Skylar Diggins has voiced her dissatisfaction with the Chicago Sky’s performance this season, urging the team to shed what she describes as a “loser mentality.” Her remarks appear to echo the challenges the franchise encountered last season before Angel Reese’s trade to Atlanta. On Tuesday night, Chicago faced off against Reese and the Dream, ultimately falling 82-75.
The Sky began their 2026 season with a promising 3-1 start, but hopes were dashed when top scorer Rickea Jackson suffered an ACL tear during a game against the Minnesota Lynx on May 17. Since that unfortunate injury, the team has struggled, losing 7 of their last 8 games and dropping to 12th place. This slump leaves them 2.5 games shy of securing the eighth and final playoff spot. The stakes are high for Chicago, as they are eager to make the playoffs this year to avoid a repeat of last season’s regretful trade when they had to swap a high draft pick with the Mystics due to a previous deal involving Ariel Atkins. Just months ago, they surrendered the No. 2 pick (Olivia Miles) in the 2026 draft to the Lynx, a scenario they are keen to avoid repeating.
Following a disappointing 20-point defeat to the Toronto Tempo last Sunday, Diggins did not mince words.
“We need more maturity and leadership, both on the court and off,” Diggins stated. “If it was just a struggle against one team, that’d be one thing, but this is becoming a trend for us. It’s really disappointing and frustrating.”
“The games aren’t going to slow down, and other teams are only going to keep improving, so we need to figure out how we’re going to turn things around. It’s been a really frustrating experience.”
When questioned about the Sky’s half-court offense, Diggins directed the inquiry to coach Tyler Marsh.
Another frustrating season in Chicago
Last year, Reese went through a similar experience while the Sky posted a 10-34 record, which tied the Dallas Wings for the worst in the league. Reese, before she was traded this spring, publicly shared her frustrations with the Sky in September.
“I’m not settling for the same shit we did this year,” Reese told Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune. “We have to get good players. We have to get great players. That’s a non-negotiable for me.
“I’m willing and wanting to play with the best. And however I can help to get the best here, that’s what I’m going to do this offseason. So it’s going to be very, very important this offseason to make sure we attract the best of the best because we can’t settle for what we have this year.”
Her comments were not well-received by the Sky, and she was benched for half a game against the Las Vegas Aces because of “statements detrimental to the team.” That was Marsh’s first year as the Chicago head coach. Things don’t seem to be going any smoother in his second season.
Ultimately, Reese got traded to the Dream, a team that had a franchise record 30-win season in 2025 and brought that momentum into this year with an 8-3 start.
When Marsh was asked about Diggins’ frustration, he said he understood how she was feeling and wanted to take accountability.
“I think the accountability starts there. Starts with me and ends with me, honestly,” he said. “I understand the frustration. There’s frustration across the board. Nobody’s happy with where we’re at, record-wise or how we’re playing, so I take the hit on that.”
Not the first time Diggins has spoken out
Diggins has a long history of publicly speaking out when something is not right, whether it’s on-the-court issues or lack of support during pregnancy and maternity leave when she was with the Dallas Wings and the Phoenix Mercury.
One notable “locker room” issue happened in 2022 while playing for the Mercury alongside Diana Taurasi, another player known for being unapologetically competitive. During a timeout, Diggins stood up and approached Taurasi. They got into a heated verbal exchange and had to be physically separated by their teammates and coaching staff.
Things were relatively quieter in Seattle from 2024 to 2025, although there were some reports of locker room friction. Last year, there was a postgame press conference where Diggins refused to take any questions, but she apologized during the next press conference and said she has to “be a better leader when it’s hard.”
The situation with the Sky so early in the season is not ideal, but at least one of her new teammates appreciates Diggins’ passion for the game. Natasha Cloud said that although there are no moral victories, she liked the way Chicago came out against Atlanta. She credited Diggins for the “call to action” their team needed.
“I’ll defend my fellow PG here. Skylar is a dog,” Cloud said. “There’s an expectation and standard that she expects to be on the floor and she lit a fire under our ass. And she does that intentionally to try to bring the best out of us.
“… It’s very intentional, and we responded today. We’re not happy with the loss. I’ll never be happy with a loss. I’m a sore ass loser, too. But what we all said in that locker room is, if we play this hard, this consistently, we can fix those seven minutes, those controllable factors for us. … It’s going to take this type of effort, this type of fight, this type of grit every single night.”
