2016 Chicago Sky season

The 2016 Chicago Sky season was the franchise's 11th season in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The season began on May 14, at home against the Connecticut Sun.

The Sky began the season with a win, but could not sustain that momentum and lost their next four games. They finished May with a win and extended their streak with three wins to start June. However, they only won one of their final five games in June to finish the first two months of the season with a 6–9 record. The Sky split a home and away matchup with Washington to begin July and lost two of their next three. The won three of their last four to end the month with a 5–4 record. The Sky came out of the Olympic break strongly, winning both their games in August and their first two in September. They lost their next two, before winning three in a row. They could not overcome Seattle on the final day of the season and finished with an 18–16 regular season record.

Their record was good enough for second place in the Eastern Conference and the fourth overall seed in the 2016 WNBA Playoffs. They earned a bye into the Second Round where they defeated sixth-seed Atlanta 108–98 and advanced to the Semifinals. There they matched-up against the Los Angeles Sparks. The Sparks defeated the Sky 3 games to 1 and would go on to finish as WNBA Champions.

Transactions

WNBA draft

Round Pick Player Nationality School/team/country 1 10 Imani Boyette Texas 3 34 Jordan Jones Texas A&M

Trades and Roster Changes DateTransaction January 7, 2016 Extended Qualifying Offers to Jessica Breland, Clarissa dos Santos, and Jacki Gemelos Exercised 4th-Year Team Option on Jamierra Faulkner February 9, 2016 Signed Jessica Breland February 11, 2016 Signed Clarissa dos Santos to a training-camp contract March 7, 2016 Signed Yvonne Turner, Jacki Gemelos, and Shanece McKinney to training-camp contracts April 21, 2016 Signed Imani McGee-Stafford and Jordan Jones to rookie-scale contracts Signed Maggie Lyon to a training-camp contract April 28, 2016 Waived Maggie Lyon May 6, 2016 Waived Jacki Gemelos and Jordan Jones May 11, 2016 Waived Shanece McKinney May 12, 2016 Waived Yvonne Turner

Roster

Depth Pos.StarterBench C Erika de Souza Imani McGee-StaffordClarissa dos Santos PF Elena Delle Donne Jessica BrelandCheyenne Parker SF Tamera Young Betnijah Laney SG Cappie Pondexter Allie Quigley PG Courtney Vandersloot Jamierra Faulkner

Schedule

Preseason

|- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 1 || May 1 || New York || W 93–59 || Elena Delle Donne (17) || Betnijah Laney (7) || Courtney Vandersloot (4) || Bob Carpenter Center3,432 || 1–0 |- bgcolor="ffcccc" | 2 || May 4 || Connecticut || L 84–81 || Elena Delle Donne (13) || Jessica Breland (6) || Jamierra Faulkner (5) || Mohegan Sun Arena4,207 || 1–1 |- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 3 || May 5 || Atlanta || W 95–75 || Betnijah Laney (14) || Cheyenne Parker (5) || Courtney Vandersloot (6) || Mohegan Sun Arena4,025 || 2–1

Regular season

|- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 1 || May 14 || Connecticut || W 93–70 || Vandersloot (14) || Breland (9) || Vandersloot (7) || Allstate Arena6,719 || 1–0 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 2 || May 18 || Minnesota || L 80–97 || Delle Donne (28) || Delle DonneYoung (6) || Vandersloot (11) || Allstate Arena5,034 || 1–1 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 3 || May 22 || @ Atlanta || L 81–87 || Pondexter (17) || Breland (10) || Pondexter (5) || Philips Arena6,152 || 1–2 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 4 || May 24 || Los Angeles || W 80–93 || Faulkner 17 || BrelandYoung (9) || Faulkner (10) || Allstate Arena5,554 || 1–3 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 5 || May 27|| @ San Antonio || L 78–79 || Delle Donne (27) || de SouzaDelle Donne (9) || Faulkner (11) || AT&T Center5,210 ||1–4 |- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 6 || May 29 || @ Dallas || W 92–87 || Pondexter (18) || Boyette (8) || Faulkner (9) || College Park Center5,297 || 2–4

|- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 7 || June 16:00 PM || @ Washington || W 86–78 || Delle Donne (18) || Delle Donne (9) || Vandersloot (8) || Verizon Center5,649 || 3–4 |- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 8 || June 37:30 PM || Washington || W 98–72 || Delle Donne (18) || de Souza (7) || Faulkner (9) || Allstate Arena5,489 || 4–4 |- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 9 || June 106:00 PM|| @ Indiana || W 73–64 || Boyette (16) || Boyette (12) || Vandersloot (6) || Bankers Life Fieldhouse7,533 || 5–4 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 10 || June 125:00 PM || @ Phoenix || L 80–86 || Delle Donne (18) || de Souza (7) || de Souza, Faulkner (3) || Talking Stick Resort Arena9,055 || 5–5 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 11 || June 149:30 PM || @ Los Angeles || L 85–98 || Pondexter (20) || de Souza (12) || Pondexter (5) || Staples Center7,348 || 5–6 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 12 || June 176:30 PM || @ Atlanta || L 97–101 OT || Delle Donne (26) || de Souza (8) || Vandersloot, Pondexter, Faulkner (5) || Philips Arena4,560 || 5–7 |- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 13 || June 217:00 PM || San Antonio || W 81–75 || Delle Donne (23) || Young (9) || Faulkner, Young, Delle Donne (3) || Allstate Arena5,744 || 6–7 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 14 || June 246:30 PM || @ New York || L79–80 || Delle Donne (31) || Delle Donne (8) || Vandersloot (5) || Madison Square Garden10,120 || 6–8 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 15 || June 2911:30 AM || Indiana || L 83–95 || Delle Donne (21) || Delle Donne (6) || Pondexter (6) || Allstate Arena11,892 || 6–9

|- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 16 || July 16:00 PM || Washington || W 86–84 OT || Delle Donne (28) || Delle Donne (11) || Vandersloot (5) || Allstate Arena5,320 || 7–9 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 17 || July 57:30 PM || @ Washington || L 82–87 || Delle Donne (38) || Delle Donne (10) || Faulkner (7) || Target Center7,433 || 7–10 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 18 || July 87:30 PM || New York || L 85–88 || Quigley (29) || Delle Donne (7) || Faulkner (5) || Allstate Arena5,633 || 7–11 |- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 19 || July 106:00 PM|| Phoenix || W 100–95 || Quigley (21) || Boyette (13) || Vandersloot, Faulkner (7) || Allstate Arena7,021 || 8–11 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 20 || July 135:00 PM || Los Angeles || L 67–77 || Delle Donne (15) || Boyette (7) || Vandersloot, Faulkner (5) || Allstate Arena16,444 || 8–12 |- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 21 || July 149:30 PM || Los Angeles || W 84–77 || Delle Donne (24) || Boyette (8) || Faulkner (6) || Allstate Arena6,012 || 9–12 |- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 22 || July 176:30 PM || @ Seattle || W 91–88 || Delle Donne (35) || Delle Donne (11) || Faulkner (4) || KeyArena || 10–12 |- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 23 || July 197:00 PM || @ Phoenix || L 77–79 || Delle Donne (18) || Boyette (10) || Vandersloot (3) || Talking Stick Resort Arena9,318 || 11–12 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 24 || July 226:30 PM || Connecticut || L 89–94 || Delle Donne (20) || Breland (8) || Vandersloot (6) || Allstate Arena6,893 || 11–13

|- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 25 || August 2611:30 AM || Atlanta || W 90–82 || Delle Donne (34) || Boyette (9) ||Delle Donne, Pondexter (5) || Allstate Arena6,016 || 12–13 |- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 26 || August 2811:30 AM || @ Dallas || W 92–85 || Delle Donne (18) || Delle Donne (9) || Vandersloot (9) || College Park Center5,651 || 13–13

|- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 27 || September 211:30 AM || Seattle || W 92–88 || Young (24) || Breland (10) || Vandersloot, Pondexter (5) || Allstate Arena5,997 || 14–13 |- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 28 || September 411:30 AM || San Antonio || W 97–73 || Delle Donne (35) || Boyette (7) ||Vandersloot, Pondexter 5 || Allstate Arena6,034 || 15–13 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 29 || September 76:00 PM|| @ Washington || L 81–118 || Vandersloot (17) || Boyette (7) || Vandersloot (8) || Verizon Center5,373 || 15–14 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 30 || September 95:00 PM || @ Los Angeles || L 88–95 || Pondexter (22) || Breland (9) || Vandersloot (4) || Bankers Life Fieldhouse10,533 || 15–15 |- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 31 || September 119:30 PM || @ Los Angeles || W 96–86 || Pondexter (24) || Breland (10) || Pondexter (5) || Mohegan Sun Arena6,620 || 16–15 |- bgcolor="bbffbb" |32 || September 136:30 PM || Minnesota || W 98–97 OT || Pondexter (24) || de Souza (11) || Pondexter (4) || Allstate Arena6,050 || 17–15 |- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 33 ||September 167:00 PM || New York || W 92–68 || Young (22) || Young (9) || Faulkner (11) || Allstate Arena7,925 || 18–15 |- style="background:#fcc;" |34 || September 186:30 PM || @ Seattle || L 75–88 || Faulkner, Breland (14) || Boyette, de Souza (6) || Faulkner (7) || KeyArena12,186 || 18–16

Playoffs

Standings

Playoffs The Sky's 18–16 regular season record was good for second in the Eastern Conference and fourth overall in the WNBA. This standing led to Chicago being seeded fourth and being granted an automatic bye from the first of two single elimination rounds. In the second single elimination round, the Sky drew sixth-seeded Atlanta, defeating the Dream 108–98 and advancing to the best-of-five semifinal round. The Sky fell to second-seeded Los Angeles in the semifinals, losing in four games.

Statistics

Regular season Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG Elena Delle Donne 28 28 33.1 48.5% 42.6% 93.5% 7.0 1.9 0.6 1.5 21.5 Cappie Pondexter 33 29 27.4 42.9% 36.2% 88.2% 2.8 2.7 0.9 0.1 12.9 Tamera Young 32 20 25.8 45.0% 0.0% 79.0% 4.5 1.4 0.8 0.1 8.5 Courtney Vandersloot 30 21 24.3 41.9% 35.1% 90.4% 2.7 4.7 1.4 0.1 9.5 Jamierra Faulkner 34 14 19.3 42.5% 33.3% 76.9% 1.5 4.6 1.1 0.1 7.8 Imani McGee-Stafford 31 16 18.9 55.4% — 66.0% 5.6 0.6 0.6 1.4 6.7 Allie Quigley 34 0 17.8 47.1% 36.6% 89.5% 0.9 1.6 0.5 0.1 9.5 Jessica Breland 34 16 17.2 49.4% — 79.5% 4.4 0.7 0.5 1.1 6.0 Érika de Souza 31 18 16.6 51.7% — 75.0% 5.2 0.6 0.5 0.7 5.8 Cheyenne Parker 25 7 12.6 50.6% 0.0% 53.1% 3.2 0.2 0.5 0.2 4.0 Clarissa dos Santos 20 0 9.4 33.9% 0.0% 85.0% 2.2 0.5 0.3 0.2 2.9 Betnijah Laney 8 1 5.3 16.7% 0.0% 100% 0.6 0.1 0.1 0.0 1.0

Awards and honors Recipient Award Date awarded Elena Delle Donne Eastern Conference Player of the Week July 18, 2016 September 6, 2016 Imani McGee-Stafford WNBA All-Rookie Team September 2016 Elena Delle Donne WNBA All-WNBA First Team September 2016

References

Footnotes

Notes

2016 Chicago Sky season

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