The Sun-Times reported late Thursday that the Chicago Sky have fired head coach Teresa Weatherspoon after just one year at the helm.

The Sky's record deep into the season had the franchise on track to make the 2024 playoffs. However, Chicago missed the cut after finishing regular-season play on a 0-5 run while star rookie Angel Reese watched from the sidelines with a wrist injury.

WNBA star Teresa Weatherspoon of the New York Liberty handles the ball against the Los Angeles Sparks on August 5, 1997 at Madison Square Garden
Weatherspoon began her WNBA career during the league's inaugural 1997 season. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)

Weatherspoon's WNBA roots run deep

Weatherspoon's pro career dates back to the league's 1997 inaugural season, where she won the first-ever Defensive Player of the Year award. She spent the majority of her WNBA tenure with the New York Liberty, playing alongside greats like Rebecca Lobo and now-Aces coach Becky Hammon.

After seven seasons in New York, Weatherspoon finished her career with the LA Sparks in 2024.

Before joining the Chicago Sky ahead of the 2024 season, Weatherspoon most recently served as an assistant coach for the New Orleans Pelicans of the NBA. The five-time WNBA All-Star led Chicago to a 13-27 record in her first and only year as head coach.

After the news broke, Sky star Angel Reese tweeted in response to Weatherspoon's dismissal. "I’m heartbroken. I’m literally lost for words knowing what this woman meant to me in such a pivotal point in my life," she wrote. "You didn’t deserve this but I can’t thank you enough. I love you Tspoon."

The Liberty’s unbeaten streak came to an end on Thursday as Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky got the upset win over New York with a final score of 90-81. 

Angel Reese stood out with a near double-double, registering 13 points and nine rebounds. She’s currently the only rookie this season to exceed 10 points in her first three games, and the first player in Sky history to begin their career with three consecutive double-digit scoring games, per ESPN Stats & Info.

The outcome may not have come as a surprise to Liberty stars Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones, who sung Reese’s praises ahead of the game.

"She’s a workhorse," Stewart told The Post. "She doesn’t stop. She’s tough, she’s strong, she’s tough to box out and good at cleaning up for her team offensively and defensively."

"I feel like she’s an energizer bunny," Jones added. "She doesn’t stop moving, she doesn’t stop crashing the boards. Just someone that is gonna be relentless in her approach to getting to the glass and playing tough."

It was the first time Chicago has met New York this season. The game was especially meaningful for new Chicago head coach Teresa Weatherspoon, who led the Liberty for seven years as a player and joined the team's Ring of Honor in 2011.

"This place means a lot to me... I played in that jersey, I adored that jersey, I adored every player that I had an opportunity to play with. The love that I received even today was overwhelming," Weatherspoon reflected after the game.

Following the win, Sky guard Dana Evans had some kind words for her coach.

"I mean, it's just special. She's special," Evans said. "She just breeds confidence in each and every one of us. We love her. We just wanted to go so hard and play hard for her, and I feel like this one was really for her. We really wanted this for her more than anything."

Thursday's victory brings Chicago's record to 2-1, a somewhat unlikely feat given that their offseason featured starter Kahleah Copper getting traded to Phoenix. The Connecticut Sun are now the only undefeated team left in the league this season, and will formidable foes for the Sky as they take their winning streak on the road to Chicago this weekend.

Kahleah Copper is ready for the Chicago Sky’s next chapter led by new head coach Teresa Weatherspoon.

Speaking at Weatherspoon’s introductory press conference Tuesday, Copper said the five-time WNBA All-Star and former NBA assistant coach will bring an “electric” energy to the team.

“Super excited to be a part of this era,” said Copper, at times speaking directly to Weatherspoon, who sat beside her. “I think that we’re going to do something really special. Beyond the accolades, you’re an amazing person, and someone that I can really relate to and someone that I want to really give all that you deserve. So I’m proud to be here and a part of this organization and I’m ready to gear up.”

For her part, Weatherspoon, 57, is excited for what this chapter holds for herself and for the Sky. As someone who has been told “no” many times and had doors closed to her, she likened this new opportunity in Chicago to climbing through a window. And she is ready to go all in, she said.

“They don’t call me ‘Spoon’ for nothing,” she said. “I’m coming here to stir things up.”

