Chicago Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot’s 2025 season didn’t go the way she imagined, but it’s allowed her to continue her career with purpose just the same.
Vandersloot is a 15-year WNBA veteran whose time as a professional basketball player has been littered with accolades. During her career, which includes time with the Chicago Sky and New York Liberty, she’s won two WNBA championships, earned five WNBA All-Star nods and led the league in assists seven seasons. When she returned to Chicago after a stint in New York, she hoped to continue building on her prolific career, but a season-ending injury impacted her plans.
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However, the change in vision for the season hasn’t stopped how Vandersloot’s operated. As she dives into her comeback and preparation for a return to the court, the Chicago guard is using the time to continue pushing, as her mom, who passed away from cancer in 2024, would have wanted her to. Vandersloot shared with For The Win that her mother was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer, two years ago.
Since that time, it’s become her mission to learn more about the disease and keep her mom’s legacy top of mind through continued work with the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. She’s kept everything she learned from her mother close to the vest as she navigates parenthood with her wife, Allie Quigley. Vandersloot says it’s devastating that her mom will never get a chance to meet their child, but she’s using this time to make sure she’s the best parent and basketball player possible moving forward.
“She taught me everything I need to know about being the greatest mom,” Vandersloot told For The Win. “That’s a main one, every single day of focus, but also … playing and being myself. She was a huge basketball fan. Loved watching me play. It brought her so much joy. If I continue to do that and be myself and enjoy it, I think that’s one way that I can honor my mom the best.”
For The Win recently sat down with Vandersloot to talk more about the woman who inspired her, how she got through a challenging season with the Sky and what went down in the Vandersloot-Quigley household when the veteran guard surpassed a record her wife previously owned.
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What things from your mom have you implemented into your life and parenthood?
I think her tenderness. She had a great balance of ― I was terrified of her in a way of I never wanted to disappoint her or mess up. But she did it in a loving way. I think that was something that I’m trying to ― obviously, at four months, there’s very little of discipline or anything like that. It’s mostly just tenderness and love. [laughs]
As she continues to grow up, I want her to know and understand, like I did, how much I meant to my mom. Me and my sister, her kids, were her world, and Jana, who was named after my mom, will be Allie and I’s world forever. I want her to know that and feel that every single day.
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How are you finding the silver lining in your WNBA season not ending the way you hoped?
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MAY 25: Courtney Vandersloot #22 of the Chicago Sky controls the ball against the Los Angeles Sparks in the first half at Crypto.com Arena on May 25, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
I think adversity always helps you build character. This is something that, as a group, as an individual … this is some adversity that, at the end of this, if we can get through this and understand if we can get some positives from this, it will help in the long run. I do believe that. Seasons like [2025] are big learning curves. You can either learn from it or waste it, and I think that for some positive lining, going through adversity really helps in the long run.
That’s the kind of stuff you really build from the ground up. That organization was really adamant about building championship culture again. This is the kind of stuff that ― you can get through this, it’s a really good place to start. Unfortunate. Nobody wants to start life going through a season like this, but it’s part of the grind. It’s part of the process.
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Are there any players on your team or across the WNBA that you have bonded with during this time?
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – JULY 27: Kia Nurse #11 of the Chicago Sky dribbles up the court against the Indiana Fever during the first half at the United Center on July 27, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Kia Nurse has been a big person for me, just because she tore her ACL … knowing what to expect, how to handle things. I also reached out to Katie Lou [Samuelson], who did hers a few weeks before me. She was obviously in Chicago earlier on in her career, and then we spent time at Unrivaled together.
Just people that have done it recently, because so many things are changing, and it’s just nice to have that community [who] know what to expect. This is my first surgery. This is my first time rehabbing a major injury. So it’s nice to have people that are around you that have done it.
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What were the vibes like after you passed your wife as the all-time leading scorer in Sky history?
Aug 20, 2022; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot (22) celebrates with guard Allie Quigley (14) during the second half of Game 2 of the first round of the WNBA playoffs against the New York Liberty at Wintrust Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
She was happy for me, and I don’t know if it was like she just had to be. There was very little trash talk. She was very happy to keep it in the family. I think if anyone was gonna beat it, she was okay with it being me if that makes sense.
She’s obviously been a huge support system for me throughout both of our playing careers, knowing at one point, we were going back and forth. She kind of took the lead for a while and kept it until now, but it’s kinda her fault. She wanted me to come back to Chicago. Her record was at risk.
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What is one moment from your career you’d want to relive on a loop?
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – OCTOBER 17: Members of the Chicago Sky pose with the trophy after defeating the Phoenix Mercury in Game Four of the WNBA Finals to win the championship at Wintrust Arena on October 17, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Oh, come on. The [Sky’s] championship. Hands down. It was the best moment of my career and the best moment for the franchise, just because of the whole journey, everything we put into this. It was not smooth by any means.
We were kinda the underdog. Getting to the mountaintop of that season was just unbelievable. The city was there for the entire run. It was just such an incredible moment for everyone: the family, the team, the fanbase, the players ― all of it. I still can feel the rush after Game 4.
What was your “welcome to the WNBA moment” that you still think about?
PHOENIX, AZ – JULY 01: Courtney Vandersloot #21 of the Chicago Sky handles the ball against the Phoenix Mercury during the WNBA game at US Airways Center on July 1, 2011 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
This is the problem when you’ve been in the league for so long. You kind of forget what your “welcome to the WNBA” moment was. [thinks] Well, actually, I do remember. I don’t know if this is the same. I have a new one if it’s not the same.
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One of my first games, I maybe had eight turnovers, and it was like [laughs] ― they couldn’t even keep me on the floor. I remember the coaches after came up to me and [were] just like, “You won’t forget this game. You’re going to be okay, but this one will stick in your mind.” Obviously, it has like a million years later because I couldn’t keep the ball in possession [laughs again]. So that was my first “OK, this is the league.” This is the difference between college and the league.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Q&A: Sky’s Courtney Vandersloot talks motherhood, WNBA comeback
