Chicago Sky protect their players from expansion draft with pair of trades

The Chicago Sky are getting ready for their offseason to begin following the lockout’s end. With two new teams entering the WNBA in the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire, there is an expansion draft taking place. Chicago has a lot of free agents heading into the offseason, but they made sure to keep their players away from the expansion draft. Let’s take a closer look at how they were able to make sure their players will not be selected.

The Chicago Sky made two trades to protect their players from the expansion draft

Chicago made it clear that they want to have the ability to keep their team together. The front office made a pair of trades making sure this is a possibility. They traded away the 2026 second-round pick (pick 26) via the New York Liberty to the Tempo and their own 2026 second-round pick (pick 17) in exchange for the rights that those teams will not select a player from the Sky in the expansion draft. In addition, Portland also sent its own 2026 second-round pick (pick 21).

As part of the WNBA expansion draft, Portland and Toronto can select players from other teams to add to their roster. Teams can protect up to five players, giving the two teams a list of unprotected players. The two teams select which players they want to fill a roster. If a player is an unrestricted free agent, they can still be selected, and the expansion team will have the ability to work a contract and offer a supermax deal with them.

For Chicago, they valued keeping their roster together rather than having to protect five players. Now, they do not need to worry about this as neither team can select a Sky player. Chicago now holds the following picks in the 2026 WNBA Draft after these moves:

• No. 5 overall (first round)
• No. 21 overall (second round)
• No. 32 overall (third round)

Chicago has four players under contract, meaning it will have a lot of decisions to make regarding their roster. However, the front office seems keen to keep as many of them with the team as possible while adding talent with the three remaining draft picks. It will be intriguing to see which players Chicago keeps this offseason to see if it was worth those trades.

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