2022 Chicago Sky season

The 2022 Chicago Sky season was the franchise's 17th season in the Women's National Basketball Association, and their fourth season under head coach James Wade. They were the defending league champions after defeating the Phoenix Mercury in the 2021 WNBA Finals.

2022 Chicago Sky season
Coach	James Wade
Arena	Wintrust Arena
Attendance	7,180 per game
Results
Record	26–10 (.722)
Place	1st (Eastern)
Playoff finish	2nd seed; Lost in Semifinals to Connecticut Sun
Team Leaders
Points	Kahleah Copper – 15.7 ppg
Rebounds	Candace Parker – 8.6 rpg
Assists	Courtney Vandersloot – 6.5 apg
← 2021 season 2023 season →

Entering the offseason, the Sky only had four players from the previous season under contract.^[1] The team re-signed Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley, and Kahleah Copper and added Emma Meesseman via free agency.^[2][3][4] Free agent Stefanie Dolson departed the team and signed with the New York Liberty.^[5] In a sign-and-trade deal, free agent Diamond DeShields was traded to the Phoenix Mercury and the Sky added Julie Allemand.^[6][7]

The defending champions lost the first game of the season, in overtime. However, they recovered and won their next two games. They finished the month winning three of five and with a 5–3 overall record. The Sky started June strongly, winning five of their first six, before losing to Indiana, on June 19. On June 21, the Sky broke the record for largest comeback win in WNBA history in a 104–95 win over the Las Vegas Aces after being down by 28 points.^[8] They used that momentum to win their next three games and finish the month with a 9–2 record. In July the team kept the hot streak going, winning six games in a row from July 7 to July 22. Four players were named to the All-Star Game: Candace Parker, Vandersloot, Copper, and Meesseman.^[9] They hosted the Commissioner's Cup, but lost to the Aces. The finished the month 9–2 and secured a playoff berth on July 20. After having secured the berth, their momentum slowed and they finished August with a 3–3 record. Their overall record of 26–10 was a franchise-best. They ended as the second seed in the playoffs.

As the second seed in the playoffs, they hosted a First Round series against the New York Liberty. They lost Game One of the series at home 91–98. They followed that up with a dominant 38 point win at home in Game Two. They Sky had to travel to New York for Game Three, and won by eighteen points to advance to the Semifinals. There, they faced off against the third seed Connecticut Sun. As the higher seed, they again had home court advantage in the series. As in the first round, they lost the first game at home. The Sky followed that up with a home win and a road win. They lost Game Four on the road by 24-points and could not finish the series at home in Game Five, losing 63–72 to end their season.

Transactions

WNBA draft

See also: 2022 WNBA draft

The Sky do not have any picks in the 2022 WNBA Draft, having traded their second- and third-round picks to the Dallas Wings and their first-round pick to the Indiana Fever.^[10][11][6]

Trades and Roster Changes

Date	Transaction
January 2, 2022	Extended Qualifying Offers to Diamond DeShields and Lexie Brown[12]
January 12, 2022	Extended a Core Qualifying Offer to Kahleah Copper[13]
January 25, 2022	Hired Ann Wauters as assistant coach[14]
February 3, 2022	Traded Diamond DeShields to Phoenix in exchange for Julie Allemand (from Indiana) and 2023 1st round pick (from Phoenix)[6][7]
February 5, 2022	Signed Crystal Bradford to a one-year deal[15]
February 9, 2022	Signed Kysre Gondrezick and Kamiah Smalls to a training camp contracts[16][17]
February 10, 2022	Signed Rebekah Gardner to a training camp contract[18]
February 17, 2022	Re-signed Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley to one-year deals[2]
	Re-signed Kahleah Copper[3]
February 18, 2022	Signed Emma Meesseman[4]
February 25, 2022	Signed Kathleen Doyle and Tina Krajišnik to training-camp contracts[19]
March 9, 2022	Waived Crystal Bradford[20]
March 11, 2022	Signed Anneli Maley to a training-camp contract
March 15, 2022	Signed Kaela Davis and Imani McGee-Stafford to training-camp contracts[21]
March 30, 2022	Traded Lexie Brown to Los Angeles in exchange for the rights to Li Yueru[22]
	Signed Li Yueru to a rookie-scale contract
April 13, 2022	Signed Lexie Held and Kayla Wells to training-camp contracts[23]
April 14, 2022	Signed Sparkle Taylor and Emmanuelle Tahane to training-camp contracts[24]
April 15, 2022	Signed Masseny Kaba to a training-camp contract[25]
April 16, 2022	Signed Lindsey Pulliam to a training-camp contract
April 28, 2022	Waived Kayla Well and Kamiah Smalls[26]
April 29, 2022	Waived Imani McGee-Stafford and Lexi Held[27]
May 2, 2022	Waived Lindsey Pulliam
May 4, 2022	Waived Kaela Davis, Kysre Gondrezick, Tina Krajišnik, Anneli Maley, and Sparkle Taylor[28]
May 5, 2022	Waived Kathleen Doyle, Masseny Kaba, and Emmanuelle Tahane
	Temporarily Suspend Julie Allemand, Rebekah Gardner, Kahleah Copper, and Li Yueru due to Overseas Commitments
May 6, 2022	Signed Sparkle Taylor, Anneli Maley, Tina Krajišnik, and Kaela Davis to Hardship Contracts
May 9, 2022	Released Kaela Davis and Anneli Maley from their Hardship Contracts [29]
	Activated Rebekah Gardner from her Temporary Suspension
May 10, 2022	Signed Anneli Maley to a Hardship Contract
May 13, 2022	Released Sparkle Taylor from the Hardship Contract
	Exercised the 4th Year Team Option on Ruthy Hebard and Julie Allemand
May 20, 2022	Activated Kahleah Copper from her Temporary Suspension
	Released Tina Krajišnik from her Hardship Contract[30]
May 24, 2022	Activated Li Yueru from her Temporary Suspension
	Released Anneli Maley from her Hardship Contract
August 24, 2022	Signed Head coach James Wade to a Contract Extension [31]

