Reese was excused from Monday’s practice at Sachs Recreation Center in Deerfield to attend the Met Gala in New York City, the annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art that serves as one of the biggest nights in high fashion.

The organization named Reese to the 2025 Gala Host Committee in February alongside a slate of Black leaders in the arts, fashion, sports, music and film industries. Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is an honorary chair of the committee, which is led by Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams and Anna Wintour.

Simone Biles and her husband — Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens — joined Reese on the 25-member committee, which also includes André 3000, Doechii, Spike Lee and Janelle Monáe. The committee helped craft the styling and messaging around this year’s theme: “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” which will focus on Black dandyism.

Reese has been notable for her looks off the court, as well as her rebounds on it. Her tunnel fits were quick to turn heads, including when the forward arrived to the Sky’s first preseason game Friday dressed head-to-toe in Thom Browne, one of her current favorite designers.

But fashion is more than just a hobby for Reese. After she was invited to last year’s Met Gala as a guest, this year’s inclusion on the host committee represents an evolving presence in the high fashion industry.

“A lot of people don’t understand that basketball does stop,” Reese said. “I have a life outside of basketball — and we all should. I wouldn’t be sane if I didn’t have a life outside this basketball stuff.”

This year’s theme marks the first Met Gala centered exclusively on Black design. And it will be the first time in two decades that the event will focus solely on menswear.

Black dandyism is a style with roots in the 18th century, although it became more widespread following the Civil War and was popularized during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s. The style is equal parts aesthetic and rebellion, a repurposing of high-luxury menswear that reflects both a reclamation of the society that Black people were excluded from and a subversion of those traditional styles.

This Met Gala is filled with pro athletes — and dressing them is a unique challenge

The foundation of this style is tailored suits layered with luxe accessories such as capes, canes, fedoras and pocket squares. But dandyism also requires a bold fusion of other styles and influences, such as elements of American streetwear and textiles from Africa and the Caribbean.

This is a departure from Reese’s typical style, which leans more toward high-feminine modern fashion. But it’s the type of challenge the young star embraces as she hopes to expand a future career in the industry.

Guests will begin arriving at the Met Gala at 5 p.m. Live broadcasts of the red carpet will be provided in a variety of locations, including a livestream on Vogue’s YouTube channel and a live broadcast on E! News.

Behind the look was celebrity stylist Courtney Mays, who has dressed some of sports’ biggest stars for more than a decade. Putting together a glamorous gala look for any celebrity is a tall task, but, when working with the unique proportions of professional athletes — Griner is 6’9″ — the job becomes much more complicated.

Couple that with working under the constraints put forth by Vogue editor Anna Wintour: The Met Gala chair provides a list of designers she envisions the guest in — then it’s up to the stylist to put together a look within those parameters.

“It was a learning experience for me,” Mays said. “I had a voice in that world, in a way, but also when Anna says: ‘I want you to wear this,’ you kind of have to go along with it.”

Mays said they chose Calvin Klein to celebrate an American designer and tap into the patriotism of Griner’s emotional return.

“And also, somebody that was a little bit minimalist and could really execute something that wasn’t necessarily about the clothes, but really about the homecoming and her journey and the union between she and her wife,” Mays said. They opted for a champagne-colored look for Griner and a white, corseted dress for her wife Cherelle, “sort of like a fresh start, a new lease kind of metaphor.”

Mays and the team pulled the look together in three weeks, flying to Phoenix once a week for “long and intense” fittings with several tailors. Then Mays tapped Los Angeles shoemaker George Esquivel, who had previously made shoes for NBA stars Kevin Love and DeAndre Jordan, to craft a custom men’s size 18 pair for Griner.

Work-life balance: Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese walks the Met Gala red carpet after practice Monday

Mays’ personal experience as a 6-foot-tall woman has helped her relate to the dressing struggles of many of the athletes she works with.

“I am a plus-size woman, and so fashion for me has always been sort of bittersweet, but also an opportunity for me to be creative in how I found pieces to wear,” she said. “And so, the fact that I’ve been able to work in the sports world, which means I have clients that are 6’9,” … women that wear size men’s 12 and 13 shoe, I have to really think outside the box.”

Athletes at the Met

Over the last few years, more and more athletes have received coveted invites to the annual fundraiser. This year, sports are at the forefront of the gala with Formula One star Lewis Hamilton as a co-chair, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James as an honorary chair and several other athletes on the host committee.

Hamilton was asked Thursday what he’d be wearing to the gala.

“I don’t even know,” he said. “Not putting much thought to it.”

But he gushed about his work with Wintour.

“It’s amazing working with Anna and her team,” he said. “It’s been a privilege to be able to continue to do stuff with fashion. It’s fun. But Anna’s been really understanding. I haven’t had a lot of time to deal with it a huge amount … but the work has been in drips over the past like two years already with us, so, yeah, excited for people to see it.”

Wintour told “Good Morning America” on Friday that she “still doesn’t know what Lewis is wearing” but trusts him.

Monday’s Met Gala kicks off this year’s Metropolitan Museum of Art spring costume exhibit, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” and the accompanying dress code is “Tailored For You.” Mays has long pushed for increased representation of athletes, especially those who are Black, in luxury fashion spaces.

“I’m hoping that this sort of turns a leaf in the way that fashion respects the Black community, but also just underrepresented people, because you’re going to see so many people at the Met that are going to champion Black designers,” she said. “I’m hoping that you see people that you haven’t seen before. I’m hoping that it sort of opens up the conversation so that we’re not having to fight so hard to get approval from the luxury space, that we’re supposed to be here.”

