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player ready...It didn’t take long for Courtney Vandersloot to come home.
The former Chicago Sky star returned to familiar territory in the fifth game of the WNBA season, stepping on the court at Wintrust Arena in the sea foam green for the first time since leaving the team that drafted her in 2011.
Vandersloot, true to form, shied somewhat from the spotlight that accompanied her homecoming. But in the minutes leading up to her first game in Chicago in a New York Liberty jersey, Vandersloot embraced the warm welcome from her former fan base, pausing her warmups to watch a tribute video and applaud the fans in attendance.
Jerseys bearing the No. 22 dotted the stands as Sky fans welcomed Vandersloot back. That same number undoubtedly will hang in the rafters of Wintrust Arena whenever Vandersloot brings her vaunted career to a close. For the moment, Sky supporters showed their appreciation in nostalgic style: the booming chant of “Slooooot”.
“It’s really hard to put into words,” Vandersloot said. “It’s surreal. I spent so much time here, had so many memories here, so to come in here in different colors — it’s a different feeling.”
For 12 years, the sight of Vandersloot with the ball in her hands at the top of the key was a standard for the Sky. Over those years, the Sky were indelibly defined by their point guard — and Vandersloot, in turn, was shaped by her first and only team.
Vandersloot etched herself into the WNBA history book, rising to rank third in all-time assists (2,421), trailing retired legends Ticha Penicheiro and Sue Bird. She passed Penicheiro for the single-game assists record (15) in 2020, then went on to claim the all-time league records for assists in a season (300), highest assists per game in a season (9.1) and highest career assists-per-game (6.2) in a Sky uniform.
Even Vandersloot’s nickname of “The General” was first coined by former teammate Kahleah Copper, a fact the current Sky leader didn’t let the Liberty forget in the opening weeks of the season.
But even with the weight of facing the Sky for the first time, Vandersloot insisted she approached Friday as “just another game.”
And just like Vandersloot, the remaining members of the Sky didn’t want to make a fuss over their reunion with their former longtime captain.
“She’s going to be in a lot of pick-and-rolls. But that’s it.” coach James Wade said ahead of the game. “All the other stuff, I don’t really care about.”
When it came to scouting Vandersloot, the Sky knew exactly what to expect. Wade described his former player as a “triple threat” who can pass, shoot and attack off the dribble from any position on the court. In her time in Chicago, Vandersloot often was described by her teammates as the “head of the snake,” the tone-setting catalyst who factored into nearly every scoring play for the Sky.
Despite citing some growing pains in her first month with the Liberty, Vandersloot already is leading the league with 8.8 assists per game. She finished with eight assists and eight points in the Liberty’s 77-76 victory against the Sky on Friday.
“She’s a great point guard,” Wade said ahead of the game. “She’s done some special things here. I haven’t thought about what her legacy is going to be — I’m just thinking about how to stop her.”
The Liberty are one of two so-called “super teams” assembled this season alongside the Las Vegas Aces, both of whom feature prominent former Sky players. With a starting roster that includes former MVPs Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart and young star Sabrina Ionescu, the Liberty were quickly slated as favorites to contend for a title.
But Wade and the Sky refuse to buy into this belief in two teams’ supremacy over the rest of the WNBA.
“I don’t think there’s a super team in this league,” Wade said. “That means you can … fly, and nobody can fly in this league. If you don’t show up to fly, you’ll get your ass whooped. That’s any team, one through twelve. So we want to watch ourselves in the mirror and we try to improve on ourselves.”
The Sky issued that challenge on the court Friday — led most prominently by Copper as she assumed Vandersloot’s former position at the head of the Sky attack.
In the first half, Copper rose to the challenge of tackling one of the highest touted teams in the league, logging 18 points, six rebounds and three steals. But the Sky nearly suffered a debilitating blow when Copper went down with an apparent ankle injury in the final minute of the second quarter, requiring two trainers to help her off the court.
Copper returned in the second half but scored only two points in the remainder of the game, never returning to the full decisiveness she possessed before the injury.
Courtney Williams picked up the slack as Copper battled through the injury, scoring all seven of her points in the fourth quarter. Forward Alanna Smith helped buoy the offense, going 4-for-4 on 3-pointers and finishing with 18 points.
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But even after taking that last-second, the Sky felt bolstered by their performance in the loss — holding Stewart to 19 points, forcing 11 turnovers and neutralizing Ionescu.
The Sky will have another opportunity to prove that point in a rematch against the Liberty on Sunday — an opportunity the team embraced moments after the loss.
“If I were them, I’d be worried to play us again,” Smith said.