The Chicago Sky will have to unravel a 2-5 start to the season without their floor general.
Guard Courtney Vandersloot sustained a torn right ACL in Saturday’s game against the Indiana Fever at the United Center and will miss the rest of the 2025 WNBA season, the team announced Sunday. Vandersloot will undergo surgery this week after an MRI on Saturday revealed the tear.
The injury occurred barely five minutes into the game when Vandersloot drove up the court after a Fever turnover and crashed into Aari McDonald on her way to the rim, crumpling to the ground before she even finished her shot. The moment’s severity became immediately obvious as the 36-year-old veteran grabbed her right knee in pain.
Vandersloot was eventually carried to the Sky locker room by two medical staffers. Her wife and former Sky captain, Allie Quigley, and Sky owner Michael Alter were escorted by security to the Sky locker room shortly thereafter.
Hyperbole is unhelpful for teams attempting to navigate a major injury. But the loss of Vandersloot is a worst-case situation for the Sky.
The entire thesis for this year’s roster design was predicated on Vandersloot’s ability to command the floor. When she signed a one-year deal to return to her former team, Vandersloot committed to establishing a new style of offense in Chicago focused on 3-point shooting and a revamped model of play for star bigs Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese.
Before Saturday’s injury, the guard was averaging a team-high 5.3 assists in addition to 10.6 points and 3.1 rebounds through the first seven games of the season. On May 29, she broke the all-time franchise scoring record in the team’s first win of the season, beating Quigley’s previous record.
“(Vandersloot) is our engine, she’s our captain, she’s our leader out there,” head coach Tyler Marsh said after the game. “Obviously it’s a huge blow.”
Vandersloot is one of the best distributing guards in the history of the WNBA, setting league records for the most per-game assists in a single season and a career. And through the opening stretch of the season, the Sky depended on this ability to manipulate the defense — perhaps to a fault — as Vandersloot averaged only nine minutes on the bench in her first six games back with the Sky.
On the court, Vandersloot’s impact extended far beyond simply passing the ball and initiating screens — something that quickly became obvious as the Sky crumbled into chaos against Indiana on Saturday. Marsh described Vandersloot as a grounding force, inspiring calm and sparking creativity for a team desperate for a leader.
“It was less about her facilitation and more about her organization,” Marsh said. “That’s really where it all stems from.”
Without Vandersloot, the Sky will be forced to use rookie Hailey Van Lith prematurely into one of the most challenging roles on the court.
The highest-profile year of Van Lith’s college career at LSU was defined by her struggle to adapt to the role of on-ball facilitator. Two years later in Chicago, the guard is still figuring the position out — but the mentorship of Vandersloot was expected to produce meaningful growth for Van Lith, who is eager to prove herself as a point guard.
Van Lith described herself as Vandersloot’s shadow during the early weeks of her rookie season, studying every move in the hopes of molding herself after the veteran star. Now, she will assume the mantle without that leading example as Vandersloot begins rehabilitation.
With a rookie already helming the offense, the Sky are now facing a dire lack of depth at the point guard position. Veteran point guard Moriah Jefferson has not been consistently healthy since she was traded to the Sky during the All-Star break last season. Guard Rachel Banham has struggled to create offense as a secondary facilitator during Van Lith’s injury absences.
The Sky could sign a new player to bolster their backcourt, but the front office would have to work within the WNBA’s restrictive salary limits, which currently offer the team roughly $56,000 of remaining cap space. This means the Sky will have to waive at least one player to bring in a new guard on a rest-of-season contract, which is prorated based on the amount of time a player serves with a team.
Regardless, these efforts will be desperation measures to salvage a season that hinged upon Vandersloot’s presence as a leader for a developing team.
The Sky were struggling to compete with Vandersloot on the court. Without her, the franchise will need to search for new solutions — and likely change the course of the team’s long-term plans of developing around young talent.
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