Chicago Sky Coach Sends Angel Reese Blunt Advice About 2028 Olympics Aspirations
The WNBA season is now back underway after the league's month-long break due to the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Angel Reese and the 10-14 Chicago Sky are hosting the 13-12 Phoenix Mercury on Thursday. And Sky first-year head coach Teresa Weatherspoon spoke with the media before the game began.
At one point in her pregame interview, Weatherspoon was asked about whether she has had conversations with Reese about eventually playing for the US women's national basketball team, and if she has given any advice about how to secure a spot on Team USA's future rosters.
"Well there hasn't been major conversation as of right now," Weatherspoon said, per Chicago State of Mind Sports. "I know that that's something [Reese] desires... so it will be a conversation about what it takes."
Weatherspoon knows firsthand what playing for Team USA demands. She won a gold medal with Team USA at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, and was on the American squad that secured bronze at the Barcelona 1992 Olympics.
Team USA has not lost an Olympic game since being upset against the Commonwealth of Individual States (CIS) in Barcelona.
"It's a grind," Weatherspoon added about what she'd tell Reese in potentially playing for Team USA. "It's a major grind. It's a major commitment... I had to make sure I played on everything... to give myself an opportunity to be part of an Olympic team."
While she was a spectator for Team USA's stressful gold medal game against France on Sunday, Reese has made it clear multiple times that she's hoping to play for the American squad at the 2028 Olympics, which takes place in Los Angeles.
Surely her and Weatherspoon will have more conversations about playing for Team USA as 2028 draws nearer.
GRANT YOUNG
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.