As for Copper, Weatherspoon views her as a leader for the team. The 2021 WNBA Finals MVP, Copper signed a multi-year contract extension with the Sky in September.

“It’s her time to lead this organization in the right way,” she said. “And it’s my duty to pour into her, to pour into every player to support this organization.”

And Weatherspoon is confident about the roster beyond just Copper. That’s part of the reason she bought into being head coach of the team.

“That’s why I sit here,” she said. “Absolutely great question. And it is no answer but absolutely.”

Before the 2023 season ended, Copper had decided to re-sign with the Sky. And the 29-year-old guard had conversations with Weatherspoon that helped solidify her decision as the right one. From their very first conversation, the energy between the two sparked in a way that Copper hasn’t experienced before with coaches.

“It was like our energy just, we connected over energy,” she said. “And I said I’ve never had a coach that could really match my energy and that was just something that really hit me.”

Weatherspoon says that the team’s new identity will be forged in “fire,” and Copper already embodies that.

“You have it right here,” Weatherspoon said. “It becomes contagious. Fire becomes contagious, energy becomes contagious. Just being energetic becomes truly contagious, and it’ll jump from one person to the next. I promise you if you stand close to it’s gonna jump in you. I promise you.”

Orlando Magic assistant coach Nate Tibbetts is the new head coach of the Phoenix Mercury, the team announced Wednesday.

The Mercury are making Tibbetts, who has no women’s basketball experience, the highest-paid WNBA head coach, passing the Las Vegas Aces’ Becky Hammon, ESPN reported Monday. The terms of Tibbetts’ deal have not been reported, but Hammon reportedly earns $1 million per season.

Hammon signed with the Aces on a record-setting deal ahead of the 2022 offseason. Before that, she spent eight seasons as an assistant coach with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs. Teresa Weatherspoon, who was hired last week as the head coach of the Chicago Sky, also brought NBA experience. Both Hammon and Weatherspoon also have WNBA playing experience.

While this will be Tibbetts’ first time coaching in the WNBA, he has held multiple NBA assistant coaching roles. He joined the Magic in 2021, and previously worked with the Portland Trail Blazers and Cleveland Cavaliers.

“Nate is an excellent basketball coach and an even better person,” Mercury general manager Nick U’Ren said in a news release. “I am excited to work with him as we build an organization that our players, fans and community will be proud of. His knowledge of the game, and commitment to creating a winning culture on and off the floor will be invaluable as we lead the Mercury into our next championship era.”

Tibbetts takes over a Mercury team that has struggled in recent seasons. In 2023, the team finished last in the league with a 9-31 record and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2012.

Phoenix parted ways with head coach Vanessa Nygaard in late June, and then after the season elected not to elevate interim head coach Nikki Blue to the permanent role.

“From bringing the WNBA All-Star game to Phoenix, building a dedicated practice facility for the Mercury, and now to bringing on Nate as our head coach, everything we do, on and off the floor, centers around our fans, elevating Phoenix as the epicenter of basketball, and setting a new standard for investment in women’s sports,” Mercury owner Mat Ishbia said in a news release.

The Chicago Sky have tabbed Teresa Weatherspoon as their next head coach, as first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.

The WNBA legend becomes the seventh head coach in the history of the franchise. A former assistant coach for the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans, Weatherspoon has been in talks with the Sky since August, but negotiations picked up in September, Chicago Sun-Times journalist Annie Costabile reported.

“To be the leader, as head coach, of an organization in a city with so much history and culture is a dream come true,” Weatherspoon said in a news release. “The things that we are about to do as a team, a business and in the community will be rooted in excitement, excellence and hard work. I am thankful to the entire Chicago organization for going through this process and selecting me. I can’t wait to get to work!”

The Hall of Famer, who was a five-time WNBA All-Star and two-time Defensive Player of the Year, parted ways with the Pelicans in June after four years with the team. She spent seven seasons with the New York Liberty as a player from 1997 to 2003, and she later joined their staff as director of player development in 2015.

Ahead of the 2022 season, Weatherspoon was a finalist for the Phoenix Mercury head coaching job, but she withdrew her name from consideration.

She succeeds interim head coach Emre Vatansever at the helm for the Sky. Vatansever took over in July after James Wade left the team for an assistant coaching position with the Toronto Raptors. While Wade served as the head coach and general manager, the Sky also are planning to hire a new general manager after separating the two positions.