Teresa Weatherspoon to become Chicago Sky's next coach, according to her agent

The Chicago Sky have an agreement in place with Teresa Weatherspoon to make her their next coach, according to her agent, Richard Gray.

He confirmed the news in a text message to The Associated Press on Tuesday night.

The Sky, who won the 2021 WNBA championship, have been searching for a new coach since James Wade left in the middle of the season to take an assistant job with the NBA's Toronto Raptors. Chicago announced at the end of the season, after it was eliminated from the playoffs by the Las Vegas Aces, that interim coach Emre Vatanseyer wouldn't return.

The Athletic was first to report the negotiations with Weatherspoon.

The Sky will hire a general manager separately. Wade and then Vatanseyer worked as both coach and GM, but the team announced after the season it would separate the positions like every other team in the WNBA now has.

Weatherspoon returns to the WNBA after working with the NBA's New Orleans Pelicans since 2019. She first was a player development coach and then an assistant starting in 2020. The team released her this past June.

The Naismith Hall of Famer had a stellar playing career with the New York Liberty, earning WNBA Defensive Player of the Year honors in each the league’s first two years. She led the Liberty to the Finals four times, the last in 2002. New York is back there now for the first time since then and trails Las Vegas 1-0.

Weatherspoon was a head coach in college, leading her alma mater Louisiana Tech from 2009-14.

Half the WNBA's coaches are now former players, including both finals coaches, Las Vegas' Becky Hammon and New York's Sandy Brondello. The Phoenix Mercury still have a coaching vacancy.

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AP Sports Writer Andrew Seligman contributed to this report.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball