The 2025 WNBA season was not kind to the Chicago Sky. They finished with a 10-34 record, and things inside the locker room were far from settled. It was a rough year all around. Now, even before the 2026 season gets going, the Sky have taken another hit as their star player, Angel Reese, is gone.
Angel Reese Joins a New Team Ahead of the 2026 Season
Front Office Sports reporter Annie Costabile broke the news on X, confirming that Reese has been traded to the Atlanta Dream. The trade details are that Atlanta will receive Reese, along with the right to swap second-round picks with the Sky in 2028. In return, Chicago will get the Dream’s first-round pick in 2027 and their first-round pick in 2028.
Details of the trade according to sources
Atlanta Receives: Angel Reese, right to swap 2nd round picks with the Sky in 2028
Chicago Receives: Dream’s 2027 1st round pick, Dream 2028 1st round pick https://t.co/rndSpnra60
— Annie Costabile (@AnnieCostabile) April 6, 2026
So the Sky will walk away with two first-round picks, but they will lose a player who was one of their most talked-about names. Now, for anyone who had been following the situation closely, this move was not exactly a surprise. The signs were there well before the season ended.
Back in early September, the Chicago Tribune ran a wide-ranging interview with Reese, conducted by journalist Julia Poe. In that conversation, Reese was open about her frustrations regarding the team’s struggles and with where things were headed. She even spoke about the possibility of looking elsewhere.
“I’m not settling for the same s*** we did this year. We have to get good players. We have to get great players. That’s a non-negotiable for me,” Reese said.
“I’m willing and wanting to play with the best. And however I can help to get the best here, that’s what I’m going to do this offseason. So it’s going to be very, very important this offseason to make sure we attract the best of the best because we can’t settle for what we have this year,” Reese added during the interview with Poe.
That interview immediately set off a wave of trade rumors and split the fan base right down the middle. Some fans respected her for being honest. Others felt she had crossed a line by airing it out so publicly.
The front office clearly did not take it well. Reese was benched for the first half of the September 7 game against the Las Vegas Aces as a disciplinary measure. Then, strangely, she never came back into that game. The team later stated that it was due to a back issue. That same back problem was then cited as the reason she missed Chicago’s next two games.
It did not stop there. The Sky later announced that Reese, along with veterans Ariel Atkins and Courtney Vandersloot, would not be taking part in the end-of-season exit interviews.
Around the same time, Reese posted on X reflecting on her growth over the year. The post had a tone to it like she was closing a chapter and hinting that bigger things were ahead.
“YEAR 2. You taught me so much. You taught me so many lessons. You showed a TON of growth. You fought through SO much adversity. Yet you still PREVAILED, still showed up, and God has a plan for you. This is only the beginning,” Reese wrote on X.
So here we are. Reese is heading to Atlanta, where she will play under head coach Karl Smesko. Last season, she played in only 30 games. So she was only able to average 14.7 points and 12.6 rebounds per game.
Now with a full season under Smesko’s system, there is real curiosity around what she can do.
