The Chicago Sky couldn’t win without Chennedy Carter. Can they turn the corner — and make the playoffs — with her back?

Chennedy Carter is back. At least somewhat.

The Chicago Sky’s dynamic scorer returned to practice Thursday for the first time since a four-game illness absence. Carter practiced in full, but her availability remains uncertain for Friday’s home game against the Los Angeles Sparks.

Carter — who already had missed one game with an illness after the Olympic break — was the only player sidelined after a teamwide COVID-19 scare on Aug. 27, which led the Sky to cancel practice while the entire roster and coaching staff underwent testing. The majority of the Sky — including coaches and front-office staff — continued to wear face masks the ensuing week while players such as Lindsay Allen showed symptoms of a non-COVID illness.

Five games might not seem like much. But in the scheme of a WNBA season, it’s a lifetime, representing more than 10% of the schedule and nearly one-third of the Sky’s games in the crucial second-half push for the playoffs. After being away from the team for eight days while receiving treatment for an illness the team has specified only as being “serious,” Carter was eager to be reunited with teammates.

“I let them know — ‘Guys, I know I was out for a minute, longer than expected, but I’m back now and I’m ready to work with you guys,’ ” Carter said. “I want to make a run. I’m here to do it. … Let’s turn the page. Let’s forget about these last couple of games. Let’s worry about these next couple that we have.”

Carter will be back, whether it’s in time for Friday’s must-win matchup against the Sparks or later this weekend. And her return poses a crucial question for a Sky team teetering on a tiebreak to hold their position over the Atlanta Dream for the last playoff spot.

The Sky (11-22) couldn’t win without Carter, losing all five of their games since the Olympic break without the guard and seven straight overall.

Can they win with her?

The Sky were losing before Carter went down. Their current skid began with a brutal 86-68 loss on the road to Phoenix with Carter. She continued to anchor the offense through the next two losses, scoring 25 points in a two-point defeat to the Las Vegas Aces before she was sidelined.

In the last four-game span without the guard, the Sky averaged a league-worst 74 points and a league-worst 19.3 turnovers. Their assist-to-turnover ratio has plummeted to 0.96 while the offense averaged nearly five fewer points off turnovers.

The Sky are still hanging on to the final playoff spot as the Dream (11-22) mirrored each of their losses. But their two-game advantage has dwindled, and the Sky hold the spot only because of the head-to-head tiebreaker.

While the Sky will receive an immediate boost from Carter’s scoring — she’s averaging 17.2 points this season, her first with the team — her ball-handling will be an equal lift for the offense. Carter expressed enthusiasm to dig back into her pick-and-roll pairings with rookies Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso. Coach Teresa Weatherspoon said the return of that chemistry will be key to regaining the spacing that allowed the offense to work at its best.

“Just her being who she is, being so dangerous with the ball in her hand, there’s a lot of attention that’s on her,” Weatherspoon said. “She’s very good at creating space and actually taking two with her to be able to get that pass to a big. So I know she’s excited. I know they’re excited. We’re all excited to get back out on the floor.”

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The depth of the Sky’s offensive dysfunction without Carter illuminated a deeper concern moving forward. Any team will struggle without their leading scorer. But a functioning offense doesn’t crumble when one player is removed.

The Sky barely take 3-pointers. They struggle to protect the ball or find their rookie bigs around the rim consistently. Their inability to create off turnovers, create out of the half-court offense and close clutch games has left the offense on the bottom rung of the WNBA since opening day.

Carter won’t fix any of those flaws. Instead, she functions as a massive patch of tape to slap over the cracks in the foundation of the Sky’s offensive structure.

When the Sky aren’t hitting from behind the arc — they’re 10th in the league in 3-point percentage (31.3%) and last in 3-point attempts (14.5) — Carter creates momentum by slashing to the rim. When the offense is stalling in the half-court, she can punch the ignition with a quick transition bucket. And while she’s still adjusting to playing a two-man game, her burgeoning chemistry with Cardoso in pick-and-rolls has created enough of an offensive spine for the Sky to show counters and balance their offense.

Those strengths might be enough to will the Sky to an eighth-place finish, but it won’t take this offense much further.

As the Sky look to build toward longevity around Weatherspoon, Reese and Cardoso, the front office must add another layer to its strategy: build an offense that doesn’t live and die by Carter.