Tunnel fits and basketball style

Though styling Griner was her first experience with the Met Gala, Mays’ work has long been a mainstay of professional basketball’s unofficial runway known as tunnel fits.

NBA players started the trend, arriving at the arena dressed to the nines and being photographed walking through the tunnel to the locker room. In recent years, WNBA stars have followed suit, with their style getting much more attention.

Mays, who has styled Love, Jordan and 20-year NBA veteran Chris Paul, also has a heavy imprint on WNBA style. She’s dressed the New York Liberty’s Breanna Stewart, the Connecticut Sun’s Tina Charles and retired star Sue Bird.

“What she does best is she makes it so that I feel my best in the clothes that I’m wearing,” Stewart said. “And really, that’s the biggest thing behind it. Because when you see all these tunnel fits and people walking, you want them to portray who they are and feel their best.”

Mays sees her work with WNBA players as a perfect way to showcase her passion for championing diversity and inclusion.

“As the media starts to lock into tunnel fits and what the girls are wearing, I hope we get to see more of a wider lens cast on some of the style sensibility,” she said. “We locked really heavily into women that men think are attractive, if I’m just being honest, and I hope that we’re able to see some of the women that are masculine-presenting, some of the women that are dressing more gender-fluid. There’s such a vast, wide spectrum of different styles, and I think that’s what’s so cool about the tunnel fits, is that you see such a diversity and style sensibility.”

The 6-foot-4 Charles has worked with Mays since she was taken with the first overall pick in the 2010 draft. Dressing while she was growing up was sometimes tricky but collaborating with Mays has simplified things. She leans toward expertly tailored suits that highlight her height and athletic build.

“She’s the one who gave me my confidence in my appearance, and so it’s been a great partnership,” Charles said. “It just goes a long way off the court when I’m not with her and just how I feel.”

Mays is participating in the Met Gala again this year, and says to expect “a visual attempt to show that diversity in style when you see women in sports.”

“My ethos has always been how can we converge sport and style in a way that’s authentic and in a way that feels diverse,” she said. “And what was really interesting to me is, with the Met’s chairpeople, to see two athletes a part of the conversation — I think that opens the door for other athletes to participate.”

AP Basketball Writer Doug Feinberg in New York and AP Auto Racing Writer Jenna Fryer in Miami contributed to this story

It was a well-balanced steamrolling by the Sky, who used all 18 players on their training camp roster. Every player scored, although Reese was the only one to finish in double digits.

Everything from the game has to be taken with a whole shaker of salt. The Sky wanted to get every player significant minutes, which means the rotations are not reflective of the expectations for the season. And Brazil fielded a young roster that included many high school and college athletes, which means this was not WNBA-caliber competition.

Still, the game offered a glimpse at how coach Tyler Marsh plans to approach his debut season tactically — and which players might fit best into that system.

Here are three things we learned.

1. Is the 3-point problem fixed?

The Sky averaged 14.9 attempts from 3-point range last season. That number was last in the league and a major factor in the team’s offensive stagnancy.

By halftime Friday, the Sky had put up 12 attempts from deep. They finished only 7-for-29 (24%), but the makes aren’t the point — only one week into the preseason, it seems the Sky might have fixed their 3-point problem. Five players knocked down a 3, and 11 logged at least one attempt.

The sudden increase in volume is a reflection of a more healthy, cohesive style that emphasizes ball movement and facilitation to create shots at the perimeter and basket. Guards were relocating endlessly off the ball, which created movement for cuts to the rim. And the Sky finished with 21 assists, including five apiece from veteran Courtney Vandersloot and rookie Van Lith.

The Sky won’t take 29 3-point attempts every game — and that’s fine. They don’t even need to lead the league in 3s. But this concerted effort to create looks from deep is a crucial foundation for establishing an offense in which every position can succeed.

2. Angel Reese was on the ball

Spacing is the name of the game for the Sky this season — and that starts with adjusting the role of Reese, who will be playing farther from the rim and more on the ball under Marsh.

“They want me on the perimeter,” Reese said. “There’s not a lot of fours or a lot of fives in the league that are as versatile as me and Kamilla. And we love that. We love our frontcourt and being able to do that together.”

Chicago Sky’s preseason game at LSU provides homecoming for Angel Reese, Hailey Van Lith and Kamilla Cardoso

Despite having only four practices in the new system before Friday’s game, Reese looked fairly comfortable with the expectations in Marsh’s system. She spent more time at the perimeter setting up guards such as Vandersloot with screens, then looked to dive to the rim when space opened up in the lane. And when left completely unguarded just inside the top of the arc, Reese knocked down a patient jump shot.

Brazil’s lack of perimeter pressure didn’t offer Reese much of a challenge with the ball in her hands. And there’s plenty of work left for Reese to smooth out her handles, improve her decision making in kick-outs and connect with Cardoso. But if the forward can continue to push the ball in transition and knock down open midrange shots, her game will open up in a truly dynamic way.

3. Who will make the cut?

The Sky made their first round of roster cuts Saturday, waiving guards Tilly Boler, Arella Guirantes and Sammie Puisis. The subtractions made it clear where the Sky’s priorities lie for filling out the final two roster spots.

Van Lith, the No. 11 pick in the draft last month, appears all but set to make the roster. And that means the final spot will need to be filled by a frontcourt player — either second-round pick Maddy Westbeld, Jessika Carter or Morgan Bertsch.

Westbeld stood out in her WNBA preseason debut, logging the most playing time out of this group with nearly 12 minutes on the court. The rookie knocked down both of her shots, including a transition layup through contact. She earned praise from Marsh for her ability to run the floor and versatility as a stretch big.