Roster

2022 Chicago Sky roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs G 20 Allemand, Julie 5' 8" (1.73m) 147 lb (67kg) 1996-07-07 Belgium 1 G/F 2 Copper, Kahleah 6' 1" (1.85m) 165 lb (75kg) 1994-08-28 Rutgers 6 G 11 Evans, Dana 5' 6" (1.68m) 145 lb (66kg) 1998-08-01 Louisville 1 G 35 Gardner, Rebekah 6' 1" (1.85m) 130 lb (59kg) 1990-07-09 UCLA R F 24 Hebard, Ruthy 6' 4" (1.93m) 190 lb (86kg) 1998-04-28 Oregon 2 C 28 Li Yueru 6' 7" (2.01m) 200 lb (91kg) 1999-03-28 China R F 33 Meesseman, Emma 6' 4" (1.93m) 191 lb (87kg) 1993-05-13 Belgium 7 F/C 3 Parker, Candace 6' 4" (1.93m) 184 lb (83kg) 1986-04-19 Tennessee 14 G 14 Quigley, Allie 5' 10" (1.78m) 142 lb (64kg) 1986-06-20 DePaul 13 F/C 30 Stevens, Azurá 6' 6" (1.98m) 180 lb (82kg) 1996-02-01 Connecticut 4 G 22 Vandersloot, Courtney 5' 8" (1.73m) 137 lb (62kg) 1989-02-08 Gonzaga 11	Head coach James Wade (Kennesaw State) Assistant coaches Tonya Edwards (Tennessee) Ann Wauters Emre Vatansever Athletic trainer Meghan Lockerby Strength and conditioning coach Ann Crosby (Western Michigan) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Depth

Pos.	Starter	Bench
C	Candace Parker	Ruthy Hebard Li Yueru
PF	Emma Meesseman	Azurá Stevens
SF	Kahleah Copper	Rebekah Gardner
SG	Allie Quigley	Dana Evans
PG	Courtney Vandersloot	Julie Allemand

Schedule

Preseason

2022 pre-season game log
April: 0–2 (Home: 0–1; Road: 0–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 April 25 Dallas L 77–92 Emma Meesseman (24) Maley Meesseman (5) Dana Evans (7) Wintrust Arena N/A 0–1 2 April 30 @ Indiana L 75–79 Emma Meesseman (13) Emma Meesseman (8) Evans/Taylor (3) Gainbridge Fieldhouse N/A 0–2
2022 pre-season schedule

