The Chicago Sky loaded up on late first-round draft stock in a Sunday night trade with the Minnesota Lynx.
The Sky announced they acquired the No. 11 pick in the 2025 draft in exchange for the rights to their 2026 first-round pick. This trade nullified the pick swap that Minnesota initially gained in last year’s trade for the No. 7 draft pick, which the Sky ultimately used to select Angel Reese.
The Sky now own the Nos. 10, 11, 16 and 22 picks in Monday night’s draft.
“We believe the 2025 draft class is deep and we’re excited about the flexibility we obtain by acquiring another first-round pick this year,” general manager Jeff Pagliocca said in a statement. “The No. 11 pick represents another route to improve our roster.”
This trade could signal several upcoming moves from the Sky. The first is the most obvious — the front office hopes to stockpile affordable depth by adding several players on rookie scale contracts ahead of the upcoming negotiation of a new collective bargaining agreement.
The 2025 draft class is less flashy than last year’s after the expected selection of Paige Bueckers as the No. 1 pick. But it still offers considerable depth in future role players who can contribute at a high level, including Hailey Van Lith, Saniya Rivers, Maddy Westbeld and Sania Feagin.
But the Sky could also now hurry and trade their block of first-round picks for a new asset. This type of acquisition could take on two forms.
The Sky could be looking to flip two first-round selections into a lottery pick to recoup on the ground lost by trading the No. 3 pick to Washington for guard Ariel Atkins. Or they could trade out of the first round entirely, swapping both late first-rounders for a veteran player from another team.
8 options for the Chicago Sky in the WNBA draft, including Hailey Van Lith and Saniya Rivers
Regardless of their ultimate usage of the No. 11 pick, trading away a 2026 first-round pick reflects the Sky’s confidence in the acquisition of their own 2026 pick swap with the Connecticut Sun.
Agreeing to a pick swap with the Lynx weakened the value of the pick that the Sky traded away. The draft order is determined by a team’s performance over a two-year span. The teams that finish outside of the playoffs are placed into a draft lottery with weighted odds to receive higher picks based on their final positioning.
The Lynx finished with the second-best record in the WNBA last season and are set to run it back for a potential return to the Finals this year. This means when the Sky swapped with the Lynx, they were likely acquiring a pick at the absolute bottom of the first round.
The Sun, however, are in a less advantageous position. They finished third in the league last year, but the departure of all five of their starters has the team facing uncertainty in 2025. If the Sun plummet in the standings this season, the Sky will still be likely to receive a higher-positioned draft pick as a result of that swap.
In the meantime, Pagliocca is on the clock with less than a day to potentially make more deals before the draft kicks off at 6:30 p.m. Monday.