Westbeld could have made a larger impact on the boards, but her early chemistry with Van Lith offered an exciting prospect for the team’s youth foundation.

Carter is still an appealing option for the Sky due to her length, versatility and physicality. Bertsch has made less of a splash in training camp, although her consistency as a floor-spacer could fit the team’s needs.

The Sky have the option to waive a guard if they wish to add a frontcourt player to their guard-heavy lineup. But due to the spaced-out nature of the offense, the Sky might be more comfortable sticking with their current balance while sliding a lengthier wing such as Rebecca Allen down to the four when needed.

Reese understood the rarity of Friday’s preseason game, which pitted the Sky against the Brazilian national team at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, where she starred for two seasons with LSU. And she made the most of her homecoming, scoring a team-high 15 points in the Sky’s 89-62 win.

Everything was familiar for Reese. The walk into the arena, her preferred seat in the locker room. And the trip was one long exercise in reminiscence, including a stop at Phil’s Oyster Bar for the best seafood she had eaten since leaving Louisiana.

It’s still hard to place a favorite memory from those two years in Baton Rouge. Reese always will be fond of the junior-year highlight when she blocked a shot by an Arkansas player while holding her own shoe — which came dislodged only seconds earlier — in her other hand.

But Reese’s main source of pride from her time at LSU is less tangible. It’s about building one of the strongest cultures in collegiate women’s basketball — and winning a national championship along the way.

“They already loved women’s basketball because of Kim Mulkey,” Reese said. “But then we won and it was just like — this is a women’s basketball school.”

Reese, entering her second season with the Sky, credits Mulkey more than anyone for preparing her for a successful WNBA career.

It wasn’t always a flowery relationship. Mulkey benched Reese for a handful of games at the start of her senior year. The pair didn’t always agree on how Reese should be utilized on the floor. But those two years with Mulkey gave Reese a formative foundation to withstand the rigors of becoming a professional.

“There’s not really anything that anybody can say to me as a coaching staff that can break me or tell me anything that I don’t know about myself or say to get me going, because I went through Kim Mulkey,” Reese said. “In the moment, I hated it, I’m not going to lie. I hated it and I dreaded it and I didn’t like it. And then when I left, I was really thankful for that moment. Looking back, it didn’t make sense in the moment. But now it all makes sense.”

No one understands that dynamic better than Sky rookie Hailey Van Lith, who also made her return to LSU for Friday’s game for her WNBA preseason debut.

Hailey Van Lith reunites with Angel Reese on Chicago Sky after teaming up during historic college career

Reese and Van Lith spent only one year together at LSU. It was hard. Exhausting. Disappointing. But it also taught both players they were cut from the same cloth, the type of tough material that can withstand the pressure and expectations of playing in Baton Rouge and playing under Mulkey.

When the Sky front office was considering Van Lith in the draft, Reese didn’t hesitate to vouch for her former — and future — teammate.

“Hailey works her ass off,” Reese told general manager Jeff Pagliocca. “You want a dog? Go get a dog.”

He did. The Sky selected Van Lith with the 11th pick.

Reese understands the weight of legacy in LSU women’s basketball because of two women who came before her: Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles.

In Baton Rouge, it’s impossible to escape the pair’s shadows. Their jerseys are hanging from the rafters of the stadium. A statue of Augustus — now an assistant coach with the program — stands watch over the arena’s northern entrance. Both players redefined standards for their position. Augustus retired a top-10 scorer in WNBA history. Fowles became one of the greatest rebounders in the league’s history.

Reese grew up going to Minnesota Lynx games with her mother, who is close friends with former WNBA player Taj McWilliams. One of her favorite full-circle moments as a player is a picture of herself at 9 with Augustus. And as the “double-double queen” of the WNBA, Fowles — who will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in September — became both an idol and a milestone whose records Reese has been chasing since she entered the league.

“I can’t forget Sylvia and Seimone,” Reese said. “They walked so we could run. I’ve got to give them their flowers. We wouldn’t be there without them. … They’re winners and they left their legacy in the WNBA. I’m glad to have them in my corner.”

And if there are any dreams of joining Augustus and Fowles in the rafters? Well, Reese isn’t rushing anything yet.

“It’ll come,” Reese said. “Time comes. I’m in Year 2 so I don’t expect it to be right away. It took awhile to get Seimone’s statue up there. I know my time will come.”

For some players, leaving college is a nostalgic decision. Leaving home is hard. And when a season ends with an unexpected loss — as it did in the Elite Eight of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, ending the Tigers’ repeat bid — it can be easy to consider running it back for one more year.

But for Reese? Not a chance.

Sure, fans might opine the “what if” scenarios had Reese remained for one more year with Aneesah Morrow, Flaujae Johnson and the rest of the LSU roster. But even as she reveled in the homecoming, Reese felt content with the way her time ended at LSU — and with the legacy that will remain long after she left Baton Rouge for Chicago.

“I did exactly what I wanted to do here,” Reese said. “You got to know when you want to move on and it was time for me to move on. And I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Forward Angel Reese and No. 11 pick Hailey Van Lith will be returning to their alma mater. And second-year center Kamilla Cardoso will face off against her former teammates on the Brazilian national team.

The game is part of a new WNBA series to bring preseason games to college markets of its top stars. This year’s slate will include games hosted at Iowa, Oregon and Notre Dame to feature top alums such as Caitlin Clark, Sabrina Ionescu, Jewell Loyd, Arike Ogunbowale and Jackie Young.

For players, the games are a welcome reunion and a source of remembrance of important aspects of their basketball careers.

“I think it’s amazing for all of us,” Cardoso said. “It’s amazing for Angel, amazing for Hailey. I know we’re all just excited. They’re excited to go back home, I’m excited to play my national team.”

