The Chicago Sky majorly retooled their roster for the 2026 season. Bringing in Skylar Diggins, Jacy Sheldon, DiJonai Carrington, Rickea Jackson and Azurá Stevens and trading away Angel Reese meant that this team would not look much like the 2025 team.
Two games into the season, it’s clear this team is different than the 2025 team that finished 10-34. Chicago won its opener 98-83 against the Portland Fire on Saturday and then outlasted the Golden State Valkyries 69-63 on Wednesday.
The wins could not have looked more different from one another. The win over Portland was an offensive explosion, with Diggins, Kamilla Cardoso and Jackson combining for 62 points. Against Golden State, Chicago came back from a halftime deficit to win a defensive game.
Here are five takeaways from those two road wins.
Skylar Diggins has quickly become the heart of the Sky
Though it’s her first season in a Chicago Sky uniform, Diggins’ leadership is already apparent. Throughout both games, the veteran guard was the person the players turned to in huddles, in timeouts and at the end of games. She scored 21 and 15 points as well.
With the Sky also signing point guard Natasha Cloud, Diggins showed a different kind of leadership in being flexible about her role and being a playmaker when both of them were on the court.
“They’re both really good decision-makers,” head coach Tyler Marsh told reporters on Wednesday. They’re both good ball-handlers, so there’s not one person that’s dependent on initiating offense, and they both understand who has the hot hand and how to get them the ball. …
“And they’re selfless and they’re tough, and they give everything that they got on both ends of the floor. Those two together, it’s a tough backcourt because they can put pressure on you defensively and they’re able to set the table for you offensively.”
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Gabriela Jaquez does not play like a rookie
Gabriela Jaquez was the Sky’s first-round, fifth overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft. Just six weeks ago, she was celebrating an NCAA title at UCLA. Still, Jaquez’s play shows she is already comfortable in the WNBA. She started both games and had 10 points and five rebounds against Portland. She added 7 points and five rebounds against Golden State.
“I’m proud of her. We talked about it in the locker room that she doesn’t play like a rookie,” Sheldon told reporters on Wednesday. “She competes on both ends, and she goes out there with confidence. And I remember playing against her in college and being a fan of her game, and it’s a lot more fun to play with her.”
She’s not perfect, of course. Jaquez’s slight frame means she’s more likely to be knocked down in scrambles for the ball. The key is that even after taking some hard falls, she doesn’t shy away from engaging again.
Kamilla Cardoso’s inconsistency is still there
The biggest knock on Cardoso’s game as a pro has been her lack of consistency. In 2025, she had stretches where she scored in single digits and had fewer than five rebounds, and she had games where she notched double-doubles.
Across two games in 2026, both versions of Cardoso have shown up. Against Portland, she teamed up well with Jackson and Diggins, scoring 22 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. On Wednesday, she scored 8 points on 3-for-10 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds.
Marsh pointed out that Cardoso wasn’t the only one struggling on offense on Wednesday.
“It was something that permeated through the team. A lot of us were missing some easy ones. Missed a ton of free throws tonight. It was just one of those nights offensively,” Marsh said. “But I think that the learning lesson from today is you can’t always control making and missing shots. What you can control is your defensive effort and your attention to detail when it comes to the game plan.”
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The road trip has helped the Sky find chemistry
Jackson showed up for the postgame press conference on Wednesday wearing a large chain with the Chicago Sky logo hanging from it.
“It says ‘Big Dog’ on it, but this is because of my teammates. I’m just happy we got the win,” Jackson said. But Sheldon wouldn’t let her shy away from the accolade the team had given her.
“Nah, she earned that!” Sheldon said.
Last season, Sheldon played in Connecticut and Washington, while Jackson was in Los Angeles. They started playing together less than a month ago. But starting on the road together has helped supercharge the team’s chemistry and ability to play together.
“If you can handle this type of schedule early on, then it gives you the confidence moving forward into the season with the ebbs and flows of what the season will bring, that you can still compete anywhere, at any time, with anyone,” Marsh said. “You’re still trying to find that rhythm as a team and that chemistry as a team. This continues to give that motivation to continue to press on with what we’ve been practicing.”
The Sky can play well even in the loudest of road arenas
The season opener was the Portland Fire’s first game as an expansion franchise. In front of a raucous, sold-out crowd of 19,335, Chicago was able to stay focused on each other to find the win.
Just a few days later, they went to “Ballhalla,” the home of the Golden State Valkyries. From the moment the Bay Area got a new team, Valkyries fans have been loud and present. On Wednesday, 18,064 of them were there for Chicago’s win. Still, the Sky shut down the crowd by responding to some of Golden State’s biggest shots.
“I’m really proud of the way we played and came together,” Sheldon said. “They’re a really loud crowd, filled it up tonight, but it was a test for us. and I think we did really well, played together and had to fight through some adversity, which is good for us. But it’s a great win on the road.”
The road tests won’t stop for Chicago. The team will play in Phoenix on Friday, then in Minnesota on Sunday before heading back for the home opener on Wednesday.
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