Angel Reese FURIOUS As Chicago Sky QUITS ON HER In ANOTHER BLOWOUT Loss – She’s No Caitlin Clark!
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Fans tuning in for a primetime WNBA showdown between the Sky and Mercury might have expected a competitive contest. What they got was a slow-motion train wreck. The Mercury came out firing, torching Chicago for a 31-8 first quarter and never looking back. By halftime, it was clear this wasn’t a game—it was a clinic.
The real spectacle, though, wasn’t just the scoreboard. It was the moment in the third quarter when Sky coach Tyler Marsh benched his entire starting lineup, including supposed franchise cornerstone Angel Reese and breakout center Kamilla Cardoso. This wasn’t about foul trouble or rest. This was the basketball equivalent of waving a white flag on national television.
Angel Reese: From College Hero to Cautionary Tale
No player has embodied the Sky’s struggles more than Angel Reese. The former LSU star arrived in Chicago with a championship pedigree, a massive social media following, and the expectation that she’d be the face of the franchise. Instead, she’s become the face of frustration.
Against Phoenix, Reese put up a “triple single”—nine points, two assists, two rebounds—and was a team-worst minus-25. But the stat line doesn’t tell the full story. She took just one shot from the field, looked disengaged on defense, and was benched for most of the second half. For a player once touted as a generational talent, it was a performance that raised more questions than answers.
Her postgame interviews haven’t helped. Reese has leaned on platitudes about “trusting the process” and “working hard every day,” but the numbers don’t lie. She’s shooting just 31% from the field, missing layups at an alarming rate, and her rebounding—once her calling card—has disappeared when she isn’t grabbing her own misses. The “Bayou Barbie” is quickly becoming a meme, not a mainstay.
A Team in Freefall
It would be easy to pin the Sky’s woes on one player, but the problems run much deeper. The team is 3-9, mired in one of the worst starts in franchise history. They average nearly 19 turnovers per game, the worst in the league, and have allowed opponents to score over 90 points in four straight contests. Their defensive rating is a league-worst 113.6, and they haven’t held a single opponent under 90 all season.
Coach Tyler Marsh, brought in with championship credentials from Las Vegas, now finds himself less a savior and more a spokesman for dysfunction. His decision to bench the starters against Phoenix wasn’t strategy—it was survival. After the game, he blamed the move on protecting players during a back-to-back, but the optics were clear: this was a man out of answers.
The Cardoso Conundrum
While Reese has struggled, rookie center Kamilla Cardoso has been one of the few bright spots. Against Phoenix, she scored 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, showing the kind of efficiency and poise the Sky desperately need. Yet even Cardoso couldn’t escape the benching, her frustration visible as she watched another blowout from the sidelines.
Cardoso’s body language said it all. She’s a player who came to Chicago expecting to be part of a rebuild, not a demolition. With every errant pass and missed rotation, her glances to the bench seemed to ask: “How much longer do I have to endure this?”
A Franchise at a Crossroads
The Sky’s collapse isn’t just about bad basketball—it’s about bad planning. The roster was built on hope and hype, not proven production. The team’s perimeter defense is non-existent, their offense stagnant, and their chemistry lacking. The absence of veteran leadership has only made matters worse, with young players left to figure things out on the fly.
The result? Blowout after blowout, a locker room searching for answers, and a fanbase running out of patience. The Sky have become the league’s punchline, a team so broken that even national TV can’t spin their games as must-watch events.
Angel Reese’s Reality Check
For Angel Reese, the transition to the pros has been anything but smooth. Her athleticism and swagger made her a college sensation, but in the WNBA, everyone is fast, strong, and skilled. The easy buckets she feasted on at LSU have vanished, and her struggles to adjust are now playing out under the brightest lights.
Yet, amid the criticism, Reese remains defiant. “I come in to work every day and work. I don’t complain. I just try to be better than the last [game],” she told reporters after the Mercury loss. It’s the kind of attitude coaches love, but at some point, effort has to translate into results.
Where Do the Sky Go From Here?
The Sky’s problems aren’t unsolvable, but they are urgent. The team needs stability, veteran leadership, and a commitment to player development. Coach Marsh may not survive the season, and a roster shakeup seems inevitable. No one—not even Reese or Cardoso—should feel untouchable.
For now, the Sky are a cautionary tale about the dangers of believing your own hype. They’ve become appointment viewing for all the wrong reasons—a team whose games are less about basketball and more about watching a slow-motion implosion.
The Bottom Line
In a league where every team is fighting for relevance, the Chicago Sky have managed to stand out—just not in the way anyone hoped. Their collapse is a warning to every franchise: talent and talk mean nothing without execution and accountability.
As for Angel Reese, she still has time to rewrite her story. But if she—and the Sky—don’t figure things out soon, they’ll be remembered not for what they could have been, but for what they became: a punchline in the most brutal season the WNBA has seen in years.
