Sky Get Reminder of Lucky Angel Reese Decision
During the 2024 WNBA Draft, it was without question that the first pick of the night was going to be Caitlin Clark to the Indiana Fever. The Chicago Sky selected an NCAA Champion in Kamilla Cardoso with the next pick.
The former University of South Carolina player was picked to help with the Sky's rebounding deficiencies. Five picks later, Angel Reese was taken out of LSU for the same reason.
Reese sat out on Thursday night when the Sky hosted the Seattle Storm at Wintrust Arena. Chicago was also without one of their top-three leading scorers in Ariel Atkins. With those two stars out for the Sky, Cardoso had a chance to remind fans why the team picked her after Clark last year. However, there are three reasons why she fell flat on those efforts.
1. Cardoso is the only player to have fouled out on Thursday.
Though the Storm's Dominique Malonga had five fouls, the Brazilian-born basketball player fouled out in the fourth quarter for Chicago. It is also the second game in a row in which the Sky's starting center fouled out.
That happened on Tuesday night when Chicago lost to the Minnesota Lynx for the second time at home this month. Atkins and Michaela Onyenwere were also absent from that game.
Cardoso had not fouled out all season prior to these two last games for the Sky. During her rookie season last year, she was disqualified after six fouls twice with the first not happening until August in 2024.
2. The Sky's defense must have also sat out this game.
Cardoso's plus/minus against the Storm was a -37, which was a team worst. In addition to fouling out, the 24-year-old athlete recorded just one steal and no blocks while posting zero assists and two turnovers.
Seattle had six players in double figures including four of their starters. Nneka Ogwumike and Gabby Williams had ten points each while Erica Wheeler added 13 and the game high was recorded by Skylar Diggins.
Chicago allowed the Storm to score at least 25 points in three of the four quarters on Thursday. They Sky never scored more than 18 points in any quarter against Seattle.
3. A limited offense doomed Cardoso and the Sky.
Going five-for-eight isn't bad, but when Reese and Atkins, two of Chicago's leading scorers are out, that's not good.
The Sky are 2-0 in games where Cardoso scores 20 points or more. On May 29, when she scored 23 points, Chicago beat the Dallas Wings. The same result happened when Cardoso scored 27 points against the Los Angeles Sparks on June 24.
Both of those contests were home games at Wintrust Arena. The Sky needed that kind of production from their starting big against Seattle on Thursday.
Instead, Chicago lost their fourth game in a row, 95-57. It just goes to show that the double-double machine Angel Reese is missed by the Sky.
My name is Scott Conrad and I am a Contributor for the Chicago Sky with Sports Illustrated.com. I am also a Contributor with FanSided on NinerNoise, as well as Da Windy City. In addition, I am the Site Editor/Expert for The View from Avalon. I spent two seasons (2015 & 2016) with the Tampa Bay Times as a Correspondent covering high school football. I am a two-time published author with more work to come. In my teenage years, I started watching both MLS and WNBA start in 1996 and grow to be the juggernauts they are in their respective sports. Much love to the career on and off the court for fellow-Napervillian and former Sky forward Candace Parker. Outside of the sports journalism world, I am a travel volleyball coach. I accepted the Head Coach position with Greater Cincinnati Volleyball Club for their U13-2 team. In terms of active sports, I play volleyball, soccer, softball, kickball and train in mixed martial arts.