Alter has sky-high expectations for 2021: ‘We want to win now’

Owner Michael Alter might not want to publicly acknowledge the mounting pressure on the Sky to win the WNBA title in 2021, but it’s most certainly there.

With the All-Star backcourt duo of Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley entering their final year of their contracts, expectations are high for the Sky to take advantage of their competitive window.

“I do think there is definitely a win-now mentality,” Alter told the Sun-Times by phone last week. “I’m not sure if I [view] it as a pressure or as an urgency. But we feel we’re not rebuilding. We feel how we felt last year, like we were in a position to win a championship, and we were very focused on that.”

Slumping after a promising start, the Sky made a last-ditch effort to salvage the season by dealing Jantel Lavender — who missed all of last season with a foot injury — and draft picks to the Fever for forward Stephanie Mavunga at the August trade deadline. There was a belief that Mavunga could provide much-needed frontcourt depth and defensive help as the Sky geared up for a second consecutive playoff berth.

But Mavunga, who was sidelined for part of last season with a broken nose, never fully established herself in the rotation, averaging just two points in 7.2 minutes over five games.

“She never had the time to get a rhythm because we didn’t have practice time . . . where we could get reps,” coach James Wade said.

Wade said he sees Mavunga as part of the future and believes “she’ll help us out a lot” next season once she has a full Sky training camp under her belt.

That said, Mavunga, whom the Fever drafted 14th overall in 2018, also could be packaged in a trade this offseason.

The Sky are in a challenging position as they teeter the line of being good but not quite good enough to win a championship. After beginning last season with a 10-4 record — their best start since 2013 — they were worn down by injuries and ended their year with a disappointing first-round playoff exit.

Wade’s assessment of 2020: “Stagnant.”

“We started off the season well, but we took a couple of steps backwards,” he said. “And I just want to make sure that we’re making Chicago take steps forward.”

To do that and become serious title contenders in 2021, they’ll need to make a splash this offseason.

Center Brittney Griner, whose future with the Phoenix Mercury is in question, seems like a one-woman solution to the Sky’s defensive woes. Forward Candace Parker is a free agent, although there’s speculation she’ll re-sign with the Los Angeles Sparks.

Wade, who’s also the team’s general manager, would have to shed salary-cap space and some future assets to pull off a deal for Griner or Parker. But such a move would launch the Sky from a slightly above-average team to the -WNBA’s upper echelon.

Alter and Wade have both said they feel the Sky have the pieces to win. But they also have indicated offseason moves could be coming.

“We want to win now,” Alter said. “We’ve just got to stay healthy and stay focused. And so that’s very much our mentality going into this season. And that’s not because it’s now-or-never pressure-wise — it’s because we’re there. We feel like we’ve got the pieces and we could beat anybody, and we should beat anybody. And so we just have to get it all together, improve on the areas we need to improve on . . . and stay healthy and get a little lucky. We’re right there.”