Few players are more obsessed with the next WNBA free agency cycle than Angel Reese.
More than 100 players will enter the free agency this winter while the tumult of an expansion of expansion with two teams and a new collective agreement promises an offseason of upheavals across the league. These players include 21 of the 24 All-Star selections of this year.
Reese is not one of the free agents planned. The Sky Forward is five games from the end of the second season of his recruit contract, a three -year agreement with a team option that guarantees that anything but keeping it in Chicago until 2027.
But that does not mean that she is content to pass the next off -season on the key. During the Lingots final of a second season of consecutive loser, with a 9-30 file entering the Home match on Wednesday evening against Connecticut Sun, the top scorer in the sky makes his voice heard at the front office.
“I am not satisfied with the same S – – that we have done this year,” said Reese in the gallery. “We need to get good players. We need to get great players. It is a non -negotiable for me.
“I am willing to play with the best. And even if I can help get the best here, that’s what I’m going to do this off -season. So it will be very, very important this offseason to make sure to attract the best of the best because we cannot be satisfied with what we have this year. ”
Throughout his mandate in Chicago, Reese was consistent about his membership with the sky.
When the team missed the playoffs in 2024 and dismissed the first -year coach Teresa Weatherspoon – with whom Reese has a solid relationship – she expressed her frustration but maintained her commitment to build a long -term future in Chicago. She bought a house in Lemont last off -season and helped renovate customs shorts at Oakwood Beach. And faced with the criticism of heaven’s training facilities and global investment, Reese has often raised questions with the same answer: “I just want hoop.”
But at the end of this season, she begins to take a more pragmatic – and conditional – position towards her future with the sky.
“I am very explained about what we need and what I want,” said Reese. “I would like to be here for my career, but if things are not going on, I should obviously move in a different direction and do what is best for me. But even if I am here, I will try to stay open -minded about what I have here and maximize this as much as possible. ”
Reese has no trouble finding ideas about how to improve the sky – and to share them with anyone in authority, of the director general Jeff Pagliocca to the owner Michael Alter.
She wants widened office spaces and training facilities to give the organization a working environment more comparable to the competitors of the League. She wants a more dynamic style of play in the field. She wants the sky to establish a more coherent identity, whatever the staff. And she wants coach Tyler Marsh to train harder players.
But more than anything else this winter, Reese wants the sky to obtain the list in a free agency.
The front office has never been shy since Pagliocca took over as GM. He exchanged Kahleah Copper to obtain the choice of recovery n ° 3 in 2024, then sent the choice n ° 3 in 2025 to acquire Ariel Atkins. The phones of the Recreation Center Sachs are among the most active in the league. However, this activity has not yet been rewarded by success in the field.
Pagliocca had a vision for the 2025 team – a group that could project 3 points and play the tempo offensive while flowing in Reese and Kamilla Cardoso at the two ends of the court. But the concept collapsed almost immediately before being completely thrown from the track with the end of the end of the season of Courtney Vandersloot.
Of course, the sky is young. And of course, they suffered several major shots due to an injury throughout the year. But Reese underlined the Golden State Valkyries of the first year – which are sixth in the League classification despite the construction of their list mainly thanks to the draft of expansion – as a point of comparison for the way in which the sky has underperformed this season.
“Watching Golden State – no offense, but I don’t think they are more talented than us on paper,” said Reese. “But they play hard like hell. So, from the top, we have to find an identity of what we are going to be next year and then roll with the punches of what we can get.”
The Sky Front Office has targeted Atkins, Vandersloot and Rachel Banham as three veterans to potentially bring the free agency. Hailey Van Lith and Maddy Westbeld remain under contract alongside Reese and Cardoso, although recruits can be treated in the trades. The 2026 list will also include the addition of the choice of the draft of 2025 AJša Sivka – which sat this season to play in Euroleague – and a choice of lottery conveyed by the Connecticut Sun.
This potentially explains nine list points, but Reese anticipates a substantial overhaul this winter. She believes that there are only two guarantees on the Sky 2026 list: herself and Cardoso. Between the expansion project and the free agency, the rest of the group is unknown.
Reese has identified free agency needs through the list – including a backup position and a fleet of shooting guards that can get down and pull 3 points more efficiently than the rear area of this year – but its main concern surrounds the position of the route.
The absence of Vandersloot this season has revealed weaknesses through the sky list. The team has no players who can attack the edge and divide the defense seams while going down. Guards such as Banham, Van Lith and Kia nurse were out of position and out of their depth during emergency sessions at the leader. Consequently, the sky has strongly relied on Reese to manage the ball as a point forward.
While praising the capacities and leadership of Vandersloot, Reese fell to the prospect of building the list around a mouthpiece who tries to return from a tear of the LCA at 36 years. And she does not believe that backup options such as Banham or Van Lith are better prepared to transport the coat to a team of playoffs.
“We cannot count on Courtney to return to the age when she is,” said Reese. “I know that she will be an excellent asset for us, but we cannot count on this. We need someone probably a little younger with some experience, someone who has played the game and is ready to compete for a championship and has already done so.”
If the sky will win a star in a free agency, Reese hopes a facilitator who can raise the offensive at three levels. But the sky has still not shaken a persistent question: even if they identify the right talent in a free agency, how can they persuade players to come to Chicago?
The sky has not won an important free agent since 2022, when they signed Emma Meesseman after taking a two -season break from the WNBA. Most of the history of the team was defined by the departure of the players, from Sylvia Fowles and Elena Delle gives to Vandersloot and Copper. This model is often attributed to the lack of spending from the sky compared to the league giants such as the New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces.
Improvements such as a new training center – which is expected to open in Bedford Park next spring – could start to change this reputation. And Reese promises to be on the campaign campaign when the season ends. However, she had to admit her argument to potential free agents that sometimes resemble a difficult sale.
“We need great players and I don’t know what will attract this,” said Reese. “Maybe the center of practice will attract this, we will see.
“But the priority is to be able to convince (free agents) that it is an organization that goes in the right direction. Honestly, it would be an act of faith for a big, a great player to come here and to show that it is something they want to be part and we can bring this championship mentality.”
