Chicago Sky hire WNBA legend, former Pelicans assistant as new head coach

As two former WNBA players are coaching their teams in the Finals, another hopes to join the ranks of former stars leading teams to glory.

On Tuesday night, it was reported that the Chicago Sky will hire former New Orleans Pelicans assistant coach Teresa Weatherspoon as head coach. "Spoon," as she's been called throughout her career, was a five-time WNBA All-Star and two-time league Defensive Player of the Year with the New York Liberty. She also spent time with the Los Angeles Sparks.

Weatherspoon is best known for the most famous shot in league history, a buzzer-beater from halfcourt to win Game 2 of the 1999 WNBA Finals against the now-defunct Houston Comets.

Weatherspoon was a player development coach and then assistant coach with the Pelicans for four seasons, the first female and first WNBA player to join the team's coaching staff. One of the better-known stories of her time in New Orleans was her close bond with franchise cornerstone Zion Williamson. Prior to her time in the NBA, she coached her alma mater Louisiana Tech from 2008-2014, first as an associate head coach before taking the top job in 2009.

The Sky are in the midst of a rebuild that was sped up by the midseason departure of James Wade, the coach who guided the team to the WNBA title in 2021. Wade left the team to join the Toronto Raptors as an assistant coach, but his was the last departure of nearly all the major factors in the title win. Candace Parker (Las Vegas) and Courtney Vandersloot (New York) signed elsewhere in the 2023 offseason, and Allie Quigley chose not to return to the league this season.

Similar to Aces head coach Becky Hammon, Weatherspoon interviewed for NBA head-coaching opportunities in the past before returning to the WNBA. There were many seasons where the majority of head-coaching jobs in the WNBA were held by men, even as late as the 2020 season, when only four women were the bench bosses of their teams. However, as it currently stands with the Sky's hire, 10 of the 12 teams are or will be coached by women going into the 2024 season.