Neither Van Lith nor Reese has returned to Baton Rouge, La., since last spring’s graduation. It will be the first time both players have stepped on the court at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center since the 2023-24 season.

Both transferred to LSU during their collegiate careers — Reese as a junior, Van Lith as a senior — but their relationships with the Tigers are different. Reese won a national championship at LSU in 2023, a significant victory that established her as one of the most recognizable faces in college sports. It’s a relationship Reese never left, even after graduation.

“I created my brand there,” Reese said. “I became the Bayou Barbie there. I won a national championship there. That’s home for me.”

Van Lith spent only one season of her five-year NCAA career at LSU. She struggled during that season as the Tigers were bounced in the Elite Eight following their national championship victory. Despite the results, the guard values how those challenges molded her as a prospective professional player.

Both players felt their experiences under LSU coach Kim Mulkey shaped them into players who were prepared to compete in the WNBA.

“Training camp is easy because of how practices were at LSU,” Reese said. “If you’ve ever been to a practice at LSU, it’s four hours, going, going, going — and there’s no taking breaks.”

For Cardoso, the preseason setting is less familiar than the opponent.

The Brazilian national team is like a second family to Cardoso, who has played with most of the roster since she was a young girl in Montes Claros. International duty is a serious honor for Cardoso, who is still grieving Brazil’s near-miss in the Olympic qualifiers for the Paris Games last summer.

Brazil is still working to establish itself in the current era of international women’s basketball. The program won the 1994 FIBA women’s World Cup and medaled in both the 1996 (silver) and 2000 (bronze) Olympics but has not reached the podium in either major tournament the last 25 years.

Cardoso is one of only two current Brazilian players under a full-time contract in the WNBA, alongside the Indiana Fever’s Damiris Dantas. She has been a mainstay on the team since 2021, when she helped Brazil win bronze at the FIBA AmeriCup tournament.

Despite living in the U.S. for the last eight years, Cardoso keeps up with her national teammates on a daily basis through a WhatsApp group chat. This week, some of those conversations have turned to talking trash. After all, Cardoso isn’t going to hold back on blocking the shots of her Brazilian teammates, family be damned.

In fact, everyone in Cardoso’s vicinity was fair game for a little smack talk this week — including Reese and Van Lith.

Although they left their college rivalries behind when they became Sky teammates, Cardoso couldn’t help but make a few jokes about playing LSU while at South Carolina in the buildup to Friday’s game.

“I mean, we won every time we played them, right?” Cardoso said with a grin.

Those rivalries will matter less Friday, as Cardoso teams up with Reese and Van Lith to begin the next chapter for a young Sky club eager to outperform expectations in 2025.

The guard will play her first preseason minutes with the Chicago Sky on Friday in an exhibition game against Brazil in a familiar setting — the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, where she spent the toughest year of her collegiate career with LSU.

For Van Lith, it’s not an unwelcome homecoming. Baton Rouge will always hold a special place in her development as a college player.

The guard’s first three years at Louisville shaped her identity on the court. And her final year at TCU offered a specific environment to correct her shooting efficiency and build a portfolio to improve her draft stock.

But that year at LSU? That’s when Van Lith figured out exactly who she was — as a player, as a person and as a future pro.

“It was the year that helped me get ready for the league the most from a mental perspective,” Van Lith told the Tribune. “(That season at) LSU was like — this is the mentality that you have to have to be a pro. You have to just figure out how to make things work when it’s not what you expected it to be.”

“For me, LSU was just a year that I had to make ends meet and figure it out no matter what. And that’s what the pros is. You want to play on a team, you want to have a job, so you do whatever you need to do to make that happen.”

LSU was never the right fit for Van Lith. That’s not exactly a secret. Both Van Lith and Angel Reese openly acknowledged that fact when the Sky drafted the rookie with the No. 11 pick last month.

At Louisville, Van Lith stood out as a high-volume shooting guard. She took 13.2 shots per game and averaged 15.4 points, leading the Cardinals to a pair of Elite Eight appearances and a Final Four.

But her role shifted immediately upon landing in Louisiana. Coach Kim Mulkey wanted to mold Van Lith into a starting point guard — and felt that was the challenge Van Lith had accepted by transferring. As a result, her shooting volume plummeted to 9.9 attempts per game.

“She knows at the next level that’s her only chance — to be able to tell them somewhat, ‘I can handle the ball if you need me to,’” Mulkey said at an LSU boosters banquet in 2024. “She had to embrace a change in her mindset of not shooting it 20 to 30 times a game but finding who’s open and getting them the ball. And sometimes it was hard because she would be pressured and she’d be pounding the heck out of that ball.”

Every day, Van Lith faced the same internal battle: “This is what they see for me. This is what they want me to produce on the court. And this is what I want to do. So how do I try and make both people happy?”

It was awkward and often unwieldy on the court. But Van Lith needed that discomfort.

“When I was younger in college, I was so stubborn,” Van Lith said. “Like, I was going to prove to everyone that I could be exactly how I wanted to be and I wasn’t going to conform at all to what they wanted me to be.”

For Van Lith, growing up meant accepting she wasn’t always right — and even when her self-righteousness seemed valid, it still didn’t fit into the overall ethos of assimilating to a championship team. In basketball, compromise is always a necessity. Sometimes coaches are wrong. Sometimes players are right. But Van Lith never could be successful if she couldn’t embrace criticism.

Even though the 2023-24 season didn’t end in a championship run, Van Lith values the way the experience forced her to compromise for a team’s system, a crucial trait for a rookie adapting to her new WNBA team.