Regular Season

2022 game log Total: 26–10 (Home: 14–4; Road: 12–6)
May: 5–3 (Home: 3–2; Road: 2–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 May 6 Los Angeles L 91–98 OT Dana Evans (24) Emma Meesseman (8) Courtney Vandersloot (8) Wintrust Arena 8,111 0–1 2 May 11 New York W 83–50 Dana Evans (15) Meesseman Vandersloot (6) Courtney Vandersloot (6) Wintrust Arena 4,935 1–1 3 May 14 @ Minnesota W 82–78 Emma Meesseman (17) Emma Meesseman (7) Courtney Vandersloot (11) Target Center 6,503 2–1 4 May 18 @ Seattle L 71–74 Azurá Stevens (18) Candace Parker (9) Courtney Vandersloot (12) Climate Pledge Arena 7,450 2–2 5 May 22 @ Washington W 82–73 Candace Parker (16) Candace Parker (13) Candace Parker (10) Entertainment and Sports Arena 4,200 3–2 6 May 24 Indiana W 95–90 Candace Parker (16) Azurá Stevens (7) Parker Vandersloot (7) Wintrust Arena 7,741 4–2 7 May 28 Las Vegas L 76–83 Copper Vandersloot (12) Candace Parker (11) Parker Vandersloot (3) Wintrust Arena 6,812 4–3 8 May 31 Phoenix W 73–70 Courtney Vandersloot (18) Candace Parker (11) Courtney Vandersloot (6) Wintrust Arena 5,133 5–3
June : 9–2 (Home: 4–0; Road: 5–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 9 June 3 @ Atlanta W 73–65 Kahleah Copper (21) Kahleah Copper (8) Courtney Vandersloot (6) Gateway Center Arena 3,138 6–3 10 June 5 Washington W 91–82 Kahleah Copper (15) Candace Parker (13) Meesseman Parker Vandersloot (6) Wintrust Arena 6,228 7–3 11 June 8 @ Washington L 82–84 Candace Parker (16) Candace Parker (9) Courtney Vandersloot (5) Entertainment and Sports Arena 2,984 7–4 12 June 10 @ Connecticut W 83–79 Emma Meesseman (26) Kahleah Copper Gardner Meesseman (5) Courtney Vandersloot (8) Mohegan Sun Arena 4,816 8–4 13 June 12 @ New York W 88–86 Meesseman Vandersloot (20) Emma Meesseman (11) Courtney Vandersloot (10) Barclays Center 4,810 9–4 14 June 17 Atlanta W 106–100 (OT) Kahleah Copper (23) Emma Meesseman (12) Allemand Gardner (5) Wintrust Arena 7,435 10–4 15 June 19 @ Indiana L 87–89 Kahleah Copper (28) Emma Meesseman (8) Courtney Vandersloot (7) Indiana Farmers Coliseum 1,706 10–5 16 June 21 @ Las Vegas W 104–95 Courtney Vandersloot (25) Candace Parker (10) Courtney Vandersloot (8) Michelob Ultra Arena 4,951 11–5 17 June 23 @ Los Angeles W 82–59 Stevens Vandersloot (15) Candace Parker (14) Candace Parker (10) Crypto.com Arena 5,627 12–5 18 June 26 Minnesota W 88–85 Courtney Vandersloot (18) Candace Parker (8) Allie Quigley (8) Wintrust Arena 7,022 13–5 19 June 29 Connecticut W 91–83 Candace Parker (25) Candace Parker (11) Candace Parker (7) Wintrust Arena 6,709 14–5
July : 9–2 (Home: 5–0; Road: 4–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 20 July 2 Phoenix W 91–75 Allie Quigley (19) Candace Parker (8) Candace Parker (7) Wintrust Arena 8,028 15–5 21 July 6 @ Minnesota L 78–81 Kahleah Copper (20) Candace Parker (10) Candace Parker (6) Target Center 11,103 15–6 22 July 7 @ Indiana W 93–84 Emma Meesseman (20) Candace Parker (9) Courtney Vandersloot (6) Indiana Farmers Coliseum 1,839 16–6 23 July 12 Atlanta W 90–75 Candace Parker (31) Candace Parker (11) Emma Meesseman (8) Wintrust Arena 7,074 17–6 24 July 14 @ Los Angeles W 80–68 Rebekah Gardner (18) Candace Parker (11) Allemand Gardner Ca. Parker Vandersloot (4) Crypto.com Arena 5,856 18–6 25 July 16 @ Dallas W 89–81 Copper Meesseman (23) Kahleah Copper (14) Julie Allemand (8) College Park Center 5,126 19–6 26 July 20 Seattle W 78–74 Allie Quigley (18) Emma Meesseman (10) Emma Meesseman (6) Wintrust Arena 8,893 20–6 27 July 22 Dallas W 89–83 Kahleah Copper (19) Candace Parker (10) Emma Meesseman (9) Wintrust Arena 7,014 21–6 28 July 23 @ New York L 80–83 Candace Parker (21) Candace Parker (11) Gardner Ca. Parker (3) Barclays Center 6,926 21–7 CC Final July 26 Las Vegas L 83–93 Candace Parker (20) Candace Parker (14) Julie Allemand (6) Wintrust Arena 8,922 N/A 29 July 29 New York W 89–81 Courtney Vandersloot (23) Kahleah Copper (11) Courtney Vandersloot (9) Wintrust Arena 6,924 22–7 30 July 31 @ Connecticut W 95–92 (OT) Kahleah Copper (27) Azurá Stevens (10) Courtney Vandersloot (12) Mohegan Sun Arena 6,254 23–7
August : 3–3 (Home: 2–2; Road: 1–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 31 August 2 Dallas L 78–84 Kahleah Copper (19) Kahleah Copper (11) Courtney Vandersloot (8) Wintrust Arena 5,602 23–8 32 August 5 Washington W 93–83 Kahleah Copper (19) Azurá Stevens (6) Courtney Vandersloot (7) Wintrust Arena 8,042 24–8 33 August 7 Connecticut W 94–91 Courtney Vandersloot (20) Candace Parker (12) Meesseman Ca. Parker Vandersloot (5) Wintrust Arena 8,224 25–8 34 August 9 Seattle L 100–111 Courtney Vandersloot (28) Candace Parker (7) Courtney Vandersloot (7) Wintrust Arena 9,314 25–9 35 August 11 @ Las Vegas L 78–89 Kahleah Copper (28) Candace Parker (12) Ca. Parker Vandersloot (6) Michelob Ultra Arena 6,055 25–10 36 August 14 @ Phoenix W 82–67 Azurá Stevens (17) Candace Parker (6) Julie Allemand (6) Footprint Center 12,383 26–10
2022 season schedule

