PORTLAND — The Chicago Sky can’t afford to take their time — or to rush too fast.
This is the challenge of revamping a roster. The WNBA season moves too quickly for even the top talent in the league to catch up. Top teams from the Las Vegas Aces to the Indiana Fever lost their season openers this weekend. And for a team like the Sky with plenty to prove (and lose), nothing is more important than starting strong.
But ahead of the Sky’s season opener Saturday night against the expansion Portland Fire at the Moda Center, starting point guard Skylar Diggins voiced a pragmatic outlook on the team’s opening weeks of the season.
“It might not look sexy tonight,” Diggins, 35, said. “But a lot of people are trying to figure it out right now, and I think we’re one of those teams that we can have a level of maturity about ourselves, understanding that it might not look perfect. As we continue to add people to the fold, we have to understand we’re still painting our masterpiece.”
The Sky open the season with a four-game trip, an anomaly that neither Diggins nor fellow newcomer Natasha Cloud could remember experiencing in any prior year of their careers. Nearly two full weeks will pass before this new version of the team can reintroduce itself to a home crowd May 20 at Wintrust Arena. In that time, the Sky hope to iron out some of the early challenges of assembling a new roster.
But players, including Cloud, also are hesitant to place expectations on this roster. Only four players — Kamilla Cardoso, Rachel Banham, Courtney Vandersloot and Elizabeth Williams — returned from the 2025 roster. The remainder of the team will attempt to translate a conception of a team into reality, a process that takes time and patience.
The Sky will be further slowed by the lack of availability from key players. After signing with the team Tuesday, Cloud was not available for Saturday’s game as she returns to game fitness. Azurá Stevens is weeks away from returning from a knee injury, and DiJonai Carrington (foot) won’t be available until later in the summer. The team has placed no timeline on Vandersloot’s return from ACL surgery.
These absences are reason enough for the Sky to be uncertain about their immediate future. But Cloud also feels it’s important in principle for the team to take a patient approach to building its culture and chemistry.
“I hate putting timelines on stuff,” said Cloud, 34, in her 11th WNBA season. “Things happen organically and naturally. … With timelines come expectations and crazy narratives. Grace and patience (are) my key words during this time.”
This mentality is crucial for a team that will be defined this season by its versatility. The Sky pride themselves on a belief in the positionless nature of their roster. Cardoso and Williams are the only players who likely won’t handle the ball. The rest of the team is staffed with players who can slide up and down from the one to four position on at least one side of the ball.
This style of play will lean into the creativity that players from Carrington to Rickea Jackson prefer. But creativity demands discipline — something Diggins will provide in droves.
The moment she signed with the Sky as a free agent, Diggins became the appointed tone-setter in the locker room. And while Diggins — in her 12th season — still believes the Sky have plenty to prove, she feels the team lived up to her standards in preseason.
“Oh, I’m never satisfied — me and (coach) Tyler (Marsh) both,” Diggins said jokingly. “The energy has been great. The vibes have been great. That’s what we preach. Things are going to go wrong. It’s basketball, there’s ebbs and flows to the game. We’ve all been playing this game long enough to understand that. It’s just about staying together. …
“We’re just hoping to put a pretty good show on. At the end of the day, it could be the ugliest thing we ever played — if we score more points, we’re going to be happy about that.”
