Ahead of the 2023 season, the Chicago Sky and then-general manager and coach James Wade made the short-sighted decision to trade two first-round picks, a first-round pick swap, two second-round picks, a third-round pick and the rights to Leonie Fiebich for Marina Mabrey .

The last of the draft capital from that disastrous deal was due last spring, and proved especially costly. Despite ending up in the lottery after a 13-27 season in 2024, the first-round swap they owed the Dallas Wings guaranteed they could not get the No. 1 pick and the opportunity to draft Paige Bueckers in the 2025 WNBA Draft.

The Sky wound up with the No. 3 pick, but instead of adding another top prospect to their young core of Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso , they repeated the same mistake they made w

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