“Nothing will ever work if you’re super hostile or closed-minded,” Van Lith said. “It’s a team. If you want to be like that, go play tennis.”

No, that year did not end the way Van Lith or Mulkey or any LSU player, coach or fan hoped. The Tigers wanted a championship. In some ways, they expected it. And the way everything ended was both demoralizing and daunting for Van Lith, who was forced to face the gaps in her skill set — and how those deficiencies might affect her WNBA potential.

But any perceived hostility between Van Lith and the LSU program is largely manufactured by those on the outside. Van Lith considers her time at LSU to be essential to her selection as a first-rounder. Mulkey praised the guard as “one of the hardest-working players that I’ve ever coached.” And when Van Lith chose to transfer to TCU, neither coach nor player publicly framed the decision with malice.

“Her aspirations were to get drafted this year, and she realized, ‘I need another year and I need to go back to a place where I can relax and get back to my normal position,” Mulkey said in April 2024. “And what do you do? You hug her and you wish her well.”

Ultimately, Mulkey was correct. Adopting the skill set of a point guard was crucial for Van Lith to successfully make the transition to the WNBA. She will be asked to make a similar transition in Chicago, where the Sky hope to mold her into an on-ball guard in the secondary rotation behind star point guard Courtney Vandersloot.

If she succeeds with the club, Van Lith could be in line to inherit that position from one of the best passers in WNBA history. And barely a year after leaving Baton Rouge, Van Lith finally feels ready to embrace this position.

The rookie spent the first three days of training camp glued to Vandersloot, watching how the veteran used her body to manipulate screens and read razor-thin openings for skip passes halfway across the court.

This will be another challenge — and Van Lith knows the growing pains that will accompany that learning curve. Running point in the NCAA is difficult. In the WNBA? It’s a feat at which few truly succeed.

“The window of time that you’re open is much smaller than in college,” Van Lith said. “(In college), you can get loose from your defender and you have like three seconds where you could be open. Here, it’s maybe one second. Maybe. The decision-making when you do get open has to be much crisper and it has to be tighter.”

When in doubt, the guard knows she can rely on her physicality while honing her on-ball skills. She spent the first few days of training camp collecting tokens of that grit — a bruise on the inside of her right elbow, a handful of scratch marks across her stomach, a court burn framing her left knee.

“We don’t really have refs out here, so they’re probably letting a little bit go,” Van Lith said with a laugh.

But that’s OK. Van Lith is tough enough to take it. More than anything — her shot or her passing or her defensive sharpness — it’s this trait the guard values about herself.

And when she returns to Baton Rouge on Friday, Van Lith hopes LSU fans will recognize the resilience she forged in her year with the program.

“It wasn’t always clean and pretty and it was definitely up and down, but I think I did a pretty good job with my circumstance and what was being asked of me,” Van Lith said. “I still have a lot left to learn, but now at least I’ve got a little head start.”

It was a distinct shift from Reese’s prior function in Chicago, but the second-year forward knew it was coming. In the first week of camp, new coach Tyler Marsh is tackling one of the most important challenges of his system — how to create enough offensive balance for both of his frontcourt stars to succeed.

For Reese, that means adapting to a modified role that will tap into her full potential as a stretch-four.

“It’s obviously a transition for me,” Reese told the Tribune. “But I don’t mind if it frees up Kamilla (Cardoso). I know eventually in the game, if I’m the first post down, I’m ducking in. I know it’s going to come.”

This doesn’t mean Reese never will post up again. But Marsh understands if the Sky want to build an effective offense, they need to start by building out space in the half court.

Last season they struggled to keep the offense from getting clogged in the paint. The Sky took the fewest 3-pointers in the league by far — 14.9 per game, more than three per game fewer than the next-closest team — allowing defenses to sag into the paint and throw numbers at the rookie frontcourt duo. And that led to one of the league’s most stagnant offenses, with the lowest assist rate (63.9%) and second-worst offensive rating (97).

In the new-look offense, Reese still won’t spend much time behind the 3-point arc. The guards will be the ones tasked with pulling defenses out toward the perimeter. But to meet the new spacing demands, Reese must change the way she navigates the area inside the arc by increasing her off-ball cuts and relocating relentlessly to keep the floor balanced.

“A huge point of emphasis for us has been how to maintain and create space, whether that’s for the perimeter players or for the post players,” Marsh said. “Once we’ve established that, we’ll get to how we work them inside.”

Marsh isn’t asking for everything to change. Reese is the league’s best rebounder and led the WNBA in second-chance points per game (4.1) as a rookie. If a shot is going up, the Sky always will want Reese to crash the boards.

And her proficiency at creating shots at the rim — both rolling downhill off screens and with her back to the basket — remains a key weapon that Marsh will work to highlight in the new offense.

Photos: Chicago Sky open training camp for 2025 WNBA season

But both Marsh and Reese believe she is more than just a low-post scorer. This change isn’t all about Cardoso, who certainly will benefit from a more spread-out offense. But so will Reese, who often was bludgeoned by double teams and help-side defense due to opponents’ ability to compact the paint.

And if Reese wants to build out her offensive profile, she knows she must add more versatility to her range.

“I’m still doing my post work, but I’ve got to come with more this year,” she said. “I’ve got to be able to shoot the midrange shot, 10 to 15 feet, be able to shoot the 3, the 2 consistently. I work every day on it, so I’ve got to take the shots.”

Reese may pull the trigger on a few more 3-pointers this season, but the change to her shot profile is mostly focused on getting her more midrange jump shots, both off the dribble and in catch-and-shoot situations. That’s a shot she drilled relentlessly throughout the offseason, in both the Unrivaled league and her private training sessions.

