Teresa Weatherspoon’s firing from Chicago Sky is WNBA’s latest stunning dismissal

The Chicago Sky fired head coach Teresa Weatherspoon after one season, the Chicago Sun-Times reported on Thursday night, marking the second dismissal of a seemingly well-respected head coach in the WNBA this week. Los Angeles Spark head coach Curt Miller —one of the most veteran coaches in the league — was similarly let go on Tuesday after two years with the organization.

The decision to fire Weatherspoon is a stunning one considering she had undeniable buy-in from two of the team’s best players — Chennedy Carter and Angel Reese — and spent a single season as head coach after a decorated playing career and tenure as an NBA assistant. The Sky, who were were last in ESPN’s preseason rankings, finished the season just one game removed from the playoffs, despite being plagued by injuries for much of the year.

Weatherspoon marked the Sky’s third coach in as many years, and her firing highlights a lack of continuity that has plagued the the Chicago organization since its 2021 WNBA championship. Reese immediately took to Twitter to express her dismay at the news.

“I’m heartbroken. I’m literally lost for words knowing what this woman meant to me in such a pivotal point in my life,” Reese wrote. “She was the only person that believed in me. The one that trusted me. Many don’t even know what it’s like to be a black women in sports when nobody believes in you.”

Weatherspoon enjoyed a long WNBA career as a player, playing on the New York Liberty from 1997 to 2003. She won Defensive Player of the Year twice, was named an All-Star five times, and led her her team to the Finals four teams. She then served as the head coach of Louisiana Tech, and spent three seasons as an assistant on the New Orleans Pelicans, before being named the Chicago Sky’s head coach.

As a coach, she brought out the best in Chennedy Carter, who was previously out of the league, and formed a strong connection with Reese. She certainly wasn’t perfect — there were questions about her rotation, and veterans Dana Evans and Isabelle Harrison both expressed some criticism of her coaching in their exit interviews.

The Sparks fired Miller after two, injury-riddled years with the franchise. The Sparks finished the season with the league’s worst record, but were hamstrung by injuries all year, losing rookie Cameron Brink to an ACL tear early on, and Lexie Brown to illness, among others.

The Sparks weren’t supposed to be much more competitive than they ended up being. In fact, locking down the the best odds for the No. 1 draft pick (also known as the Paige Bueckers sweepstakes) is probably the best thing the franchise could have done.

Of note, the Sparks’ best player for most of the season, Dearica Hamby, similarly turned to Twitter to express her disappointment with the front office’s decision: “I wish we could’ve had more time as we’ve seen what you’re capable of.”

On Twitter/X, Reese similarly gave Weatherspoon her flowers.

“You had a tough job. All the crazy circumstances that we went through this year and when your back was against the wall, you always believed,” Reese wrote. “I came to Chicago because of YOU. You were an unsung hero in my life.”

The Sky’s move is particularly stunning given how little time Weatherspoon had with the organization — and how low expectations were for Chicago heading into the seasons. It became exceedingly clear that the Sky were entering a rebuilding season after Courtney Williams and Alanna Smith departed in free agency for the the Minnesota Lynx, and Kahleah Copper requested a trade.

Similar to the Sparks, the team also caught the injury bug; Elizabeth Williams missed most of the year with a knee injury, and Chennedy Carter, who under Weatherspoon’s guidance had established herself as one of the league’s elite guards, missed several key weeks with illness. Kamilla Cardoso also missed the earlier parts of the season with a shoulder injury, and Reese’s season was cut short due to wrist surgery.

The decision to ship out Marina Mabrey — who was the second-leading scorer on the Sky at the Olympic break — further reinforced that the team was prioritizing future assets over current ones.

Moreover, it’s well-documented that developing young talent, building a winning culture, and ultimately winning, takes time — a whole lot of it. It’s something that Aliyah Boston spoke to after the Indiana Fever were eliminated from the playoffs on Wednesday night.

“When you’re looking at a rebuild year, everyone wants to obviously jump to the championships and bring home the ring and everything,” Boston said. “But I think when you look at basketball as a whole and when you look at where you start to where you are now, it’s about stepping stones.”

Both the Sparks and the Sky were supposed to be at the bottom of league standings this season. Both had outspoken buy-in from their star players, and both organizations had already suffered from extreme turnover at the coach position. Miller and Weatherspoon certainly had their flaws, but both showed promising signs in the long-term.

Coaching is a brutal profession, and dismissing coaches of losing teams is a phenomenon that is certainly not limited to the WNBA. Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon spoke to it after Miller’s firing.

“Teams don’t win, coaches get fired. Period,” Hammon said. “And that’s what you sign up for.”

But, it’ll be difficult for Chicago to find someone who connects with the players as Weatherspoon did. Possible, certainly. But, Weatherspoon getting less than a full year as head coach is stunning regardless of how you slice it.