What does the hiring of Teresa Weatherspoon mean for the Chicago Sky and the WNBA?
On Thursday, the Sky made it official that Weatherspoon will be their new head coach, filling a vacancy created when James Wade — who led Chicago to the 2021 WNBA championship — left to become an assistant with the NBA’s Toronto Raptors.
Weatherspoon, a Hall of Fame player who starred for the New York Liberty at the WNBA’s inception, returns to the league as a head coach after spending the previous four seasons on the coaching staff of the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans.
Weatherspoon’s hiring means half the league’s coaching spots are again held by former WNBA players, with one more vacancy to be filled by the Phoenix Mercury this offseason. Weatherspoon follows in the footsteps of Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon by coming back to the WNBA as a head coach after spending time as an NBA assistant.
Weatherspoon inherits a challenging situation in Chicago. The Sky won’t have a first-round pick to improve a team that went 18-22 this season under Wade and interim coach Emre Vatansever, and they don’t control…
