Monday was the deadline for WNBA teams to extend qualifying offers to their pending free agents, and the Chicago Sky chose not to give one to one of its top players from the 2024 season.
Chicago chose to part ways with Chennedy Carter, who led the Sky with 17.5 points per game last season, making her an unrestricted free agent who can start discussing deals with other teams on Tuesday but can’t sign a new deal until Feb. 1.
“Chennedy had an incredible season for us last year,” Sky general manager Jeff Pagliocca said in a statement to the Chicago Sun-Times. “She’s extremely talented and is a player that can impact the game at the highest level in our league. We absolutely appreciate all she did for our team last year.
“However, we’ve made changes to our staff and will make changes to our roster. Those changes impact Chennedy’s fit on the team, so we wanted to give her the best opportunity as a free agent.”
In jettisoning their leading scorer, the Sky certainly sent a message to the rest of the team that things are going to be done differently under new head coach Tyler Marsh after he was hired to replace Teresa Weatherspoon, who was fired after finishing 13-27 in her lone season as head coach.
In fact, the locker-room culture that Weatherspoon perpetuated last season is part of the reason she’s no longer around, and according to Annie Costabile of the Sun-Times, locker-room issues are the reason Chicago chose to let Carter walk as well.
“According to multiple league sources, players were unhappy with the dynamic created in the locker room last year due to Carter’s behavior, which went unchecked by former coach Teresa Weatherspoon,” Costabile wrote. “There was concern within the team regarding how re-signing Carter would impact the Sky’s chances of landing other free agents.”
Costabile also reported back in October that Weatherspoon had lost the respect of her players because of her decision to cater to star rookie Angel Reese, tailoring the team’s game plan to feed her the ball and pad her stats, which caused some serious dysfunction in the locker room.
“Weatherspoon’s inability to keep the team schematically prepared was evidenced by her rotations and poor late-game play-calls,” Costabile wrote. “Her failure to maximize rookie Kamilla Cardoso, the No. 3 overall draft pick, on offense also came into question. According to league sources, Weatherspoon had lost the locker room because of a culture that catered to the needs of a few players.”
Connecticut Sun guard Marina Mabrey, who was traded from the Sky midseason, backed up that report, stating there was a discipline problem with the organization during her exit interview after the season.
