Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese is reeling over the firing of head coach Teresa Weatherspoon.
The WNBA team announced Thursday, September 26, that Weatherspoon, 58, was being let go after just one season leading the team. Shortly after news broke, Reese, 22 — and the team’s most recognizable player — took to social media to react to the loss of her mentor.
In a heartfelt post via X, Reese reflected on the bond that she developed with her first professional coach.
“I’m heartbroken,” she wrote. “I’m literally lost for words knowing what this woman meant to me in such a pivotal point in my life. She was the only person that believed in me. The one that trusted me. Many don’t even know what it’s like to be a black women in sports when nobody believes in you.”
Reese was seemingly referring to the speculation that her game, which made her a first-team All-American three times in college at Maryland and LSU, would not translate to the WNBA. Though arguably the second-most successful college player in the draft, she fell to the seventh overall pick.
She immediately quieted the doubters, earning Rookie of the Month honors in June and setting the league record for consecutive games with a double-double. In September, Reese broke the league record for rebounds in a season with 446, before suffering a season-ending injury a few days later.
“You had a tough job,” Reese continued. “All the crazy circumstances that we went through this year & when your back was against the wall, you always believed.”
The Sky entered the season with minimal expectations after losing their leading scorer, rebounder and assist-maker from their sub-.500 2023 team. When Chicago traded three-point extraordinaire Marina Mabrey midseason, there seemed to be little hope for the Sky’s playoff chances.
Instead, Sky stayed in the playoff race — despite Reese suffering a wrist injury — only missing out on the last day of the season.
“I came to Chicago because of YOU. You were an unsung hero in my life. We built a relationship in a short amount of time that will last forever,” Reese continued in her tribute to Weatherspoon on Thursday. “I’ll never question God why he brings people in my life and takes them away from me in the capacity that I need them but i’ve always believed everyone is in your life for a reason and a season.”
Weatherspoon was in her first season as a WNBA head coach after most recently serving as an assistant for the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans. She also coached the Louisiana Tech women’s basketball team from 2009 to 2014.
In the WNBA, she’s best known for making maybe the most famous shot in the history of the league when she played for the New York Liberty. Her buzzer-beating half-court shot to beat the Houston Comets in Game 2 of the 1999 WNBA Finals kept the Liberty’s season alive in one of the first legendary moments for a league that was still in its infancy.
“You were the best reason & season,” Reese concluded. “You didn’t deserve this but I can’t thank you enough. I love you Tspoon.”
