Angel Reese 'Won't Settle for the Same S--t' in 2026, Urges Sky to Make Roster Changes

After two years of futility, Chicago Sky star Angel Reese is ready for something different in the Windy City.

"I'm not settling for the same s--t we did this year," she told the Chicago Tribune's Julia Poe. "We have to get good players. We have to get great players. That's a non-negotiable for me.

"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."

The Sky went 13-27 in Reese's rookie year, and they've already lost three more games with five to play. That's significantly below the expectations she had set for 2025 before the campaign tipped off.

The good news for Reese is that Chicago only has four players under contract for 2026. Almost every veteran across the WNBA is heading to free agency, so Sky general manager Jeff Pagliocca can totally overhaul the roster with ease.

Whether the front office can upgrade the squad to the level Reese is alluding is another matter.

Despite being in a big market, the Sky have struggled to land stars or keep their best players. Candace Parker's arrival in 2021 is the one glaring exception, and Chicago's two-year run with Parker is an outlier in its wider history.

"We need great players, and I don't know what will attract that," Reese told Poe. "Maybe the practice facility will attract that, we'll see."

The two-time All-Star added that "it would be a leap of faith for a great, great player to come here."

Reese's candid remarks are the kind of thing that could spark organizational change for the better.

The Sky have long suffered from underinvestment. They struggled to gain a foothold in the Chicago sports scene, and their practice facility has been a local rec center located well outside of downtown Chicago. The opening of their new standalone facility was delayed until 2026.

The general level of frustration Reese expressed to Poe isn't any different than how fans have felt for years. Her saying that in public puts an obvious level of pressure on ownership and the front office.

But the Sky are so far behind the curve that it might take a while to rebuild their reputation.

In a poll of 27 players conducted by The Athletic's Sabreena Merchant and Ben Pickman, 11 cited Chicago as the WNBA's worst-run organization. Building a new practice facility doesn't immediately remedy a perception this bad.

Should the Sky fail to make any blockbuster trades or signings, it could have a domino effect on Reese's tenure when she was pretty clear with her ambitions.