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A season inside the Chicago Sky, and the WNBA in 2019, a league still fighting to be seen.

The league

I photographed the Chicago Sky in 2019, which turned out to be a hinge year for the WNBA. Cathy Engelbert had just become the league's first commissioner. It was the last season played under the old contract, months before the players signed the deal that finally moved their pay closer to what they were worth.

The basketball was never the problem. The league had always been good. What it was still fighting for was to be seen. Most nights the building was loud and the broadcast was an afterthought, and the distance between how the games felt in the arena and how they showed up online was the whole job. James Wade, in his first year coaching the Sky, said it plainly before the home opener.

Diamond DeShields on her coach: "He bought into us first, and then we bought into him," she told the <a href="https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20190913/no-denying-sky-players-think-the-world-of-their-coach-of-the-year" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Daily Herald</a>.
01Diamond DeShields on her coach: "He bought into us first, and then we bought into him," she told the Daily Herald.
2019 was the last WNBA season before the new players' deal, the year the league named its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_WNBA_season" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">first commissioner</a>.
022019 was the last WNBA season before the new players' deal, the year the league named its first commissioner.
Wade took the Sky from 13-21 to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Chicago_Sky_season" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">20-14</a> in one season and was named Coach of the Year.
03Wade took the Sky from 13-21 to 20-14 in one season and was named Coach of the Year.
A Gabby Williams phone wallpaper, built from the studio shot.
A Gabby Williams phone wallpaper, built from the studio shot.

The Sky

The team I had landed on was young and about to be very good. Wade had taken over that winter, his first head job in the league, and won Coach of the Year for it. The Sky went 20 and 14, a seven-win jump from the year before. Courtney Vandersloot ran the offense and broke her own league record for assists, 300 in a season, more than nine a night. Three of them made the All-Star team.

Courtney Vandersloot reset her own <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/wnba/news/chicago-sky-point-guard-courtney-vandersloot-breaks-her-own-wnba-single-season-assist-record/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">single-season assist record</a> that year, 300 in all.
04Courtney Vandersloot reset her own single-season assist record that year, 300 in all.
"I've always been anxious to come to work, and it's because of them," Wade told the <a href="https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20190913/no-denying-sky-players-think-the-world-of-their-coach-of-the-year" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Daily Herald</a>.
05"I've always been anxious to come to work, and it's because of them," Wade told the Daily Herald.
Three Sky players made the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Chicago_Sky_season" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2019 All-Star team</a>.
06Three Sky players made the 2019 All-Star team.
Vandersloot <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Chicago_Sky_season" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">led the WNBA in assists</a> that season.
07Vandersloot led the WNBA in assists that season.
Their second year at Wintrust Arena, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Chicago_Sky_season" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">first Sky playoff team since 2016</a>.
08Their second year at Wintrust Arena, and the first Sky playoff team since 2016.
Allie Quigley, two-time <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allie_Quigley" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">3-point contest champion</a>, out of DePaul.
09Allie Quigley, two-time 3-point contest champion, out of DePaul.
The season ended on a one-point <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-sky-and-wnba/2019/9/15/20867476/sky-aces-wnba-playoffs-hearbreaking-loss" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">playoff loss</a> in Las Vegas.
10The season ended on a one-point playoff loss in Las Vegas.

Why it mattered

The season ended on a one-point loss in Las Vegas, a stolen pass and a half-court three, the kind of thing that does not stop stinging. Then everyone scattered. Most of the roster flew off to Russia, China, or France, where the basketball paid better than it did here. That was the league in 2019. The talent was already world-class. The pay and the cameras had not caught up.