Courtney Vandersloot is returning to the Chicago Sky, bringing veteran leadership to a young, rebuilding team

It wasn’t goodbye for the Chicago Sky. Two years after departing her longtime team in free agency, two-time WNBA champion Courtney Vandersloot is returning to the franchise for the 2025 season. Vandersloot, who turns 36 next month, will sign with the Sky when free agency opens Saturday, a league source confirmed.

The Chicago Sun-Times was the first to report the decision Wednesday. Vandersloot confirmed the news herself shortly thereafter in her typical understated style, updating her social media profiles to include two words: “Chicago Sky.” The No.



3 pick in the 2011 WNBA draft, Vandersloot left Chicago after the 2022 season as a four-time All-Star and team captain whose patience and tenacity paved the way for the franchise’s first championship in 2021. The 5-foot-8 point guard holds the league’s single-game record with 18 assists, set in 2020, and is second to Sue Bird in WNBA history with 2,850 career assists. Vandersloot owns six of the league’s seven highest assist averages, including a record 10 per game in 2020.

She returns to Chicago a two-time champion after anchoring the New York Liberty on their way to the franchise’s first WNBA title in 2024. Although her court vision and playmaking didn’t change in that span, Vandersloot is a significantly different player from the one who paraded the WNBA trophy through the streets of Chicago in 2021. Vandersloot’s two seasons with the Liberty featured both hardship and evolution.

She spent part of the 2024 season away from the team after her mother, Jan, died in June following a two-year battle with advanced multiple myeloma . On the court, her role changed significantly as she entered a new stage of her career. Vandersloot came off the bench for the entirety of the 2024 playoffs after starting in all 50 of her previous playoff appearances.

But she embraced the role in the second unit, averaging 2.5 assists in 14.3 minutes per game.

Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever dribbles the ball while being guarded by Courtney Vandersloot of the New York Liberty on May 16, 2024, in Indianapolis. (Dylan Buell/Getty Images) That evolution suits the Sky, who will need something different out of Vandersloot — nicknamed the “Floor General” for her commanding presence — in her return to Chicago. The team is attempting to establish a new culture under first-year coach Tyler Marsh.

Vandersloot will be crucial in providing guidance and leadership for young players such as Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso while also providing better ball facilitation on the court. With their first unrestricted free agent of 2025 secured, the Sky front office now will set its sights on rounding out the backcourt through the draft, free agency or the trade market..