2023-10-11 01:52:30
The Chicago Sky are finalizing a deal to make Basketball Hall of Famer Teresa Weatherspoon the team’s next head coach, league sources told The Athletic on Tuesday. The sides have been in discussions for weeks after she emerged as the leading candidate for the role. Here’s what you need to know:
Weatherspoon spent four years as an assistant coach with the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans before the organization parted with her in the offseason.
The Sky announced last month that Emre Vatansever would not return as the team’s general manager/coach despite a late-season push to make their fifth consecutive postseason.
Vatansever took on the interim roles when then-coach and GM James Wade stepped down on July 1 to become an assistant with the Toronto Raptors.
Chicago finished 18-22 last season and was eliminated in the first round of the 2023 playoffs by the Las Vegas Aces.
What does Weatherspoon bring to the Sky?
Hiring Weatherspoon is significant for a Chicago franchise that is looking to re-establish itself as a championship-level organization. Although the team won the 2021 WNBA title, much of its championship-winning roster has left and Wade departed halfway through this past WNBA season for his assistant coaching job with the Raptors. Under Vatansever, Chicago finished the regular season with the No. 8 seed and was swept in the first round of the playoffs by Las Vegas.
After a stellar playing career, which saw her named to the WNBA’s 20th anniversary team, Weatherspoon has been a coach at numerous levels — most recently as an assistant and later head coach at Louisiana Tech and as an assistant with the Pelicans. Still, she has maintained ties to the WNBA and a current generation of players still speaks highly of what she can bring. “She pours into people,” Liberty center Jonquel Jones told The Athletic earlier this week. “You can feel her genuine energy.” — Ben Pickman, WNBA writer
Where does Chicago go from here?
The next big decision that will be made in Chicago is who will be the team’s general manager. Wade had held dual roles and Vatansever inherited both positions as well when he took over this summer. Hiring a coach before a GM is a bit unconventional but it was the decision that Sky ownership, which now features NBA legend Dwyane Wade, deemed was the right course of action if it meant bringing in Weatherspoon, who was going to be a sought-after candidate for future head coach openings. — Pickman
(Photo: Wendell Cruz / USA Today)
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