One-Year Wonder: Chennedy Carter will become an unrestricted free agent

After sitting out the 2023 season, Carter emerged as one of the league’s top scorers, crediting first-year head coach Teresa Weatherspoon for her break-out success. Wintrust Arena came alive with the excitement of a young team outperforming low expectations.

After the All-Star break, a malaise set in. Carter sat out due to illness and injury, revealing the team’s dependence on her scoring. The team’s playoff hopes were dashed. 

In the offseason, Weatherspoon was fired.

Now, the Sky are moving on from Carter too. The team declined to extend her a qualifying offer, meaning she will become an unrestricted free agent on Feb. 1. Annie Costabile of the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Carter’s behavior created locker room tension and concerns about how she would impact the team’s chances of landing other free agents. 

The Sky did not make general manager Jeff Pagliocca available for comment. But he told the Sun-Times that Carter no longer fit under the new coaching staff.  

“[Chennedy Carter] is extremely talented and is a player that can impact the game at the highest level in our league,” he said. “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.”

It’s a recurring pattern for both parties, who have struggled to establish consistency in recent years. For the Sky, abrupt trade requests and swift coaching dismissals have been the norm. Carter’s stints with the Atlanta Dream and LA Sparks before landing in Chicago were similarly brief. 

Maybe the two parties were just too alike to make it work.

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Where do the Sky go from here?

The Sky finished the 2024 season with six players under contract: future cornerstones Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso, and veterans Elizabeth Williams, Lindsay Allen, Rachel Banham and Moriah Jefferson.

In their first offseason move, the Sky extended qualifying offers to restricted free agents Michaela Onyenwere and Dana Evans, along with reserved player Nikolina Milić. While Onyenwere and Evans can field offers from other teams — which the Sky can match — Milić can only negotiate with the Sky. These deals must be accepted before Feb. 1.

The Sky also met with Courtney Vandersloot and DiJonai Carrington in Miami, where the new Unrivaled league is underway. Both free agents would strengthen the Sky at the point guard and wing position, respectively.

With the third-most cap space of any team according to HerHoopStats, the Sky should be able to offer up to three maximum contracts in free agency.

Adding shooters is the near-term priority

According to the Sky front office, shooting is the priority this offseason. A lack of 3-point production plagued the Sky’s bottom-of-the-barrel offense.

In this category, two Kelseys could help. Free agents Kelsey Mitchell and Kelsey Plum are both All-Stars who have shot almost 40% from 3 in their careers. For this reason, they’re more likely to end up with title contending teams, or teams that were ahead of the curve in investing in player experience.

More realistic targets for the Sky might include Natisha Hiedeman, Sami Whitcomb or Kia Nurse. All three are solid shooters from a slightly lower tier.

The Sky can also look to the upcoming draft to fill the void. Notre Dame guard Olivia Miles has impressed The Next’s draft analysts, but she might be gone by pick No. 3. The Sky could also package their No. 3 and No. 10 first round picks in a trade. 

Bigger picture, the Sky seek to elevate organizational standards

The longer term priority for the Sky is elevating standards, with new head coach Tyler Marsh drawing on his experience in championship organizations. In last season’s exit interviews, Williams, Reese and Banham all expressed the need to improve discipline and establish more consistent team standards. 

The Sky’s key personnel seem to agree that a more mature, professional organization should be the goal.

Free agency presents opportunities to solidify this vision. Former Sixth Player of the Year Alysha Clark — who played for Marsh with the Las Vegas Aces — is a compelling target. Her reputation for stellar preparation and championship-caliber habits makes her an ideal culture-building piece.

But building for the long-term is tricky this offseason. With a new collective bargaining agreement going into effect in 2026, players are unlikely to commit to extended contracts. As a result, 2025 is more likely to be a year of strategic experimentation.

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The lost potential of nurturing Carter

The league may look completely different in 2026, with most players expected to be free agents. But one thing won’t change: transcendent talent will always be in short supply. From this perspective, losing Carter is no small thing. 

She was a rarity, a 5’9 guard capable of grabbing rim and consistently delivering clutch performances. She ranked second in the league in scoring (adjusted for minutes) in 2024 and led all guards in points in the paint. 

Especially in the context of Sky’s recent roster moves—characterized by bloated contracts and steep sacrifices to recoup draft capital — Carter’s 2024 contract felt like finding a $100 bill on the ground. Had the Sky found a way to nurture her potential, it could have been the kind of signing that alters the course of an organization.

Instead, another potential era dissolved at the first sign of pressure.