In a famous “Seinfeld” scene, Jerry arrives at a car-rental counter with a reservation. The attendant tells him they have his reservation, but they ran out of cars. Seinfeld is perplexed: The whole purpose of the reservation is to keep the car there.
“I know why we have reservations,” the attendant tells him.
“I don’t think you do,” Seinfeld replies. “If you did, I’d have a car. See, you know how to take the reservations, you just don’t know how to hold the reservations. And that’s really the most important part.”
The Sky organization operates a lot like that car-rental place, as the 2026 All-Star weekend shows.
Many of the stars arriving in town this weekend — Kahleah Copper, Marina Mabrey, Courtney Williams and Angel Reese — have worn a Sky uniform before. All are now reaching new heights elsewhere.
Which just goes to show you that the Sky know how to take reservations — they know how to get talented players in the door. But since their 2021 championship, they haven’t shown they know how to keep them.
Will this ever change? Can the Sky navigate the shift from an era in which top players often stayed with a single team for their entire careers — the way Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley nearly did in Chicago — to one of much freer player movement?
Because once again, despite their losing record this season, the Sky have several young players with star potential.
Rickea Jackson, acquired from the Sparks in a steal of a deal, showed in four games before tearing her ACL that she can be the dynamic two-way forward teams need to contend.
Sydney Taylor, an undrafted rookie whom the Sky plucked from a Polish league, possesses another hugely valuable skill set: She is a super-athletic gunner who creates her own shot too.
Kamilla Cardoso, the Sky’s No. 3 pick in the 2024 draft, has had stretches of absolute dominance inside.
All three are under team control through 2028 — Cardoso and Jackson are still on their rookie contracts, and Taylor can negotiate only with the Sky after this season.
But what happens after that? Will they want to sign long term?
We really don’t know. During training camp, Jackson said she would run through a wall for general manager Jeff Pagliocca and coach Tyler Marsh. Cardoso always calls the organization and coaching staff “amazing.”
But players often arrive saying all the right things — or genuinely believing them — then eventually decide their best career opportunities are elsewhere.
That’s been the pattern of the All-Star departures. The circumstances were different for Copper, Williams, Mabrey and Reese. But they all pointed to either 1) subpar resources 2) the whiplash of coaching changes or 3) both.
On the StudBudz livestream last season, Williams described the absurd scene after Sky practices: showering next to “randoms” at the public park district. She also couldn’t believe ownership wouldn’t spring for hotel rooms for players on game nights, despite the long commute back to their suburban housing.
Has the environment changed fundamentally since then? The evidence is mixed.
Resources have improved, as they have across the league. Players are now housed downtown, no longer practice at a park district and have access to a larger performance staff. But ownership’s mismanagement of the practice-facility timeline undercuts some of that progress.
And as for stability in coaching? Marsh has gotten more runway than Teresa Weatherspoon did, but after what is likely to be a second season without a playoff appearance, whether he returns next season is anyone’s guess.
Which brings us back to Seinfeld’s insight into the nature of reservations.
The Sky can feel good about having Jackson, Taylor and Cardoso under team control through 2028.
But control is not the same thing as commitment. A little more time does not guarantee trust. They still need to prove they can hold these players down.
That’s really the most important part.
