RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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SAN FRANCISCO — With 11 games left in the season, the Sky are still motivated by the possibility of making the playoffs, however remote it has become. ESPN’s model gives them just a 0.1% chance. They would have to go undefeated, or close to it, while also getting an inexplicable collapse from the teams occupying the final playoff spots: the Wings, Liberty and Mystics.
So for everyone outside the locker room, the focus can start turning toward the future, which hinges on a few big questions.
How good is the Sky’s young core, really?
When general managers voted on the league’s best young cores in the preseason, the Sky were nowhere to be found. For much of the season, that seemed justified. Unlike the Storm, Mystics and Wings, they still don’t have an All-Star in their mix.
But they do have some sleepers. Before tearing her ACL, Rickea Jackson was averaging 22 points per game. Rookie Sydney Taylor has exploded onto the scene as an elite shot creator. And while Kamilla Cardoso’s season hasn’t been the flashiest, she has evolved into the kind of paint presence opponents have to worry about every night.
That gives the Sky a legitimate foundation. If Gabriela Jaquez, Jacy Sheldon and Aicha Coulibaly can take meaningful steps forward, the picture starts looking considerably better.
What can they get out of their draft capital?
Given the current standings, the Sky are likely to own the Nos. 10 and 11 picks in the 2027 draft through the Mystics and Dream.
The last time they picked at Nos. 10 and 11, in 2025, they came away with Hailey Van Lith, who didn’t stick, and Ajša Sivka, an international prospect who unexpectedly chose to return to college.
They’ll need to do better this time. Especially because of what they’re sending out the door.
The Sky are on track to send a lottery pick — currently carrying the second-best odds at the No. 1 selection — to the Mystics. That could mean waving goodbye to a chance at college phenoms such as JuJu Watkins, Madison Booker or Hannah Hidalgo, any of whom could develop into a superstar. Not something fans will easily forget.
How will they solve their point guard puzzle?
The Sky entered the season with three veteran point guards in Skylar Diggins, Courtney Vandersloot and Natasha Cloud — and the fit became predictably messy.
Diggins hasn’t played since early July, when she posted on social media after being benched and expressed disappointment with her experience in Chicago. She has since been rehabbing a knee injury and did not travel with the team to the West Coast.
The offseason could give Diggins time to get healthy and the two sides a chance to smooth things over. Or, with Diggins under contract through 2027, the Sky could try to find a trade partner.
Then there’s Cloud. Like Vandersloot, she has put together a solid 10-point, five-assist season, and quickly became the heart of the locker room. Reason enough to resign her.
But there’s also an argument for getting younger at the position and finding someone who can develop under Vandersloot rather than bringing back the same veteran-heavy point guard room.
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