When Angel Reese got to know how her Chicago Tribune article, which spiraled faster than expected, was taken by her teammates, she quickly apologized. “I think the language is taken out of context, um, and I really didn’t intentionally mean to put down my teammates,” she shared in the post-game press conference. But all this wasn’t enough—she had a penalty to pay. Later, it turned out to be a half-game suspension. But was Angel Reese truly at fault for speaking her mind? No Cap Space WBB’s got a better perspective for you.

Ever since the beginning of the 2025 season, the Sky have been in free fall, and now, with a 10–32 record, they’ve ended their playoff hopes. So, being a player of Angel Reese’s caliber, who’s in Year 2 and leading the league in rebounds, it’s understandable she doesn’t want the nightmare of a season to follow next year. So, when asked about roster needs, she simply said, “Make sure we attract the best of the best because we can’t settle for what we have this year”. She mentioned teammates like Courtney Vandersloot by name as well, and that didn’t sit well with many. But if you listen to the No Cap Space WBB podcast, she really didn’t mean to hurt her teammates.

Host Andrew Haubner put it better as he shared, “Angel wasn’t going after her teammates. Angel was going after the front office and saying the front office and Jeff… needs to figure this stuff out, but instead we got focused on the player component and not the broader critique… And that’s why we are where we are at this point.”

So, yes, people found a point to latch onto, took Reese’s comments out of context, and suddenly, no one was remotely interested in whether something is actually wrong with the front office. Defeats the purpose when you think that AR’s comments had a bleak reality.

Reese entered Year 2 after an eventful rookie season, which was overshadowed by her average shooting. But this year, she soon shot 46% from the field and led her team in scoring, rebounds, and assists. Even when her team required a point forward, she didn’t hesitate to take up that role.

“I’ve always been a player for the team… Every team I’ve been on, I’ve done what was needed to win. I don’t care about anything else. I’m doing whatever I need for the team,” she had shared in the preseason. So, now, when Chicago looks set for an 11-33 regular season finish, which would be the second-worst in franchise history, Reese listed the steps that had to be followed. But what happened? She was the one under the scrutiny lens. Though it ain’t the ideal step for any franchise, especially with their star player.

As Tyler DeLuca put it better in the same podcast, “We’re talking different currencies here. One, first off, we see star players do this all the time without a ring. This is not a new thing across pro sports—like this is not a new thing by any means when it comes to star players using leverage. Is it new in the WNBA? Like this doesn’t happen in the WNBA. But you want to know why the currency is different in WNBA? Because frankly, motion in the WNBA is the biggest current of all right now. And Angel Reese had motion to go up against anybody right now”.

And yes, historically, WNBA players haven’t really used their platforms to challenge front offices or make bold demands like NBA players do. So, as AR speaks up, it feels unusual in the women’s game. But in today’s WNBA, the most valuable thing ain’t a ring—it’s popularity and momentum.

And Angel, she’s got both, especially following her rivalries against Caitlin Clark. She’s got a net worth of nearly $1.7 million from her WNBA contract, endorsement deals with Reebok, PlayStation, Beats by Dre, Raising Cane’s, and more. And it ain’t all. She’s even trademarked words that were invented to mock her. For Windy City, no doubt all this is leverage. Just last year, when the Sky welcomed Reese to the team, the impact was monumental. In the first week of her arrival, the team’s ticket sales and revenue increased by 33% and 58%, respectively. And those numbers continue to improve.

The team even matched the merchandise sales for the entire 2023 season in just four weeks after the draft. While all this was for 2024, in 2025, it isn’t really different. Even now, fans are willing to empty their wallets to see Angel Reese going against Caitlin Clark in a game.

And when it comes to on-court momentum, AR’s got an impact even here. She’s averaging team highs of 14.7 points per game and 3.7 assists per game. With her, the Windy City has defeated top teams like the Lynx and Liberty. But when she was out before the All-Star break, they went 1–9. So, the Chi-Town Barbie’s valuable for the Sky, no doubt. So does that mean the Sky’s failing as a franchise??

After costly missteps, Sky gotta learn from Indy…

Every time Caitlin Clark makes a demand, Indy listens. Last season, when she demanded Sydney Colson as a teammate, Indy fulfilled it. “When Amber [Cox] and I started talking from the beginning, we started talking about people first,” shared Kelly Krauskopf. And they did well by Clark’s demands of never sacrificing the locker room culture.

“I think initially it did start with, every one of these players [we’re adding] has a high level of character and integrity. I’m just a real proponent of, when shots don’t fall, what do you fall back on? Your culture,” Kelly added. And yes, Indy does keep its players first. Even when DeWanna Bonner felt she wasn’t really a fit, they waived her. Every player, be it from free agency, a trade, or on a hardship contract, the policy is the same—to keep up with the locker room culture.

“They know what it takes to win, they know what it takes to get to the Finals, they know what it takes to win championships,” Caitlin Clark shared during the offseason. “I think it’s exactly what we needed in our locker room. But also they’re not just really good basketball players, they’re great leaders and great people and I know the front office prioritized that.” But this ain’t exactly the same for the Sky as a franchise.

And as per Haubner, had Clark been in Reese’s position, people would have listened. “If Caitlin Clark is in Chicago and this is still going on and Caitlin were to reach this way, it’s not within her character to do so… Like if Caitlin did this for Chicago, Caitlin would be right and we’d be saying she’s right. You know, like this is not a situation in which Chicago necessarily did right by her, right?” Andrew shared, further adding how the Sky butchered the Sonia Citron pick.

“And there is a fair argument to be made here that offloading the pick—that the pick that ended up becoming Sonia Citron—I think you could argue that the pick and deciding to go in on winning now, you can make it a charitable defense of Jeff that part of that was done to appease these two young players and want to win in a way they wanted to win,” he added.

Yes, the Sky had given up their No. 3 overall pick this season to the Mystics in exchange for Ariel Atkins. The same pick ended up being Sonia Citron, a potential Rookie of the Year candidate. While Atkins is a decent player, she’s been battling injuries. And not just that, to acquire HVL, the Sky gave the Lynx complete ownership of their 2026 first-round pick. But now it’s about the future—a championship win, something they fired former HC Teresa Weatherspoon for. But can they get it any sooner?