Report – Sky sack Teresa Weatherspoon as coach after one season

Chicago Sky have fired head coach Teresa Weatherspoon after just one season with the team, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday night, citing multiple league sources.

Sky rookie star Angel Reese appeared to confirm the news on social media, saying she was “heartbroken”.

Weatherspoon was signed on October 12 and led the Sky to a 13-27 record. Chicago remained in the playoffs for most of the second half of the season, although it struggled to post a 3-13 record after the Olympic break. Ultimately, losing Reese to a wrist injury on September 7 was too much to overcome.

Reese had a strong season, setting a WNBA record with 15 consecutive double-doubles. Reese, the No. 7 draft pick out of LSU, averaged 13.6 points and 13.1 rebounds in 34 games. She thanked Weatherspoon in an emotional post on X on Thursday night.

“I am literally at a loss for words knowing what this woman meant to me at such a pivotal point in my life,” Reese wrote. “She was the only person who believed in me. The one who trusted me. Many don't even know what it's like to be a black woman in sports when no one believes in you. You had a hard job. All the crazy circumstances that that means.” We've been through this year and when your back was against the wall, you always believed.

“I came to Chicago because of YOU. You were an unsung hero in my life. In a short space of time, we built a relationship that will last forever.”

Weatherspoon played in the WNBA from 1997, the year the league was founded, until 2004, with seven seasons in New York and one in Los Angeles. She has also coached at the college level, at her alma mater, Louisiana Tech, and in the NBA with the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Sky won their only WNBA title in 2021, but no longer have key players from back then like Candace Parker, Kahleah Copper and Courtney Vandersloot. James Wade, the Sky's coach and general manager since 2019, resigned after 16 games last season to accept an assistant position with the Toronto Raptors. Emre Vatansever acted as interim coach for the remainder of the season.

Then last October, Weatherspoon and Jeff Pagliocca were hired as coach and GM, respectively, replacing the dual role Wade held.

Weatherspoon is the second WNBA coach to be fired since the end of the regular season, joining Curt Miller, whom the Los Angeles Sparks announced on Tuesday after just two seasons as coach.