This was not goodbye to the Chicago sky.
Two years after leaving their long team in a free agency, two -time WNBA champion courtney wandersluts are returning to the franchise for the 2025 season.
The next month turned 36, Vanderslut, will sign with Akash when a free agency opens on Saturday, a league source confirmed. Chicago Sun-Times was the first to report the decision on Wednesday.
Vandersloot confirmed the news shortly after in his distinguished sensible style, updating his social media profile to include two words: “Chicago Sky.”
The number 3 pick in 2011 WNBA draft, Wanderslut left Chicago as a four-time all-star and team captain after the 2022 season, whose patience and austerity paved the way for the first championship of the franchise in 2021.
The 5-Foot-8 point guard holds a single-game record of the league with 18 assistance set in 2020, and is second for bird bird in WNBA history with 2,850 career aid. The Wandershaloot League owns six of the seven supreme assistance averages, including a record 10 per game in 2020.
She returns to Chicago in a two -time champion after anchoring New York Liberty on her way for the first WNBA title of the franchise in 2024. Although his court vision and playmaking did not change in that period, Wandershaloot is one to one separate player. Who paraded the WNBA Trophy in 2021 through the streets of Chicago.
Two sessions of Vanderslut with Liberty were both difficult and development. He spent the 2024 season’s share away from his mother after January, died after a two -year fight with advanced multiple myeloma in June.
In court, his role changed significantly because he entered a new phase of his career. The Vandershaloot came out of the bench for the entireness of the 2024 playoffs, which began in all of all its previous playoff performances. But he adopted the role in the second unit, on an average 2.5 per game per game.
This growth corresponds to the sky, which will require something different out of the wanderslut – the name of the “Floor General” for his commanding appearance – in returning to Chicago.
The team is trying to establish a new culture under the first year coach Tyler Marsh. Wandershaloot will be important in providing guidance and leadership for young players like Angel Reese and Kamila Cardso, providing better ball facilities on the court.
With its first unrestricted free agent of 2025, the Sky Front Office will now decide its places on rounding the backcourt through a draft, free agency or trade market.