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2022 Chicago Sky season

The 2022 Chicago Sky season was the franchise's 17th season in the Women's National Basketball Association, and their fourth season under head coach James Wade. They were the defending league champions after defeating the Phoenix Mercury in the 2021 WNBA Finals.

Entering the offseason, the Sky only had four players from the previous season under contract.[1] The team re-signed Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley, and Kahleah Copper and added Emma Meesseman via free agency.[2][3][4] Free agent Stefanie Dolson departed the team and signed with the New York Liberty.[5] In a sign-and-trade deal, free agent Diamond DeShields was traded to the Phoenix Mercury and the Sky added Julie Allemand.[6][7]

The defending champions lost the first game of the season, in overtime. However, they recovered and won their next two games. They finished the month winning three of five and with a 5–3 overall record. The Sky started June strongly, winning five of their first six, before losing to Indiana, on June 19. On June 21, the Sky broke the record for largest comeback win in WNBA history in a 104–95 win over the Las Vegas Aces after being down by 28 points.[8] They used that momentum to win their next three games and finish the month with a 9–2 record. In July the team kept the hot streak going, winning six games in a row from July 7 to July 22. Four players were named to the All-Star Game: Candace Parker, Vandersloot, Copper, and Meesseman.[9] They hosted the Commissioner's Cup, but lost to the Aces. The finished the month 9–2 and secured a playoff berth on July 20. After having secured the berth, their momentum slowed and they finished August with a 3–3 record. Their overall record of 26–10 was a franchise-best. They ended as the second seed in the playoffs.

As the second seed in the playoffs, they hosted a First Round series against the New York Liberty. They lost Game One of the series at home 91–98. They followed that up with a dominant 38 point win at home in Game Two. They Sky had to travel to New York for Game Three, and won by eighteen points to advance to the Semifinals. There, they faced off against the third seed Connecticut Sun. As the higher seed, they again had home court advantage in the series. As in the first round, they lost the first game at home. The Sky followed that up with a home win and a road win. They lost Game Four on the road by 24-points and could not finish the series at home in Game Five, losing 63–72 to end their season.

Transactions

WNBA draft

The Sky do not have any picks in the 2022 WNBA Draft, having traded their second- and third-round picks to the Dallas Wings and their first-round pick to the Indiana Fever.[10][11][6]

Trades and Roster Changes

Roster

Depth

Schedule

Preseason

Regular Season

Playoffs

Standings

Notes

(#) – League Standing
x – Clinched playoff berth
e – Eliminated from playoff contention
Source: Overall standings and Commissioner's Cup Standings

Playoffs

Bold Series winner

Statistics

Regular Season


‡Waived/Released during the season
†Traded during the season
≠Acquired during the season