Expanding Reese’s shot profile will be a long-term project. She shot 39.1% from the field in her rookie season, a sizable deficit compared with forwards such as Alyssa Thomas (50.9%), Aaliyah Edwards (49%), NaLyssa Smith (48%) and Rickea Jackson (45.6%).

And Reese’s shooting suffered when she ventured away from the basket. In 34 games as a rookie, she took 233 of her 419 shots at the rim. She attempted only 80 jump shots while generating 272 of her 462 points (58.9%) off layups. Reese shot 28.7% on jump shots and 28.3% (17 of 60) outside the paint, including 18.8% (3 of 16) behind the arc.

This raises a tough question: How does a young player improve her efficiency while simultaneously taking more shots outside her comfort zone?

There’s no clear answer. But Reese is ready to embrace the challenge.

“What’s the point of me working on it if I’m not going to take the shot?” she said. “The best thing is just to have great teammates and coaches around you that put confidence in you. And I’m a pretty confident person, so I think it’s going to be pretty easy.”

Outside of shooting, the Sky’s new system under Marsh will tap into a part of Reese’s game she always has loved.

Reese likes having the ball in her hands. She played point guard in AAU ball and defined herself as a wing when she entered college. Scouting reports from her years at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore described her as a stretch-four who offered a perimeter threat as a passer.

Things changed at Maryland, where Reese molded herself into a more traditional forward role that continued after she transferred to LSU. But she still considers facilitation to be one of the strongest — and least utilized — aspects of her game.

That was clear in the debut season of Unrivaled, as Reese dished the ball eagerly and slung full-court passes to teammates in transition. For Reese, those moments highlighted an older version of her game that she hopes to bring back: “I was just being the player I used to be.”

Both Cardoso and Reese will be asked to facilitate more in the offense this season, aided by the presence of veteran point guard Courtney Vandersloot.

For Reese, that means passing through the post and out of the elbow to initiate high-low sequences with Cardoso and feed the guards on the perimeter. And as the team’s leading rebounder, her ability to initiate the offense in transition will be vital in creating a fast-paced style.

“I think that’s going to be one of the keys for this team — the versatility,” Reese said. “Being able to get the rebound and just push and create and make people have to guard us on every end of the court.”

This season may come with some growing pains for Reese. Improving her shot while taking different looks could make for a challenging first month, especially while she’s also expected to lead the defense and dominate the boards.

But if the Sky can maximize Reese’s offensive potential?

Well, that’s the next step toward building this team into a playoff contender.

After yet another play-in tournament collapse against the Miami Heat, the Bulls are awaiting the draft lottery in April to determine their odds for a stacked 2025 class. And the Sky have less than three weeks until they kick off the regular season with the first of five matchups against the Indiana Fever.

What’s in store long-term and short-term for these teams? Here are the top questions from fans as the Bulls near free agency and the Sky kick off the 2025 season.

Would like to know about the Bulls potentially trading for Zion Williamson. Seems like a stretch, given his injury history. What do you think? — TJ M.

I don’t mind this idea. The Bulls need a star. And Zion Williamson — despite the inconsistency and the injuries and everything else that comes with it — is a star.

Yes, Williamson is officially tagged with the “injury prone” label. He averages only 42.8 games per season, not including an entire season missed due to a fracture in his right foot. His inconsistent fitness has been a source of derision and criticism. But Williamson is still a former Rookie of the Year finalist who has been an All-Star in two of his five available seasons. And when he’s available, he’s electric — a verified superstar who can rip off 24.7 points per game.

This is the kind of juice the Bulls have been missing. This current roster doesn’t include a single player close to All-Star status. Would Williamson fix this team’s lack of depth and overall stagnancy in the Eastern Conference? Probably not. But it would provide the type of fireworks that will remain far and few between in Chicago without a true star on the roster.

Chicago Bulls’ dismissal of Peter Patton puts player development in the spotlight for front office

I’m not saying this is the only — or the best — option for the future. The Bulls just worked their way out of the binding of a maximum contract after trading Zach LaVine, so there’s a sizable argument to make against tying themselves to another financial monstrosity. Williamson is entering the third season of a five-year, $197 million deal that would severely hinder the front office’s ability to remain mobile in a rebuild.

Regardless, this will be a goofy offseason, so strap in for a sea of rumors and postulations. Nikola Jokić to Chicago? How about Giannis Antetokounmpo? No idea is too big or small as the league enters a summer of potential superstar shakeups. Just make sure to approach every trade idea with a healthy dose of incredulity.

Will Ajša Sivka come to the WNBA this season? — @tkharris76 on X

Don’t expect to see Ajša Sivka in a Sky uniform this season. The No. 11 overall pick is fully committed to EuroBasket with the Slovenian national team, which will keep her in Europe through the WNBA All-Star break. And the Sky front office and coaching staff have indicated that all future plans with Sivka revolve around her making a debut in the WNBA next season.

So if Sivka isn’t coming this season, why would the Sky spend a first-round pick on her?

I think it’s helpful to view the 19-year-old as a 2026 draft pick. That’s exactly what the Sky traded to Minnesota to secure the No. 11 pick, which granted them the ability to take Sivka and Hailey Van Lith in the first round. Sivka is expected to play in the WNBA next season, deferring her rookie year by a season.

So the Sky essentially utilized one of their 2026 first-round picks to select a player who would be available as a rookie in 2026 — but available in the draft in 2025.

