In firing Teresa Weatherspoon, the Chicago Sky need to re-earn trust everywhere

CHICAGO – The Chicago Sky are too far gone.

Rumors persisted through the early afternoon Thursday, and news came down Thursday night that the team decided to fire Teresa Weatherspoon after one season.

Let the record show: this is a massively short-sighted decision. It’s a move that raised eyebrows around the league and created a massive void the team might not be able to replace.

TSpoon, as Weatherspoon asked to be referred to, wasn’t just a basketball hall of famer. She showed she was a coach who had an outstanding ability to connect with her players, was given a re-building roster and overachieved in her first season in the WNBA. The team was picked to finish dead last in the league; they finished just short of a playoff spot.

The team officially made the decision clear on Friday morning. It’s the latest decision among nearly three years’ worth of decisions that have led to this point.

“After careful consideration, we have decided it is in the best interest of the organization to part ways with Head Coach Teresa Weatherspoon,” co-owner and operating chairman Nadia Rawlinson said in a written statement. “We are deeply appreciative of Coach TSpoon’s contributions to the Chicago Sky, and the energy and passion she brought to the head coaching role. We thank her for inspiring a competitive, resilient spirit across the team, synonymous with Chicago Sky basketball.”

Weatherspoon’s firing has a chance to be the worst of all of the Sky’s decisions. Now, the team needs to re-earn trust.

That trust needs to be re-earned everywhere. Not only does it need to be re-earned among its fan base and potential head coaching candidates, but, most importantly, it needs to be re-earned with the core of star players they established this season.

In less than a calendar year, Weatherspoon might have been a polarizing coach – mainly because of the issues the Sky faced offensively and the 3-13 record in the second half of the season after the Olympic break – but she showed the potential for what the Sky could be.

Any personnel issues were not her fault. Weatherspoon didn’t trade Marina Mabrey to Connecticut for draft capital or fail to find a consistent shooter to space the floor with Reese and Cardoso.

Even after all that, the Sky were in playoff contention heading into the final day of the regular season for the final spot in the playoffs. Something the Sky made sure to note they were committed to when they announced Weatherspoon’s firing.

“We remain steadfastly committed to being a playoff and championship contender every year,” Robinson said in a statement.

No one in the Sky organization emobided that more than Weatherspoon. A core of Angel Reese, Kamilla Cardoso and Chennedy Carter won the Sky games but needed more pieces around them. Contenders aren’t built overnight.

Weatherspoon understood that, but the pure loathing towards losing was written on her face after each of the team’s 27 losses this season. Even as a rebuilding team, she expected to win. The franchise, after dealing her a roster that would continue with its massive changes this upcoming offseason, decided that wasn’t good enough.

Now, the franchise has to re-earn trust around Chicago.

The Sky have already announced massive price hikes for season ticket holders. Plenty of those season ticket holders, who have been supporting the team since its inception in 2006, will be priced out of their season tickets. Jettisoning fans who have been there since the beginning for extra cash seemed disingenuous then, and even more so now for a team that clearly has no direction after firing the one person giving the team its direction.

The franchise has to establish trust in potential head coaching hires, too.

Who across the league, or across the basketball world for that matter, would be interested in the Chicago Sky’s opening? This will be their fourth coach since July 2023 when James Wade departed for the Toronto Raptors. The organization has shown no desire to have patience with a coach during a rebuild, which is backwards and out of touch.

It makes the 2021 WNBA Championship Sky team seem like a miracle at this point.

Finally, the team has to re-establish trust with its players.

Look no further than Reese opening up on social media after news began breaking that Weatherspoon was fired, making it clear her heart was broken after the franchise rid itself of a coach who believed in her and developed her into a player who earned an MVP vote as a rookie.

“I came to Chicago because of YOU,” Reese wrote on X. “You were an unsung hero in my life. We built a relationship in a short amount of time that will last forever. I’ll never question God why he brings people in my life and takes them away from me in the capacity that I need them but I’ve always believed everyone is in your life for a reason and a season.”

Why would Reese, or any player on this roster for that matter, trust this franchise? The Sky have given them every reason not to. From trading away starters and expecting a playoff run, or alienating players like Dana Evans, who requested a trade mid-season, the Sky expect far too much without providing the necessary resources to get to where they want to be.

Short leashes are far too common with the Chicago Sky, and they’ve only gotten shorter after Amber Stocks was fired after just two seasons in 2018 and Pokey Chatman was fired in 2016 after an 18-16 season that ended in the WNBA semi-finals.

Weatherspoon’s firing is just the latest misstep from an organization that’s given fans, the city and players a reason to distrust the franchise.

It’s why the Chicago Sky are too far gone.