Sky and Storm Missing Key Players for Season
The Chicago Sky and the Seattle Storm have quite a bit in common with one another, aside from having an upcoming game at Wintrust Arena.
Neither team expected one of their star players to go down to a season-ending injury. For one team, they were able to withstand the storm, so to speak. The other, being the Sky, never recovered as it dashed their expectations and hopes for a better season this year.
Despite neither Courtney Vandersloot nor her former teammate, Katie Lou Samuelson, being available for Tuesday night's game in Chicago, play will continue as we are in the last few weeks of the WNBA's regular season schedule.
How Vandersloot's injury is worse for the Sky than Samuelson's is for the Storm?
Any time a team loses a player with playoff and championship experience, they will suffer a mighty blow. Just ask Angel Reese and her teammates.
Back in May, the veteran guard tore her ACL, leaving first-year head coach Tyler Marsh looking for answers. Despite being one of the best rebounding teams in the league for a second straight season, the Chicago Sky still turns over the ball at an embarrassing pace.
Vandersloot was averaging at least 10 points and five assists a game before going down. The 14-year veteran was a significant part of the team's 2021 WNBA Championship.
That's why the Chicago Sky elected to bring her back this offseason to play alongside Reese and Kamilla Cardoso. Reese is experiencing an injury of her own (back) and has missed significant time this season, too.
In the case of the Storm, their team has more depth than the Sky's. Seattle has still played like a playoff hopeful team in the absence of Samuelson, as they enter Tuesday's game against Chicago with a record of 17-18.
WNBA All-Stars Nneke Oguwmike and Skylar Diggins have been Seattle's top performers this year. Oguwmike is averaging 18.3 points and 7.3 rebounds a game, while Diggins is averaging 5.8 assists a game.
Chicago's All-Stars this season, twin-towers Reese and Cardoso, have not been able to get their team to the level of play that Oguwmike and Diggins have for their squad. Diggins has given Chicago trouble before, too.
Regarding the playoff picture, the Sky sit eight games out of the final spot, currently held by the Storm. Both the Los Angeles Sparks and the Washington Mystics are a half game behind Seattle for the eighth seed.
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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.