Sky Extend Coach, GM James Wade’s Contract Through 2025 Season

The 47-year-old has taken the team to the playoffs every year since 2018, including leading them to win the WNBA title last season.
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The reigning WNBA champions, the Sky, announced on Wednesday that they are extending coach and general manager James Wade through the 2025 season.

Wade has worked in this role since the 2018 season, helping the franchise to its first WNBA title last season.

“I’m very excited and pleased that the organization has entrusted me to lead this franchise and it’s very humbling to know that I get to coach this group of players and work in this great organization for an extended period of time,” Wade said, via the team’s press release. “I’m very honored and I feel very blessed.”

Through his first four seasons, not including 2022, Wade has helped the Sky to a 74–50 record (.597), which marks the most successful record by any Sky coach in the team’s history.

The Sky are currently playing in the playoffs, advancing to the semi-finals after eliminating the Liberty Tuesday night. Wade has taken the team to the postseason in every year that he’s coached.

This season alone, Wade was named the WNBA Coach of the Month in June and July after the Sky tallied a 9–2 record. The 47-year-old also worked as one of the two head coaches for the 2022 WNBA All-Star Game, which was played in Chicago.

On Monday, Wade was named the WNBA Executive of the Year.

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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.