Is Nikola Vučević gone? Would the Bulls trade him this summer or wait until next deadline? Could that recreate the risk they ran into with Alex Caruso, DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine where holding onto the asset too long resulted in a quieter market for the player? Do you think Zach Collins can be a replacement-level 5 for the Bulls if they deal Vooch in the offseason and draft a young player at the position? And what does Jalen Smith need to improve most to have a future with the Bulls at that position? — Eric B., Doug S. and @TheNBAIndex on X

These are a lot of different questions, but they all gravitate around one of the biggest looming uncertainties for the Bulls — the center position.

Nikola Vučević is not the future for the Bulls. He does not want to spend the final years of his career slogging through a rebuild. With one year left on his contract, the question is “when” not “if” Vučević will leave Chicago. The smartest option for the Bulls would be to figure out a deal for Vučević this summer. His value won’t be high — he’s a 34-year-old center with steep defensive limitations — but his 3-point shooting and versatility as a passer should be enough to entice teams looking for a backup option.

There is, however, good reason to fear that the Bulls will hold out until the trade deadline. Executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas has an unfortunate proclivity to wait too long on these deals, ultimately giving up players for little to nothing. Even if Vučević repeats his strong shooting (40.2% from 3-point range) from this season, it will still be a tough sell to convince another front office that the veteran center could be a game changer for a team looking to stock up ahead of the playoffs.

Whether or not the Bulls manage to move Vučević this summer, drafting a center should be a priority for the front office in the next two years. Although the Bulls have a few genuinely promising options at guard and wing positions, their current frontcourt is threadbare. Zach Collins is a perfectly reasonable stopgap, but the Bulls need to bring star power into the position.

Jalen Smith has clearly been phased out of the Bulls rotation, going from the No. 2 center to playing only 14 minutes per game after the All-Star break — a stretch that included 10 healthy scratches. Smith could improve his versatility as a scorer to keep up with the Bulls’ new pace of play. But he also could be one of the easier trade assets this summer due to his team-friendly deal and relative youth at 25.

Who will be the backup forward for Angel Reese on the Sky? Assuming Van Lith is a lock to make the roster, who gets the final spot? Why didn’t the Sky offer Brynna Maxwell a training camp contract? — Eric N., Terrance H. and M.E. J.

The Sky have one clear need in training camp: a backup forward to play behind Angel Reese. Maddy Westbeld seems like the most natural option for a second-string as a stretchy four who can still compete physically with larger forwards at 6-foot-3.

This also feeds into the answer to the second question regarding the final spot left on the roster. The Sky only invited two other bigs to training camp: 6-foot-5 center Jessika Carter and 6-foot-4 forward Morgan Bertsch. Westbeld would need to outplay these two players — who are more experienced, although they have struggled to stick on WNBA rosters.

However, the Sky could also make cuts from their current roster to reshape the balance between the front and backcourts. The Sky are currently carrying seven guards, two centers and only one forward. Even if the final roster spot goes to a forward or center, this 7-to-4 ratio isn’t an ideal balance between the two halves of the roster. The Sky could look to waive a third-string option like Moriah Jefferson to make way for multiple forwards or for a lengthier guard.

Photos: Chicago Sky open training camp for 2025 WNBA season

This overflow of guards is also the main reason why the Sky did not bring 2024 second-round pick Brynna Maxwell back on a training camp contract. Maxwell was drafted last year to provide some much-needed support to the Sky’s 3-point shooting, but she suffered a preseason knee injury that kept her out of the WNBA.

The Sky stocked up on 3-point shooting veterans like Ariel Atkins, Kia Nurse and Rebecca Allen in free agency, which skewed their needs in training camp to taller, more athletic backcourt options — which ultimately did not fit Maxwell’s profile.

With the Sky finally playing at the United Center this year, do you see a strengthening relationship with the Bulls? Any more collaboration potentially on the way? I’ve noticed CHSN posting more about the Sky. Maybe a new broadcasting partner in 2026 to move away from Marquee? — The Sky Show Chi on X

This is an interesting question. While I don’t expect the two teams to become more collaborative in the future, I do think there is potential for the other Reinsdorf-owned properties — such as the United Center and CHSN — to embrace more Sky programming as the team’s popularity grows.

CHSN may need to think outside the Comcast cable box with Bulls and Blackhawks done and White Sox struggling

Crossover between the Bulls and the Sky is extremely limited. The Reinsdorfs have displayed no concrete interest in the WNBA prior to leasing out the United Center for this year’s games against the Indiana Fever. And the Sky have already welcomed Laura Ricketts as a minority owner, aligning the team toward a different powerhouse family in Chicago sports.

However, that doesn’t mean the Reinsdorfs won’t pursue potential TV and arena collaborations in the future. For instance, if the Sky’s games against the Fever sell effectively, the partnership could become a regularity in future years to accommodate the popularity of those Indiana-Chicago clashes.

And Reinsdorf is attempting to navigate the harrowing frontier of regional sports networks, which saw a disastrous start for CHSN as Bulls and Blackhawks viewership plummeted in Year 1. The Sky would be a sensible target for CHSN to improve its portfolio. However, given the lack of buy-in for CHSN — which still is not available on Comcast, YouTube TV and other major providers — the Sky would likely favor their long-term relationship with WCIU, which is available over the air and via most cable and streaming providers.

Cardoso’s rookie year was frustrating. The rigors of a championship senior season at South Carolina took their toll almost immediately. She dislocated her right shoulder during a preseason game against the Minnesota Lynx, an injury that sidelined her for the first six games, nagged her for months and ended her season two games early.

Ultimately, Cardoso started only 29 of the Sky’s 40 games. And when the team’s offseason began to spin into disarray with the firing of coach Teresa Weatherspoon, Cardoso was half a world away, beginning a new season with the Shanghai Swordfish in the Women’s Chinese Basketball Association. Every day after was a long waiting game for the new version of the Sky to debut under first-year coach Tyler Marsh.