Playoffs

Awards and honors

References

  1. ^ Kay, James (January 13, 2022). "5 predictions for the Chicago Sky as WNBA free agency opens, including Allie Quigley and Diamond DeShields moving on". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Chicago Sky re-sign Allie Quigley and Courtney Vandersloot". sky.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Chicago Sky Re-Sign WNBA All-Star and WNBA Finals MVP Kahleah Copper". sky.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  4. ^ a b "Chicago Sky Sign WNBA Champion, WNBA All-Star, 2019 WNBA Finals MVP Emma Meesseman". Chicago Sky. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  5. ^ Ward, Zack (January 31, 2022). "Stefanie Dolson heading home to New York". Swish Appeal. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c Merchant, Sabreena (February 3, 2022). "Three-team trade sends Diamond DeShields to Phoenix". Swish Appeal. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  7. ^ a b "Chicago Sky acquire Julie Allemand in three-team trade". Chicago Sky. February 3, 2022. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  8. ^ "Sky make WNBA-record 28-point comeback in win over Las Vegas; Rebekah Gardner braces for LA homecoming". Chicago Sun-Times. June 22, 2022. Retrieved June 22, 2022.
  9. ^ Pickman, Ben (June 28, 2022). "2022 No. 1 Pick Rhyne Howard Among 12 WNBA ASG Reserves". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
  10. ^ "Sky Acquire 2021 Second-Round Draft Pick". Chicago Sky. February 9, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  11. ^ "Chicago Sky Acquire Dana Evans From Dallas". Chicago Sky. June 2, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  12. ^ "Rachel Galligan Tweet". twitter.com. Twitter. Retrieved January 2, 2022.
  13. ^ Costabile, Annie. "Sky put core designation on WNBA Finals MVP Kahleah Copper". chicago.suntimes.com. Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  14. ^ "CHICAGO SKY HIRE ANN WAUTERS AS ASSISTANT COACH". sky.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
  15. ^ "Chicago Sky Sign Crystal Bradford". Chicago Sky. February 5, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  16. ^ "Chicago Sky sign Kysre Gondrezick". sky.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  17. ^ "Rachel Galligan Tweet 2". twitter.com. Twitter. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  18. ^ "Chicago Sky add Kamiah Smalls, Rebekah Gardner to training camp roster". sky.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
  19. ^ "Chicago Sky Add Two to Training Camp Roster". sky.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  20. ^ Galligan, Rachel (March 9, 2022). "The Chicago Sky have waived Crystal Bradford. @Winsidr". Twitter. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  21. ^ "Sky Sign Davis, McGee-Stafford, and Maley Ahead of Training Camp". sky.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
  22. ^ Costabile, Annie (March 30, 2022). "Sky acquire center Li Yueru in sign-and-trade sending Lexie Brown to Sparks". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  23. ^ "Chicago Sky Adds Two Players Ahead of Training Camp". sky.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
  24. ^ "Chicago Sky Continues to Build Training Camp Roster with Addition of Emmanuelle Tahane". sky.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
  25. ^ Rachel, Galligan. "The Chicago Sky have signed Masseny Kaba to a training camp contract out of UCF. @Winsidr". twitter.com. Twitter. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  26. ^ "We have waived Kamiah Smalls and Kayla Wells". twitter.com. Twitter. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  27. ^ "We have waived Imani McGee-Stafford and Lexi Held". twitter.com. Twitter. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  28. ^ "We have waived Kaela Davis, Kysre Gondrezick, Tina Krajisnik, Anneli Maley, and Sparkle Taylor". twitter.com. Twitter. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
  29. ^ Costabile, Annie. "Sky have waived Kaela Davis to make room for Rebekah Gardner". twitter.com. Twitter. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  30. ^ "We have activated Kahleah Copper and released Tina Krajišnik". twitter.com. Twitter. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  31. ^ Taylor, Ryan. "Sky extend head coach James Wade through 2025". nbcsports.com. NBC Sports. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  32. ^ @WNBA (June 21, 2022). "Slight work for the former MVP & Finals MVP! @_ajawilson22 earns her third Player of the Week honors, and @kahleahcopper earns her first 👏" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  33. ^ a b c "Chicago Sky Trio of Kahleah Copper, Emma Meesseman, Courtney Vandersloot Highlight Reserves for AT&T WNBA All-Star 2022". wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  34. ^ "AT&T WNBA All-Star Starters Announced With Seattle Storm's Sue Bird Extending Record-Number of All-Star Selections to 13". wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved June 22, 2022.
  35. ^ "Kia WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson Leads 2022 All-WNBA First Team" (Press release). WNBA. September 15, 2022. Retrieved September 17, 2022.
  36. ^ @WNBA (June 27, 2022). ".@nnekaogwumike & @Sloot22 are your WNBA Players of the Week 👏" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  37. ^ @WNBA (August 1, 2022). "Players of the Week are in! ⤵ Kelsey Plum (@Kelseyplum10) and Courtney Vandersloot (@Sloot22) were straight-up balling last week! 👏" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  38. ^ @WNBA (July 5, 2022). ".@coachjameswade is your #WNBA Coach of the Month after leading the @chicagosky to a 9-2 record 🤩👏" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  39. ^ @WNBA (August 2, 2022). "Another WNBA Coach of the Month honor for @coachjameswade 🎉" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  40. ^ Poe, Julia (August 22, 2022). "Chicago Sky coach/GM James Wade named WNBA's Basketball Executive of the Year after team's best regular-season record ever". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  41. ^ Maloney, Jack (August 25, 2022). "2022 WNBA Rookie of the Year: Dream's Rhyne Howard wins honor, highlights All-Rookie team". cbssports.com. CBS. Retrieved August 25, 2022.


External links