The Chicago Sky are the WNBA’s most confusing team
COLLEGE PARK, GEORGIA – SEPTEMBER 5: Azura Stevens #23 of the Los Angeles Sparks shoots the ball before a game between Los Angeles Sparks and Atlanta Dream at Gateway Center Arena on September 5, 2025 in College Park, Georgia. 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 Andrew J. Clark/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images) | ISI Photos via Getty Images
Stevens is a very talented forward who took on a starter role for the Sparks during a rebuilding era, and will now head back to Chicago. Stevens was part of the 2021 Sky Championship squad, but things look a lot different in Chicago these days, and Stevens is now a veteran player in her return.
Breaking: Azurá Stevens has agreed to a three-year deal to return to the Chicago Sky, sources told ESPN.
The 6-foot-6 forward is coming off a career year with the Sparks, where she averaged 12.8 PPG, 38.1% 3PT, 8.0 RPG and 2.1 APG, finishing second in MIP voting pic.twitter.com/sdobPHHgI2
First of all, Azura, get your bag. The grade isn’t about that. It’s more about the confusion in the way the Chicago Sky are moving. Are you tanking, or are you trying to be competitive? Signing veterans like Skylar Diggins and Stevens appear to be win-now moves, but Angel Reese was just traded away. You appear set to give up Ariel Atkins in a presumed trade, who is a player you traded away the No. 3 pick in 2025 (Sonia Citron) for. Getting back Rickea Jackson (reportedly) would be a good move. Yet, just today, the Sky traded away their 2028 first-round pick for Jacy Sheldon… make it make sense?
The Sky are currently tied for the second-worst odds to win the WNBA Championship in 2026. They also gave the Mystics the right to swap first-round picks with them in 2027, and now outright gave them their 2028 pick.
This is more a grade on the Sky’s choices than Azura as a prospect. She raises their level of play substantially and will be an excellent floor spacer around Kamilla Cardoso. The fact that she’s on a three-year deal probably impacts the overall money she will make, but that also locks her in to another rebuilding team for three years. Overall this has just been a strange offseason for the Sky, so it’s hard to give this move too high of marks.
COLLEGE PARK, GEORGIA – SEPTEMBER 5: Azura Stevens #23 of the Los Angeles Sparks shoots the ball before a game between Los Angeles Sparks and Atlanta Dream at Gateway Center Arena on September 5, 2025 in College Park, Georgia. 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 Andrew J. Clark/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images) | ISI Photos via Getty Images
When Nneka Ogwumike committed to go back to the LA Sparks, it was clear Azura Stevens was likely heading out the door.
Stevens is a very talented forward who took on a starter role for the Sparks during a rebuilding era, and will now head back to Chicago. Stevens was part of the 2021 Sky Championship squad, but things look a lot different in Chicago these days, and Stevens is now a veteran player in her return.
Breaking: Azurá Stevens has agreed to a three-year deal to return to the Chicago Sky, sources told ESPN. The 6-foot-6 forward is coming off a career year with the Sparks, where she averaged 12.8 PPG, 38.1% 3PT, 8.0 RPG and 2.1 APG, finishing second in MIP voting pic.twitter.com/sdobPHHgI2
— Alexa Philippou (@alexaphilippou) April 11, 2026
Grading Azura Stevens to the Chicago Sky: C
First of all, Azura, get your bag. The grade isn’t about that. It’s more about the confusion in the way the Chicago Sky are moving. Are you tanking, or are you trying to be competitive? Signing veterans like Skylar Diggins and Stevens appear to be win-now moves, but Angel Reese was just traded away. You appear set to give up Ariel Atkins in a presumed trade, who is a player you traded away the No. 3 pick in 2025 (Sonia Citron) for. Getting back Rickea Jackson (reportedly) would be a good move. Yet, just today, the Sky traded away their 2028 first-round pick for Jacy Sheldon… make it make sense?
The Sky are currently tied for the second-worst odds to win the WNBA Championship in 2026. They also gave the Mystics the right to swap first-round picks with them in 2027, and now outright gave them their 2028 pick.
This is more a grade on the Sky’s choices than Azura as a prospect. She raises their level of play substantially and will be an excellent floor spacer around Kamilla Cardoso. The fact that she’s on a three-year deal probably impacts the overall money she will make, but that also locks her in to another rebuilding team for three years. Overall this has just been a strange offseason for the Sky, so it’s hard to give this move too high of marks.
#Deadspin #Larry #Fitzgerald #Arizona #gave #home">Deadspin | Larry Fitzgerald thanks all of Arizona: ‘You gave me a home’
Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinee Larry Fitzgerald and his son Devin Fitzgerald unveil his bust during the Class of 2026 enshrinement ceremony at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 8, 2026.
One day after being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, longtime Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald paid for a full-page ad in the Arizona Republic to thank everyone who made a Minnesota native feel welcome in the state he calls home.
After being selected by the Cardinals with the third overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft, Fitzgerald spent all 17 years of his NFL career in Arizona. He caught 1,432 passes for 17,492 yards and 121 touchdowns while earning 11 trips to the Pro Bowl.
Fitzgerald ranks second to Jerry Rice on the NFL’s all-time lists for receptions and receiving yards. He stands sixth in touchdown catches, trailing Rice, Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Chris Carter and Marvin Harrison.
Here’s the message Fitzgerald penned for his Arizona Republic ad:
People have asked me countless times what it felt like to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The truth is, it was one of the greatest honors of my life.
But this really isn’t a Hall of Fame story.
