“Let’s run it backkkkk.” Angel Reese wrote on X after the Chicago Sky roped in her LSU teammate Hailey Van Lith at No. 11 overall in the 2025 WNBA Draft. The Sky has made a lot of bold offseason decisions to revamp their squad, which struggled last season. When the team was in the spotlight because of rookies Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso, it could not live up to the hype, finishing with a 13-27 record without playoff qualification.
Now they have signed veteran Courtney Vandersloot, who will don the Sky colors once again, and they also traded the No. 3 pick in the 2025 draft and a 2027 pick swap to land two-time All-Star Ariel Atkins. They also added effective shooters like Kia Nurse and Rebecca Allen, so the fans can expect some improvement. The new coach, Tyler Marsh, will put his stamp on this team, with the first task at hand being improving the outside shooting.
This national reporter has raised concerns about the Sky’s shooting, but pointed to something they could be optimistic about as well. Lucy Rohden said on the
Good Follow podcast, talking about their first preseason game against Brazil,
“Something that I was impressed by was the Sky offense. Something I read was that this game they had 29 three-point attempts. Did they make most of them? No. They missed a good chunk of them, but compared to the fact that they were averaging 15 threes a game last season, which was the lowest in the W. To see them finally make some moves to have some schematic changes to try to score more points. You don’t want to go seven for 29 from three. That’s not ideal.”The outside shooting has been their Achilles’ heel. It seems that Marsh is trying to address that early in the season itself. It did not go their way in their first game against Brazil, which was played at Angel Reese’s college, LSU. Although it was a comfortable victory, their outside shooting was worse than Brazil’s; as Rohden said, they had a 3-point percentage of 24.1 as against the 25.0 of the Brazilians.
Last season, they were dead last in the league in attempting those threes, and the gap between them and the second-worst was significant. The Connecticut Sun were ahead of them at 11th place with 18.0 3-pointers attempted per game, while the Sky stood at 14.9. If you are hitting so few threes compared to the opposition, playing catch-up will be the norm. That one extra point you concede piles up till the end of the game and proves too much.
She continued giving the Sky fans a ray of hope, saying, “But the fact that you are making those shots eventually—I know you will make those shots, especially if you add Haley Van Lith into the mix, who I think can shoot well—I just thought it was nice to see a different sort of approach. You have a new head coach; things are changing. I’d like to see this guy go out there and actively try to score some points. Like, thank you.”
Since they had such a struggle with this part of the game last year, it’s a given that it will not change within a day or a month. The increase in attempts shows that they are at least working on it. Van Lith is a decent addition to their outside shooting, as she averaged 4.4 threes in her college days, making it 34% of the time.
They also have Kia Nurse, who was a premier long-range shooter before her injury in 2022, but she is getting back to her groove, shooting 4 per game at 33.1%. The Chicago Sky showed more promise in their second preseason outing, taking down the 2024 championship contenders, the Minnesota Lynx, 74–69. Even more encouraging was their outside shooting, hitting 9 of 26 from deep at a solid 34.6%.
And it wasn’t just one hot hand; nine different players took shots from beyond the arc, showing a team-wide commitment to spacing and shooting. Marsh comes from a Las Vegas Aces system that launched more than 26 threes per game last season, so expect this number to grow further.
Hailey Van Lith comes under the scanner after a disappointing performance against the Lynx
Hailey Van Lith is another rookie to watch closely this WNBA season. “I know there’s probably a lot of pressure on her from the outside,” her teammate Angel Reese has said, acknowledging the spotlight Van Lith is under. And rightly so—after the breakout success of the 2024 rookie class, the bar has been set high, and fans are expecting even more from the 2025 group.
Van Lith, known for her fiery competitiveness and leadership in college, had a somewhat underwhelming performance in the Sky’s preseason game against the Lynx. That showing has already sparked some early media criticism, with questions emerging about how quickly she can adjust to the pace and physicality of the WNBA.
Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune wrote, “This was the first ‘welcome to the league’ moment for the rookie guard, who played 17 minutes and featured in what appears to be the main second unit.” Well, the moment she mentioned is a canon event for every rookie entering the big league. Everyone knows that it is going to be more physical and fast-paced, but watching it is one thing and playing against it is another.
You also have to keep up with the elite teammates you have. It seemed she played better against some of the Lynx’s bench players later on in the final five minutes, getting a 3-pointer with two assists and a steal to eventually guide them to a win. According to Poe, “Van Lith still has work to do to compete against top-echelon guards, but she has a significant competitive advantage against other players with similar experience.”
It’s not something the Sky management would have expected; she will take time to adapt. The question remains, how much time will she take? Since she is a long-term prospect for the Sky, we can expect her to get a long rope and even opportunities in cases where you will feel she doesn’t deserve it. Her talent is undeniable.
In her final season at TCU, she put up impressive numbers across 38 games, averaging 17.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. Her standout performances led TCU to its first-ever Big 12 regular season title. She made history by becoming the first player to win the Big 12 Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year.
“It’s tough,” coach Tyler Marsh said. “It’s a first real look at W action, and those are certified WNBA guards. That’s the kind of pressure that she’s going to feel night in and night out. So it’s good to get her used to that tonight, and we’ll make our adjustments. There’s nothing like true hands-on experience, and I’m sure she’ll learn from the minutes that she got today.”
The Sky will stick to their guns with regard to Van Lith, but it remains to be seen how many minutes she gets during the season. She will have another chance to show her mettle when Chicago plays the Lynx on Saturday in their last preseason game. It will also be the last opportunity for Marsh to get the Sky house in order before they face the stern test of the Indiana Fever in their opening game on May 17.
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