Sky still trailing in three-point era, but answers could come from within

When Tyler Marsh was introduced as the Sky’s head coach last fall, he was asked what the roster needed. He didn’t hesitate.

‘‘Shooting,’’ he said.

At the time, it sounded like salvation.

In 2024 under Teresa Weatherspoon, three-pointers weren’t a staple of the Sky’s offense. That not only went against the grain of the WNBA, but it also cramped the team’s rookie pillars, Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese, who had little room to operate down low.

Marsh seemed to be the right man to fix that. His previous team, the Aces, were at the forefront of launching threes, and he came billed as an offensive mind. So the Sky signed three-point specialists in the offseason.

Three-quarters of the way into this season, however, the Sky are again at the bottom of the league in three-point tries. Their percentage hasn’t improved, either, and the offense is near the bottom.

So why didn’t it work?

Part of the reason is because the 2025 roster just flipped the 2024 problem. Last season, the Sky had creators who could draw defenses but few willing shooters. This season, they have shooters spotting up but not enough guards who can beat defenders consistently and create open looks.

Meanwhile, the WNBA keeps pushing further into the three-point era. Twenty-five threes per game led the league last season, but that’s the midpoint this season. So even though Marsh’s group is shooting more threes than Weatherspoon’s did (21 per game vs. 15), the Sky have fallen further behind the curve.

The second issue is inside. The Sky’s primary post players — Reese, Cardoso and Elizabeth Williams — rarely step out. Together, they average only one three-point attempt per game. That puts a ceiling on how many threes the offense can generate overall.

So what’s the fix?

Marsh admitted the Sky aren’t shooting as many threes as he envisioned, but he said better ball movement can get them there. Rachel Banham, the team’s best shooter, thinks transition threes might be part of the answer. The catch? You need defensive stops to run, and the Sky have the worst defense in the league.

Realistically, this is a problem to be solved during the offseason. The Sky need more players who can do multiple things. But those players come at a premium and are tough to land in free agency, which makes it all the more important to develop them from within.

Reese and Cardoso hinted in the preseason they wanted to expand their range but cautioned it would take time.

‘‘Don’t be expecting me to come down and shoot six [or] seven threes a night,’’ Reese joked in May.

Nor should she. But if she and Cardoso return next season taking even a couple of threes apiece, it could transform the spacing and bring the Sky closer to Marsh’s vision.