The Chicago Sky will have the No. 3 pick in a loaded 2025 WNBA draft after Sunday’s lottery results.
The Sky will have a wealth of options — including Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles and Connecticut’s Azzi Fudd — to choose from as they aim to build out their backcourt to complement Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese.
The Dallas Wings won the jackpot in the lottery, landing the No. 1 pick that they’re widely expected to use on UConn superstar Paige Bueckers.
Sunday’s results also closed the books on the Sky’s debilitating 2023 trade with the Wings for Marina Mabrey. They won’t have to swap their 2025 first-round pick with the Wings as part of that deal.
The Mabrey trade was executed by former coach/general manager James Wade, who left the Sky five months later for an assistant coaching job with the NBA’s Toronto Raptors. Wade gambled away the bulk of the Sky’s short-term draft stock: a first-round pick in 2023, first- and third-rounders in 2024 and the 2025 pick swap as well as the rights to Leonie Fiebich.
GM Jeff Pagliocca rebuilt the Sky’s 2024 and 2025 draft stock through a series of trades last season, which included sending Kahleah Copper to the Phoenix Mercury for the No. 3 pick in 2024, used to select Cardoso, and sending Mabrey to the Connecticut Sun at the Olympic break to add what turned out to be the No. 10 pick in 2025. The Sky also drafted Reese last year with the No. 7 pick
With their draft picks set, the Sky front office now will turn its attention to setting a protected list for the expansion draft (Dec. 6) and to the onset of free agency (Jan. 21).
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