Sky Veteran's Influence Shows Why Angel Reese's Exit Was Inevitable

The Chicago Sky traded star forward Angel Reese to the Atlanta Dream earlier this month, which altered the league's landscape and was ultimately the biggest move regarding a star player suiting up for a new team.

This trade was not only unsurprising but felt inevitable, given how Reese's time with the Sky had gone after they selected her with the No. 7 pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. While Reese performed well on the court, she made her frustration with the franchise clear after a brutal 2025 campaign with comments made in a September 3 Chicago Tribune article.

Among what she said was that the front office needed to do a better job bringing talent in, and asserting that the team can't "rely on" 37-year-old point guard Courtney Vandersloot (who was a few months removed from a torn ACL) because of her age.

Chicago Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot (22) | Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images

"We need someone probably a little younger with some experience, somebody who’s been playing the game and is willing to compete for a championship and has done it before," Reese said.

This irked Vandersloot, which was clear by thinly-veiled comments she made later that day.

Courtney Vandersloot indirectly responding to Angel, I don’t see how the Sky and Angel Reese move forward. One of the most exciting things in the offseason will be seeing where Angel ends up. pic.twitter.com/VdFXW3xGKy
— Quin (@Quinthox) September 6, 2025

Fast forward over eight months, and Reese is no longer a part of the Sky's franchise, while Vandersloot signed a two-year, $1.5 million deal with the team earlier this month.

Courtney Vandersloot's Comments About Angel Reese's Sky Tenure Speak Volumes

Vandersloot addressed what Reese said about her and the fallout it created in an April 21 article from Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune.

“I’ll say it didn’t feel good,” Vandersloot said of Reese's comments in the article, which was reposted on X by @nosyone4. “I think at first it was an emotional thing, you know? There was an emotional response to it. And the more I think about it, I understand what she was trying to say. Do I think that it was necessary she said that? No. I think that was the biggest thing for me. But it was more big picture for me because I didn’t even really know the comments that she said about me until way later in the day. I just thought that it could have been handled differently.”

Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese (5) | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

When speaking about the response from Reese fans in the wake of this article and their persistent, vocal frustration throughout the offseason, Vandersloot added, “Listen, this kind of stuff happens — I wouldn’t say frequently — but it happens in sports. It’s not unheard of. We were just under a microscope because of Angel and her following. It just is what it is.”

Vandersloot later said of the team's offseason activity, “The biggest thing in our conversations was we wanted people that were 100% bought in on the Chicago Sky. That’s how we addressed free agency. Whether it was a free agent or making a trade, we wanted to make sure that this was a place they wanted to be long-term. It wasn’t ‘if this, if that,’ one foot in, one foot out. That’s how the conversation shifted, understanding that we’re trying to build something and to do that we need complete buy-in from everyone.”

There was clearly no world where Vandersloot and Reese could be on the same team after what Reese said last year. It's also clear that in trading Reese and re-signing Vandersloot, the Sky took the latter's side and were consulting with her about the franchise's direction, which, in Vandersloot's eyes, had to be away from the "microscope" having Reese rostered created.

Whether this decision works out for them remains to be seen. But it was necessary nonetheless.

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