Sky's Vandersloot out for season with ACL tear

WNBA large Courtney Vandersloot volition miss the remainder of the 2025 play aft tearing her close ACL connected Saturday, the Chicago Sky announced Sunday.

The constituent defender went down with the wounded portion driving to the handbasket aboriginal successful the Sky's loss to the Indiana Fever and had to beryllium carried disconnected the floor. The squad said that she underwent an MRI that revealed the tear, and that she volition acquisition country to repair it.

Vandersloot was successful her archetypal play backmost with the Sky, the enactment that drafted her successful 2011 and with which she won a WNBA rubric successful 2021. She returned to the metropolis this offseason pursuing a two-year stint with the New York Liberty, wherever she was portion of the 2024 title-winning squad.

The five-time All-Star and five-time all-WNBA enactment has been a reliable unit connected the level passim her career. The lone clip she missed much than 7 games successful a play was successful 2014, erstwhile she sprained an MCL but inactive appeared successful 17 contests.

Vandersloot is the Sky's all-time scoring leader, a grounds she snagged from her wife, Allie Quigley, past month, and is the league's progressive vocation assists person with 2,886. She was averaging 10.6 points and 5.3 assists for Chicago (2-5) this play but, astir importantly, was tasked with bringing seasoned enactment to a squad gathering astir young station players Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso.

"She's our engine," Chicago manager Tyler Marsh said Saturday earlier the grade of Vandersloot's wounded was known. "She's our skipper and our person retired there, truthful obviously, it's a immense blow. But hopefully, it's not arsenic superior arsenic we whitethorn think. We're hoping she is capable to bounce back, but for the clip being, we each got to prime her up. We each got to assistance her up; we each got to assistance each different up."

The nonaccomplishment of Vandersloot apt means 2025 first-round draught prime Hailey Van Lith volition beryllium asked to instrumentality connected much responsibility. The Sky besides person constituent defender Moriah Jefferson connected the roster, but she has yet to marque her regular-season debut due to the fact that of injury.

"It's heartbreaking to ticker anybody [get hurt], but particularly 1 of your teammates and idiosyncratic that means arsenic overmuch arsenic Sloot does to our squad and this organization," Van Lith said Saturday. "Right now, we're giving her a batch of energy, praying for her. Whatever is successful store successful the aboriginal for this team, I spot that we volition find a mode to marque this infinitesimal mean thing successful the end. We're precise concerned, and our hearts spell retired to Sloot."