Angel Reese isn’t the only WNBA star switching teams.
The Chicago Sky are in discussions with the Los Angeles Sparks to send guard Ariel Atkins to LA for forward Rickea Jackson, the Front Office Sports reported Thursday.
The deal isn’t finalized yet but is expected to be announced Saturday when free agency opens.
Jackson just wrapped up her second year in the league, upping her scoring average to 14.7 points while shooting 42.4 percent from the floor.
In her rookie season after being drafted No. 4 overall in 2024, she averaged 13.4 points.
She’ll essentially be a replacement for Reese at forward, after the LSU product was dealt to the Atlanta Dream for 2027 and 2028 first-round picks.
Reese was a WNBA All-Star in each of her first two seasons in the league after being its first rounder in 2024 but had a rocky relationship with the Sky after she talked about “moving in a different direction” if Chicago didn’t get “great players.”
“I’d like to be here for my career, but if things don’t pan out, obviously I might have to move in a different direction and do what’s best for me,” Reese told the Chicago Tribune. “But while I am here, I’m going to try to stay open-minded about what I have here and maximize that as much as I can.”
Reese will be difficult to replace for the Sky, especially on the glass — she led the WNBA in rebounds per game the last two seasons and averages 12 per game for her career.
On the flip side, Atkins is a strong pickup for the Sparks. She will enter her ninth WNBA campaign next year, spending her first seven years with Washington before moving to Chicago for the 2025 campaign.
Across her career, she’s averaging 13.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. Last year in her lone season with the Sky, she tallied 13.1 points per contest in 32 games.
Both the Sky and Sparks finished below .500 last season, though Chicago’s situation was much more dire.
It tied with the Dallas Wings for the worst record among the league’s 13 teams at 10-34. Los Angeles, on the other hand, went 21-23, missing the playoffs by two games.
Maybe the Jackson-Atkins trade can spark a turnaround for either franchise.