The last six weeks since Cardoso’s final game with Shanghai marked her longest period without playing a competitive basketball game since November 2023. It was a welcome break, but Cardoso never feels comfortable when she’s not playing basketball. The first day of training camp Sunday at Sachs Recreation Center in Deerfield felt like a relief.

“Honestly, I’m just ready for the season to start,” Cardoso told the Tribune. “For me, last year was kind of rough because I got hurt. But now I’m healthy and I’m just happy to be here with this team … (and) to go out there and be able to play again.”

Marsh’s hiring quelled some of Cardoso’s concerns after a shaky rookie season. He was previously the lead assistant coach for the Las Vegas Aces, working with Cardoso’s idol and South Carolina mentor, A’ja Wilson. Having heard widespread praise for Marsh around the league, Cardoso was sold by the end of her first phone call with her new coach.

That partnership will be crucial this season. Marsh believes Cardoso has more to give. Her debut season was solid: 10.3 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game as a starter. She was fourth in rookie scoring and led the 2024 class in blocked shots (46). But to Marsh, that’s only the foundation of Cardoso’s potential.

At 6-foot-7, Cardoso is one of the WNBA’s tallest players — but she’s also deceptively quick, covering the open court at the same speed as many wings. Still, she didn’t fully utilize her imposing physical advantages in her rookie season, shying away from the one-on-one battles that made her dominant in college.

The Sky coaches need that to change this year. On defense, Marsh wants Cardoso to be disciplined. But on offense? That’s where Marsh wants her to unleash her aggression. Cardoso doesn’t need to become a bully. But if she wants to take the next step, she must improve the construction and navigation of her screens — and take advantage of every isolated moment in the post.

Photos: Chicago Sky open training camp for 2025 WNBA season

There’s another reason Marsh is keenly focused on Cardoso: The second-year center will operate as the fulcrum of the team’s new offense.

In his first season as a head coach, Marsh needs to functionally redefine the Sky offense. The Sky had the second-worst offensive rating last season, averaged the second-fewest assists and shot the fewest 3-pointers.

This year will be different. The Sky bulked up their roster with perimeter shooters and facilitators who can space the floor and increase the team’s 3-point volume. And all of that offense will run through Cardoso, who will be the center of gravity in the post as both a scorer and passer.

Threading that needle is tricky. To thrive in the new offense, Cardoso will need to develop a keen intuition for when to attack a defender to create her own shots versus when to kick the ball back out to the perimeter.

And while veteran point guard Courtney Vandersloot will be the primary playmaker, Cardoso will be a connector who bludgeons opponents under the basket while also activating the bulk of the Sky’s second looks.

This is the version of her game — a little meaner, a lot more decisive — that Cardoso aimed to hone in China, where the game runs heavily through centers in the paint.

“They want the ball to go to the big, they want the bigs to touch the ball and that’s something similar to what the coaches here want,” Cardoso said. “Being there was great for me because it made me comfortable with the ball in my hands, knowing when it’s time to play one-on-one and when it’s time to pass the ball.”

These expectations served as a blueprint for Cardoso’s offseason. The Sky coaches wanted her to focus on core strength to improve her ability to finish through contact in the post. She also continued to build out her midrange shot, a key piece of her shot profile that was underutilized in college.

And Cardoso will receive high-level mentorship from the new coaching staff, which includes NCAA double-double record holder Courtney Paris as the frontcourt coach.

“She’s got all the makings to be an elite two-way player at her position in this league,” Marsh said. “We’re going to get her to that point.”

Before reporting for camp, Cardoso set out a guideline of goals for a successful sophomore campaign. It’s a private list. She doesn’t want to be held accountable to anyone except her team and herself. Some of the items might be easy to guess: finishing with a winning record, helping lead the Sky to the playoffs, setting a standard for blocks.

But the specifics of what defines success for Cardoso in Year 2?

“You’ll just have to see,” she said. “On the court.”

Clark will head back to Iowa for an exhibition Sunday between her Indiana Fever and the Brazilian national team, a game airing on ESPN. The Fever’s exhibition game against the Washington Mystics on Saturday will be on NBA TV.

Reese will lead the Chicago Sky back to her alma mater, LSU, on Friday to face the Brazilian team. Sky teammate Kamilla Cardoso played for Brazil in February 2024, trying to help it qualify for the Paris Olympics. That game will be part of a doubleheader on Ion.

The WNBA will show all 15 of its preseason games either on national television or the league pass.

“We’ve seen the demand for WNBA content grow exponentially and we are meeting that demand by working with our broadcast partners and our teams to make a significant investment by making all 15 preseason games available to WNBA fans,” Chief Growth Officer Colie Edison said.

The league showed two exhibition games in 2023 and four last year, including Clark’s debut, which was on league pass. Reese’s preseason debut against the Minnesota Lynx wasn’t televised, but a fan livestreamed it on social media. The livestream drew significant attention, getting millions of views.

The two rookies last season helped the league draw record-breaking viewership. ESPN games averaged 1.2 million viewers in the regular season, a 170% increase from the previous year. The postseason averaged 1.1 million viewers, making it the league’s most-viewed playoffs in 25 years.

The other nationally televised game will be the Dallas Wings versus the Las Vegas Aces at Notre Dame in the first game of the Ion doubleheader Friday. Three former Irish stars — Dallas’ Arike Ogunbowale and Las Vegas’ Jewell Loyd and Jackie Young — are coming back to campus.

That game also will mark the debut of Paige Bueckers, the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft by the Wings two weeks ago.