Sometimes, winning a championship means certain players have to take a step back. In the 2024 season, Courtney Vandersloot was that player for the New York Liberty. She averaged the fewest minutes of her career and lost her starting spot to Leonie Fiebich in the playoffs.
As a result, her production was down significantly compared to previous seasons. Back in Chicago, where she spent the first 12 seasons of her WNBA career, Courtney Vandersloot has everything she needs to put together an impressive bounce-back season.
Courtney Vandersloot will play a big role for the Sky
In New York, Courtney Vandersloot was surrounded by other big-time stars. Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart, and Jonquel Jones were the focal point of the team during its championship run. Compared to those three, Vandersloot played a smaller role, and head coach Sandy Brondello opted to rely on 3-and-D wing Leonie Fiebich down the line.
The Sky’s roster features some stars as well, but not at the same level as the Liberty’s big three. Ariel Atkins has been an All-Star twice in her WNBA career, and Angel Reese once. In Chicago, the cornerstones of the franchise—Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso—are still very young and need veteran leadership.
Thus, Vandersloot will play a much bigger role with the Sky than she did with the Liberty last season. She will have the ball in her hands a lot as the team’s starting point guard.
Playing more minutes alone will allow Vandersloot to up her production, but she will also have other things going for her in Chicago. While the Sky have talented players, they don’t have a true offensive star quite yet. So, Vandersloot will get plenty of opportunities to score and should be able to get her scoring average back up to double-digits, or at least close.
Most importantly, however, Vandersloot will get a chance to put her playmaking skills on full display. Not only will she have the ball in her hand a lot, but she will also be playing with two young bigs who need her to get the ball to them and put them in a position to score. Last season, Vandersloot averaged only 4.8 assists per game. That marked her lowest assist average since the 2016 season. With the exception of the 2022 season, she averaged at least eight assists per game for eight straight seasons.
With the Sky, Vandersloot will have a chance to get back to that number and put together a bounce-back season that will remind everyone that she is still one of the better point guards in the WNBA.