren’t the healthiest team coming back in the second half. We had a few players who were not well at all out there playing, giving everything they had. But we made no excuses. They stepped on the floor and tried to play anyway, tried to give it everything they had.”
Because the Wings own the rights to a pick swap with the Sky — a result of the Marina Mabrey trade made by former Sky coach/general manager James Wade — the No. 2 pick is the best one they can get. Top targets for the Sky include UConn guard Azzi Fudd, Notre Dame guards Sonia Citron and Olivia Miles and LSU forward Aneesah Morrow.
The Sky’s main priority this offseason, however, will be addressing their perimeter shooting, something GM Jeff Pagliocca will look to do in free agency. They finished the regular season last in the league in three-pointers, totaling 193 in 40 games.
Rachel Banham showed promise, shooting 13-for-28 from behind the arc in their final three games. However, the Sky need a viable option in their lineup to help space the floor.
The Sky have six players under contract next season after Pagliocca signed Elizabeth Williams to an extension. Reese, Cardoso, Banham, Moriah Jefferson and Lindsay Allen are signed through 2025. Carter, Evans and Michaela Onyenwere are restricted free agents.
Pagliocca will have just over $800,000 in cap space to work with, assuming Williams’ new deal has a similar value as her last one.
“I hate losing,” Weatherspoon said. “I hate it. That’s what’s on my mind. I hate knowing that I’m not going back into the gym with these young ladies in the morning. I love this game so much that losing irritates the crap out of me, but it motivates me and it’s going to motivate this team.”