THE Chicago Sky are On the brink of playoff elimination after losing a pair against the Minnesota Lynx and the Phoenix Mercury — and they may have to finish the season without any of their new stars.
Kamilla Cardoso has been listed as doubtful for Tuesday’s game against the The Atlanta Dream due to a lingering shoulder injury. Cardoso dislocated her shoulder in the Sky’s preseason opener against the Lynx in May, an injury that caused her to miss the first three games of the regular season.
Cardoso was injured after appearing to aggravate her injury in a loss to the Lynx on Friday. She attempted to play through her injury in Sunday’s loss to the Phoenix Mercury, but played just nine minutes before being pulled by head coach Teresa Weatherspoon due to soreness.
The Sky, playing without a recruit Angel Reese due to a season-ending injury, are currently ninth in the WNBA with an identical record to the The Washington Mystics (13-25) and Dream (13-25). They lost the season tie-break against the Mystics (3-1) but currently have a tie-break advantage over the Dream (2-1).
Two final road games will help determine the playoff outcome for the Sky, who face the Dream on Tuesday and The Connecticut Sun (27-11) on Thursday. But if the Mystics win their final two games, the Sky will be unable to influence their standings and will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
Bulls broadcasts will be free live
Chicago Bulls fans will have access to live local broadcasts for the first time in 20 years this season.
When Chicago Sports Network, a new in-house network that will feature the Bulls, Blackhawks and White Sox, launches Oct. 1, it will be available mostly over-the-air for free. Fans will only need an antenna to access the 77 games being broadcast locally this season. The network will air on subchannels 62.2 and 62.3.
CHSN is expected to announce a deal with DirecTV soon, but has yet to reach agreements with other pay-TV operators such as Xfinity and YouTube TV. Learn more about the new network here.
Young Bulls core regroups at Ayo Dosunmu’s local camp
The Bulls are back in town — and the team’s young core came together to support Ayo Dosunmu at his annual academy camp last weekend.
Dosunmu hosted a two-day youth basketball and cheerleading camp at Shepard High School in Palos Heights over the weekend, the latest in a series of community events for the Morgan Park alumnus. Teammates Coby White, Patrick Williams, Dalen Terry and Julian Phillips also participated in the camp.
Off-court activities aren’t always top of mind for Bulls players in the offseason, but this season, the cohesion of this young group is critical to the team’s short- and long-term success. The Bulls are doubling down on investing in players like White, Dosunmu and Williams, who should anchor this season’s roster after years of playing supporting roles.
The majority of the Bulls’ players have been in the area and working together in optional workouts this month — including guard Zach LaVine, who will be another crucial piece for the Bulls as the team tries to reintegrate him into the roster while rehabilitate its market value after a disastrous 2023-24 season.
Number of the week: 58
The Sky’s playoff chances were damaged in their last game against the Washington Mystics, a brutal 89-58 defeat on Wednesday which highlighted each of the team’s flaws.
With the loss, the Sky surrendered the tiebreaker to the Mystics, which will likely determine the final playoff seeding, as Washington remains on track to finish in eighth place. But the Sky also had their worst offensive performance of the season in the loss — 58 points with 35.7% shooting success. The Sky turned the ball over 15 times while recording 17 assists and shooting 12.5% from behind the arc. The bench scored only eight points while Chennedy Carter provided 28% (16 points) of the total rating.
Since the Olympic break, the Sky have been the WNBA’s lowest scoring team, averaging 76.4 points per game and the league’s second-worst shooting percentage (42.3 percent). They also have the league’s second-lowest assists (19) over that same span.
Quote of the week
“It was embarrassing.” — Kamilla Cardoso after the Sky’s loss to the Washington Mystics
