It's the Sky's time to shine

So . . .

a beloved Chicago team in the middle of a New Age rebuild, which has been a borderline Phoenix Suns-like example of underachieving the last two seasons; which selected a generational talent in the 2024 draft to be the new face of the franchise; which fired its coach last season, hired the hottest prospect off the coaching market yet remains un-100%-sure about what to do or what all of the answers are but spent much of the offseason talent-building and filling in unfilled holes in its roster has the 10th pick in the first round of the upcoming draft. So . .



. what are the Bears to do? But this here ain’t about the Bears. The above — in an eerily similar depiction — is about another Chicago team, the one that stands as the only professional organization since the Cubs ended their 100-plus-year drought in 2016 in this city to lift a championship trophy: the Sky.

And with the WNBA Draft happening less than two weeks before the NFL Draft — and not close to getting the attention the Bears will get leading up to their draft day April 24 — it seems only appropriate the attention be directed toward what the Sky should do once they’re officially on the clock Monday night. Because it means something. Because this decision/selection, very much like the one the Bears will make, could be the tipping-point difference in just how both of their 2025 seasons unfold.

Because we need both to be better than perfect. The Sky’s pick, still presumptive. Still not locked in or locked down.

Options still open, but need very much known. Now that Olivia (Miles), Flau’jae (Johnson) and Azzi (Fudd) have decided to stay in NIL utopia, the field of availability has shifted in a weird way to make the Sky’s decision more difficult than it should or was supposed to be. In other words: When they traded their initial No.

3-slotted pick to the Mystics as part of the deal to acquire Ariel Atkins (to replace the bucket-collecting Chennedy Carter), they probably had no idea the drop-down to No. 10 was going to make life harder. And bringing back Courtney Vandersloot to run point and give structure to the offense only made the decision about whom to choose indefinite.

To Hailey or to Te-Hina? Van Lith or Paopao? Or, if she miraculously drops into their ‘‘we ain’t ever that lucky’’ laps, to Amoore if Georgia escapes so many mock-draft predictions? Or, as it seems recently with general manager Jeff Pagliocca’s ‘‘inside the war room’’ comments about N.C. State’s Rivers, is ‘‘to Saniya’’ the best option? All four guards are flawless for what the Sky need.

All four have flaws that make it almost impossible to choose one over the others. Rivers’ shooting is questionable. Amoore’s size (5-6, especially if in the backcourt with Vandersloot, who’s 5-8 at best) becomes an issue of concern.

Paopao’s offensive dependability and ability to run a whole team is where the hesitancy on her rests. Van Lith, hard to act like that LSU ‘‘experiment’’ was a mirage without wondering if that year could re-enter her space, spirit and soul. What’s a second-year GM to do? Not miss, that’s what.

Not err or ruin, overthink while not overthinking it, not screw this up. The offseason addition of Atkins and the return of the legend ‘‘Sloot’’ to go along with newcomers Kia Nurse and Rebecca Allen kind of took the Sky out of rebuild and straight into ‘‘full construction’’ mode. Framework erected, concrete poured, cranes in the sky.

There are also insurance policies sitting in the form of the fourth (16th overall) and 10th (22nd overall) picks of the second round (the Bears also have two picks, the seventh and ninth, in the second round — eerie, ain’t it?), especially if Aziaha James (N.C. State), Serena Sundell (Kansas State), Shyanne Sellers (Maryland) or, on the low, JJ Quinerly (West Virginia), Harmoni Turner (Harvard) or Sarah Ashlee Barker (Alabama), whose 45-point masterpiece in the NCAA Tournament put the WNBA on notice, are still on the board.

Pagliocca and new head coach Tyler Marsh, depending on what they decide to do, can turn the whole night into one big Chicago On-The-Come-Up party that’s close to a decade overdue. Who knew two of Chicago’s ‘‘Big 6’’ would find themselves sharing such similar draft capital and spaces at the same time? The Sky are up first. To set the stage.

To lead by example. It’s a can’t lose/lose one’s self situation. One almost impossible to explain if they don’t get it right.

Just because the Sky are no longer in the, per se, WNBA ‘‘lottery’’ doesn’t mean they should approach their decision Monday as anything less than a generational one. Simply treat their 10-pick as if it were the original 3-pick in terms of importance and meet the moment so that their choice will be the reason it will be a long, long time before the franchise is in this beautifully unbeautiful situational circumstance again. Only be this year’s draft front-runner for the city, the mentor for that soon-to-leave team the city is so obsessed with to have to follow.

That’s not asking too much, is it?.