The Chicago Sky are trying to navigate a few difficult issues this week as they prepare for their home opener against the New York Liberty on Thursday night at Wintrust Arena.
Star power forward Angel Reese is a popular subject this week after a couple of viral incidents happened during Chicago’s regular-season opening loss to the Indiana Fever on Saturday. Reese was embroiled in a heated moment when Caitlin Clark committed a flagrant foul against her in the third quarter.
Following the 93-58 defeat at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the WNBA announced that they were investigating a “racial” incident directed from a fan toward Reese.
Given the popularity of Reese, who uses her mega platform on social media and her podcast “Unapologetically Angel” to promote herself and women’s sports, it’s no wonder that reporters flock to the second-year WNBA star to ask questions about all matters related to the Sky.
A media controversy with the Chicago Sky is brewing
In a Tuesday column by Steve Greenberg of the Chicago Sun-Times about how the conversation around Reese can get ridiculously nasty, Greenberg argued that the Sky have Reese’s back “too much.” He reported that Chicago’s PR deliberately stepped in to overprotect Reese during interviews this week.
“The Sky keep making small decisions that suggest the entire organization, from top to bottom, should avail itself of media training,” Greenberg wrote. “In Indianapolis, a local reporter attempted to ask Reese a perfectly reasonable follow-up question about the play involving Clark’s flagrant foul, but a PR staffer butted in with, ‘She already answered this question,’ shutting it down.
“Back in Deerfield on Tuesday, Reese was asked if she’d shared any details with the league about anything she might have heard from the crowd, prompting a PR staffer to leap needlessly to her rescue there, too. It happened two more times Tuesday in response to questions that were standard operating procedure and entirely fair. Why in the world? This isn’t how most professional sports teams do things.”
Angel Reese is media savvy
Greenberg also called out general manager Jeff Pagliocca for refusing to answer questions, suggesting that his silence didn’t help Reese.
The Sky’s brass has a real problem on its hands. All of this drama is from Game 1 of the regular season. Chicago has 39 more games to play before hopefully advancing to the postseason.
As the WNBA grows (thanks in large part to Reese), the Sky will need to figure out how to let reporters do their jobs and trust Reese to handle the moment. With a podcast subscriber base of over 141,000, Reese is a player in the media. She can handle the publicity.
/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese getting blasted for missing all shots in 5-rebound sequence
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