Sky predicted to pair Angel Reese with familiar face amid trade rumors originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Angel Reese isn’t exactly thrilled at the direction of the Chicago Sky. Two years into her WNBA career, Reese believes she has held up her end of the bargain — she has been selected to two All-Star teams and has led the league in rebounding in both of her professional seasons since the Sky selected her seventh overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft.
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But Reese standing out individually has not corresponded to team success in Chicago. The Sky have a 23-61 record over the past two seasons — meaning Chicago will be selecting early in the loaded 2026 draft, while Reese determines how long she is willing to wait for the franchise to build a winner around her multifaceted skill set.
MORE: WNBA fans are convinced Angel Reese revealed where she wants to be traded
A 2026 mock draft published Wednesday on Bleacher Report though has the Sky dipping into the LSU well one more time to select Tigers guard Flau’jae Johnson with the fifth overall pick — a selection that may well entice Reese to rethink her future and continue to build a winning foundation in Chicago.
Reese and Johnson were teammates on the 2023 LSU team that won the NCAA championship over Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes — the game that tipped off the Clark-Reese “rivalry” that has continued into the WNBA. When Reese moved on to The W, the Tigers became Johnson’s team; as a junior in 2024-25, the Georgia-born guard averaged 18.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game as LSU made a run to the Elite Eight.
Away from the court, Johnson — like Reese — has cultivated a strong social media following. She has 1.7 million followers on TikTok, and a number of NIL deals have made her one of college basketball’s richest players. Unlike Reese, Johnson has a burgeoning musical career as a rapper signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label; she has released three albums and four extended plays since 2022.
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But on the court, it is no secret that the Sky need help at the guard positions, and urgently. Johnson’s quickness and talent as a three-level scorer would make her an instant starter in Chicago come 2026, a key part of the franchise’s ongoing rebuild…but only time will tell if Reese sticks around for a chance to reunite with one of the country’s most explosive scorers.