It’s a thank-you letter.
I arrived in Arizona as a 20-year-old kid who didn’t know a single person. I had no idea this desert would become the place that would shape me into the man I am today.
The day I landed was the same day the nation learned Pat Tillman had lost his life. Pat is one of America’s great heroes.
I stepped off the plane into a state where its people were carrying real grief, and something inside me grew quiet. I started paying attention.
You learn quickly what loyalty looks like when it isn’t just a word.
For the next 17 seasons, I quietly measured myself against the standard Pat Tillman set. I’m still not sure I ever lived up to it.
Somewhere along the way, Arizona stopped being the place where I lived and became the place I was from.
It happened through a thousand ordinary moments until one day, I realized this was simply home. Not because I was a Hall of Famer. Not because I was a wide receiver. Just because the people of this state allowed me to be Larry.
You don’t fall in love with a place because of its stadiums. You fall in love on quiet mornings hiking Camelback Mountain.
On crisp fall afternoons walking a golf course. During summers in Flagstaff and standing among the red rocks of Sedona that remind you just how small you are in the best possible way.
When I stopped playing football, I walked away quietly. I’m known for my Irish goodbyes. Arizona even gave me that. Yet you kept showing up for me anyway, especially through the work of my foundation. Your support was never conditional. You never asked me to be anything other than myself, and somehow that was always enough.
Arizona gave a kid from Minneapolis something he didn’t even know he was searching for.
Belonging.
And that sense of belonging changed me.
After a while, you weren’t cheering for a wide receiver anymore, you were cheering for one of your own.
So this isn’t really a story about 17 years in a Cardinals uniform or a bronze bust in Canton.
It’s the story of a young man who was welcomed by a state that owed him nothing and gave him everything.
Thank you, Arizona.
Thank you for letting a kid from somewhere else become one of your own.
Thank you for embracing not just the player, but the man.
You gave me far more than a career. You gave me friendships that will last a lifetime. You gave me purpose beyond football.
You gave me a place where my children will always know they belong.
#Larry #Fitzgeralds #Hall #Fame #induction #years #making">Larry Fitzgerald’s Hall of Fame induction is 25 years in the making
When I arrived to cover the Minnesota Vikings for the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 2000, it was clear I was dealing with a star-studded roster.
The team boasted future Pro Football Hall of Famers; wide receivers Cris Carter and Randy Moss and defensive tackle John Randle. Plus, there were a ton of other stars including quarterback Daunte Culpepper, center Matt Birk and running back Robert Smith. The Vikings were loaded with star power.
The talent around the team wasn’t relegated simply to the roster, however.
That summer I first laid my eyes on a 16-year-old high school junior named Larry Fitzgerald Jr. The son of a local media member and close friend of Vikings’ head coach Dennis Green, Little Fitzy was a ball boy during training camp and on game days. It turns out, Larry Fitzgerald Jr. is very likely the most famous former NFL ball boy in history.
On reporting date, fellow reporter Kevin Seifert pointed out Fitzgerald to me and said “that’s a bad man.” Seifert didn’t say that about any of the actual Vikings that day.
Fitzgerald was already known as the best Minnesota high school prospect in years and he was considered one of the best high school players in the country. Seifert told me the buzz was that the kid was, no doubt, headed to the NFL in a half decade or so. Seifert was on the money. I’m not sure the Hall of Fame was mentioned or not.
But this weekend of course, that’s exactly where Little Fitzy is headed. He will be enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, on Saturday as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Fitzgerald will be remembered as one of the best and most productive wide receivers in league history after an incredible 17-season career with the Arizona Cardinals.
I have a ton of memories of being around Fitzgerald, but there’s one that stands out among them all.
One day after training camp, a nameless Vikings’ wide receiver camp body was getting extra work on a JUGS machine, catching balls. He was being tutored by Fitzgerald, who was showing this player how to properly approach the incoming ball. This was a child instructing a grown man an NFL team deemed good enough to attend training camp.
Larry Fitzgerald Jr. was special even back then.
In addition to his incredible natural football ability, Larry Fitzgerald Jr. stood out for his politeness and good nature. You could tell he was a good kid from the first time you met him.
There was no I’m-going-to-be-a-star attitude. He was genuine and he worked his tail off with the rest of the ball boys. There was no entitlement. It was as if he was using his time around an NFL camp as an internship for his future. He passed with flying colors.
I’ve always cherished following his career from his days at Pittsburgh in college to his days of dominating the NFL and I’ve enjoyed running into him over the years now and again.
#TNPL #Live #Allround #batting #display #propels #Nellai #Royal #Kings">TNPL 2026 Live: All-round batting display propels Nellai Royal Kings to 206/8
Follow Sportstar for extensive coverage of the tenth edition of the TNPL, from live scores and match reports to exclusive analysis and features.
TOSS
Tiruppur Tamizhans won the toss and chose to bowl first.
PLAYING XIs
Nellai Royal Kings: Athish SR(w), D Santhosh Kumar, Ajitesh Guruswamy, U Mukilesh, Rithik Easwaran, Sonu Yadav(c), Muhammed Adnan Khan, Ramalingam Rohit, Emmanuel Cherian, NS Harish, Rocky Bhasker
Tiruppur Tamizhans: Tushar Raheja(w), Amit Sathvik, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Mohamed Ali, Uthirasamy Sasidev, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore(c), M Mathivannan, S Mohan Prasath, R Silambarasan, Esakkimuthu A, T Natarajan
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