Playoffs

2022 playoff game log
First Round vs. New York Liberty Won Series: 2–1 Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 August 17 New York L 91–98 Kahleah Copper (21) Candace Parker (10) Courtney Vandersloot (10) Wintrust Arena 7,524 0–1 2 August 20 New York W 100–62 Kahleah Copper (20) Candace Parker (12) Allie Quigley (8) Wintrust Arena 7,732 1–1 3 August 23 @ New York W 90–72 Copper Quigley (15) Candace Parker (13) Courtney Vandersloot (10) Barclays Center 7,837 2–1
Semifinals vs. Connecticut Sun Lost Series: 2–3 Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 August 28 Connecticut L 63–68 Candace Parker (19) Candace Parker (18) Emma Meesseman (7) Wintrust Arena 8,955 0–1 2 August 31 Connecticut W 85–77 Candace Parker (22) Emma Meesseman (7) Courtney Vandersloot (8) Wintrust Arena 8,311 1–1 3 September 4 @ Connecticut W 76–72 Candace Parker (16) Candace Parker (11) Emma Meesseman (6) Mohegan Sun Arena 9,142 2–1 4 September 6 @ Connecticut L 80–104 Kahleah Copper (16) Candace Parker (9) Emma Meesseman (6) Mohegan Sun Arena 5,868 2–2 5 September 8 Connecticut L 63–72 Kahleah Copper (22) Candace Parker (9) Allie Quigley (7) Wintrust Arena 8,014 2–3
2022 playoff schedule

Standings

#	Team v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Conf.	Home	Road	Cup
1	x – Las Vegas Aces	26	10	.722	–	15–3	13–5	13–5	9–1
2	x – Chicago Sky	26	10	.722	–	15–3	14–4	12–6	9–1
3	x – Connecticut Sun	25	11	.694	1.0	11–7	13–5	12–6	5–5
4	x – Seattle Storm	22	14	.611	4.0	10–8	13–5	9–9	6–4
5	x – Washington Mystics	22	14	.611	4.0	11–7	12–6	10–8	5–5
6	x – Dallas Wings	18	18	.500	8.0	8–10	8–10	10–8	5–5
7	x – New York Liberty	16	20	.444	10.0	10–8	9–9	7–11	6–4
8	x – Phoenix Mercury	15	21	.417	11.0	7–11	11–7	4–14	3–7
9	e – Minnesota Lynx	14	22	.389	12.0	8–10	7–11	7–11	4–6
10	e – Atlanta Dream	14	22	.389	12.0	5–13	8–10	6–12	3–7
11	e – Los Angeles Sparks	13	23	.361	13.0	6–12	7–11	6–12	3–7
12	e – Indiana Fever	5	31	.139	21.0	2–16	3–15	2–16	2–8

Notes

(#) – League Standing

x – Clinched playoff berth

e – Eliminated from playoff contention

Source: Overall standings and Commissioner's Cup Standings

Playoffs

See also: 2022 WNBA Playoffs

	First round Best-of-3					Semifinals Best-of-5					Finals Best-of-5
	1	Las Vegas Aces	2
	8	Phoenix Mercury	0
						1	Las Vegas Aces	3
						4	Seattle Storm	1
	4	Seattle Storm	2
	5	Washington Mystics	0
											1	Las Vegas Aces	3
											3	Connecticut Sun	1
	2	Chicago Sky	2
	7	New York Liberty	1
						2	Chicago Sky	2
						3	Connecticut Sun	3
	3	Connecticut Sun	2
	6	Dallas Wings	1

• Bold – Series winner
• Italic – Team with home-court advantage

Statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage	TO	Turnovers per game
PF	Fouls per game		Team leader		League leader

Regular Season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Kahleah Copper	31	31	28.7	.481	.356	.775	5.7	2.3	0.5	0.0	15.7
Candace Parker	32	32	28.3	.468	.311	.816	8.6	4.5	1.0	1.0	13.2
Emma Meesseman	36	36	28.6	.571	.342	.887	5.5	3.8	1.4	0.8	12.4
Courtney Vandersloot	32	32	26.5	.481	.367	.765	3.9	6.5	1.2	0.5	11.8
Allie Quigley	34	34	26.3	.428	.355	.950	2.5	2.9	0.7	0.2	11.4
Azurá Stevens	35	8	21.9	.472	.362	.744	3.9	0.8	0.5	1.1	10.6
Rebekah Gardner	35	2	21.7	.542	.357	.800	3.3	1.3	1.4	0.5	8.4
Sparkle Taylor‡	2	0	12.5	.833	.000	1.000	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	5.5
Dana Evans	33	1	11.5	.377	.328	.880	0.8	1.2	0.3	0.1	4.3
Julie Allemand	25	4	16.1	.417	.290	.833	1.6	3.4	0.6	0.1	3.0
Ruthy Hebard	24	0	9.7	.510	.000	.750	1.7	0.5	0.3	0.1	2.3
Anneli Maley‡	4	0	11.0	.500	.667	.000	1.8	0.8	0.8	0.3	2.0
Li Yueru≠	16	0	5.1	.444	.000	1.000	1.5	0.1	0.1	0.1	1.8
Kaela Davis‡	1	0	10.0	.000	.000	.000	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Tina Krajišnik‡	2	0	2.5	.000	.000	.000	0.0	1.0	0.5	0.0	0.0

^‡Waived/Released during the season
^†Traded during the season
^≠Acquired during the season

Playoffs

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Kahleah Copper	8	8	30.5	.452	.346	.795	3.8	0.9	1.6	0.4	16.8
Candace Parker	8	8	29.4	.438	.333	.759	10.8	4.6	1.4	2.6	14.8
Courtney Vandersloot	8	8	28.3	.481	.261	.800	3.9	5.6	1.1	0.5	11.5
Emma Meesseman	8	8	29.6	.470	.300	.833	4.0	3.5	1.5	0.9	11.1
Allie Quigley	8	8	29.0	.338	.319	.714	3.1	3.1	1.0	0.3	9.6
Azura Stevens	8	0	18.8	.472	.188	.667	3.8	0.5	1.0	0.9	7.4
Rebekah Gardner	8	0	17.9	.389	.000	.857	3.3	1.8	0.8	0.4	5.0
Dana Evans	4	0	5.8	.600	.600	1.000	0.8	0.5	0.5	0.0	4.3
Julie Allemand	8	0	11.5	.500	.300	.500	0.5	2.0	0.3	0.1	2.5
Ruthy Hebard	4	0	4.3	.200	.000	.000	1.3	0.3	0.5	0.0	0.5

Awards and honors

Recipient	Award	Date awarded	Ref.
Kahleah Copper	Eastern Conference Player of the Week	June 21	[32]
	WNBA All-Star Selection	June 28	[33]
Candace Parker	WNBA All-Star Starter	June 22	[34]
	All-WNBA First Team	September 15	[35]
Courtney Vandersloot	Eastern Conference Player of the Week	June 27	[36]
		August 1	[37]
	WNBA All-Star Selection	June 28	[33]
Emma Meesseman	WNBA All-Star Selection	June 28	[33]
James Wade	WNBA Coach of the Month - June	July 5	[38]
	WNBA Coach of the Month - July	August 2	[39]
	WNBA Basketball Executive of the Year	August 22	[40]
Rebekah Gardner	WNBA All-Rookie Team	August 25	[41]