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Skylar Diggins. | Getty Images
It was just four months ago when the clouds seemingly began to part in the Chicago Sky.
After yet another losing season and trading Angel Reese to the Atlanta Dream, they aggressively pursued some prominent free agents before making solid draft picks.
The names included Rickea Jackson, Natasha Cloud, DiJonai Carrington, Azurá Stevens and Skylar Diggins, plus Gabriela Jaquez. That veteran-and-youthful mix, combined with third-year center Kamilla Cardoso, spelled out potential.
Potential to become a playoff contender, while building for the long haul, right away.
But alas, here we are again.
Jackson, their top scorer, is out for the year with an ACL injury. Carrington’s debut has been delayed as she continues to rehab from injuries. Inconsistent play runs amok. Even after defeating the Phoenix Mercury on Tuesday evening, the Sky are now standing at 7-14 with practically no shot at the playoffs.
Then, on Monday, Diggins shared a video on social media that went viral, expressing her apparent frustration with the Sky as she reveal that she would be benched.
“I’ve been so good and quiet,” Diggins said on Instagram. “Now I’m coming off the bench?”
Sure enough, the Sky confirmed that Diggins will be coming off the bench against the Mercury on Tuesday. Before the game, however, she was added to the injury report with a knee injury and did not dress for the game.
Speaking to Alissa Hirsh of the Chicago Sun-Times on Monday, Diggins said:
Diggins, a 12-year WNBA veteran, had started every game this season. In her career, the only time she came off the bench was in her fourth year with the Dallas Wings in 2016.
Overall, Diggins has put up solid but not spectacular numbers. She is averaging 14.2 points and 6.9 assists per game. As pointed out by Sabreena Merchant of The Athletic, Diggins is shooting 51.5 percent from the field, the lowest mark for her since 2016, and 38.2 percent from 3-point range. In the paint, Diggins has struggled, shooting a career-worst 41.1 percent.
Meanwhile, veteran point guard Courtney Vandersloot, who recently recovered from an ACL tear sustained in 2025, is slowly easing her way back onto the court. The expectation was for Vandersloot to be back in the starting lineup once she was fully good to go.
All the while, Diggins has called out the team’s “loser mentality” after lopsided losses and questioned head coach Tyler Marsh over his decision to bench her.
Regardless of the numbers or the strategic pros and cons of benching Diggins, she becomes the latest star player to criticize the franchise.
Angel Reese was benched last August after demanding in an interview published in the Chicago Tribune that the Sky do better in the offseason. Last year, The Athletic’s anonymous player survey voted the worst-run organization in the WNBA. The Sky’s new practice facility in Bedford Park still hasn’t seen the light of day, even though general manager Jeff Pagliocca said during media day in May that it would open this summer.
Story amid the Skylar Diggins mess: The Chicago Sky practice facility still has no firm opening date with All-Star Weekend less than three weeks away.
The WNBA's announcement in October said the facility would be used for “community impact events.”
https://t.co/rs9YJku7H5
— Colin Salao (@colincsalao) July 6, 2026
All this is to say that Skylar Diggins’s social media comments aren’t existing in a vacuum. They are just the latest iteration of an ongoing saga that seems to never end nor change for the better.
What will it take for the Sky to get clearer?
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