Chicago Sky Star Gets Brutally Honest After 28th Loss

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Paolo Songco | Last updated Aug 26, 2025 7:35 AM ET

Ariel Atkins did all she could for the Chicago Sky on Monday night. The two-time All-Star went off for 30 points on 10-of-18 shooting against the Las Vegas Aces, along with four rebounds, seven assists, a block and three triples in 34 minutes of action.

Despite Atkins’ incredible performance, however, the Sky still fell short against the Aces, 79-74. Chicago simply didn’t have enough against a red-hot Las Vegas side that recorded its 11th straight victory to become only the second team to secure a playoff spot this season.

Ariel Atkins Sounds Off After Sky’s Loss to Aces

Atkins took center stage at the postgame press conference after her big outing. One of the questions she was asked was about the Sky’s recent competitive fire.

Chicago has gone 1-3 in its last three games, but their one victory was against the defending champions, the New York Liberty. Moreover, they lost by an average of just 7.0 points in their three defeats. This is a vast improvement from how they were consistently getting blown out since the All-Star break.

Atkins, however, was having none of it.

"I mean, respectfully, we don't go into any game not wanting to compete," Atkins said. "Sometimes, it does happen that we have to figure out how to pick ourselves up off the floor some days. Some days we do better than others. We're still learning as a team.

"I know some people probably don't like the way that sounds, be it that we're towards the end of the season, but I don't really care. Our goal is to build a foundation for what we want to be and who we want to be. We want to walk out of this season with dignity and knowing we put our all into this because who knows what it's going to be like next year.

"So, respectfully, I could kind of care less about how people feel about the way that we're trying to figure things out because we're going to keep going to the end."

Atkins isn’t letting the outside noise affect her. She knows what the objectives are for the Sky this season, and the five-time All-Defensive guard is making sure that she and the rest of the squad are able to keep their eyes on the prize.

The Sky Are Not Waving the White Flag

Chicago is no longer in playoff contention. This team is also in the midst of another disappointing campaign and could potentially finish dead last in the WNBA.

As Atkins said, however, the Sky want to go out with dignity. They have seven more games left to play, and she has no doubt in her mind that they will go out there and try their very best to come out on top in each of them.

After Monday’s loss, Chicago has fallen to 9-28 on the season. They are just half a game ahead of the league-worst Dallas Wings, who are 9-29.

The Sky return to action on Thursday in a road game against the Phoenix Mercury, and it appears that Atkins and Co. will continue to have a fire burning under them for that one, regardless of what their record says.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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