ATLANTA — Chennedy Carter’s return to Atlanta on Tuesday was accompanied by a sense of excitement.
It had been nearly two years since she last played in a game against the Dream, the team that drafted her with the fourth overall pick in 2020.
Four years later, Carter is with the Sky — a franchise she calls “home.”
“They’re allowing me to be me,” Carter said. “When you lock in and allow players to be themselves and not try to change them, you get the best version of that player on and off the court.”
Carter’s first three seasons in the WNBA came with hurdles.
She suffered an ankle injury as a rookie that forced her to miss two weeks during the WNBA’s bubble season in Bradenton, Florida. The following year, she was suspended by the Dream on July 5 for conduct “detrimental to the team.” She didn’t play in 2021 and was traded to the Sparks ahead of the 2022 season.
After one season in Los Angeles, Carter was waived.
Her journey back to the WNBA after a season off is one she credits to growth, as a player and as a person. She spent last year playing in Turkey and China. The experience, she said, helped elevate her game but also allowed her to “become more mature.”
“Most of the situations I’ve been through didn’t define me,” Carter said during the team’s media day in May. “They made me stronger.”
Carter signed a training-camp contract with the Sky in February after conversations with coach Teresa Weatherspoon and general manager Jeff Pagliocca. Weatherspoon has known Carter personally for years, and one thing she was certain of from the start was that Carter could be the Sky’s engine. It was just about putting her in the right situation.
“She wanted to be around people that cared about her as a human,” Pagliocca said. “We wanted her to feel that way. That it was about the relationship first and the basketball second.”
Seven weeks into the season, Carter is the Sky’s leading scorer with 15.3 points per game. She scored 26 on Tuesday against the Dream to break a tie with Marina Mabrey, whose four points dropped her average to 14.1. After Carter made a strong case for Sixth Player of the Year coming off the bench in the first 12 games, Weatherspoon inserted her into the starting lineup June 16.
The Sky were one of the worst first-quarter teams in the league with Carter coming off the bench. They averaged 18.4 points in the quarter in their first 12 games, ranking 11th. In the five games since, the Sky are averaging a league-best 24.6 points.
“It was just a matter of her finding her fit, getting comfortable, being confident and then allowing her game to flow,” Weatherspoon said. “She’s still trying to find her way but does a heck of a job coming in and scoring for us.”
10-player roster
The Sky are expected to continue playing with 10 available players through the remaining two games of their three-game trip.
At this point, Weatherspoon said her focus is on preparing the team she has in front of her. The Sky’s roster fell to 10 after Pagliocca waived guard Kysre Gondrezick on Friday. Center Elizabeth Williams had season-ending surgery on her right meniscus last week.
Since Friday, six players, including Gondrezick, have been waived across the league. Pagliocca will be scouting the waiver wire for a potential fit.
The Sky could use seven-day contracts while contemplating other options, such as the possibility of a trade. Seven-day contracts would give Pagliocca flexibility while maintaining extra cap space. According to HerHoopStats.com, the Sky have $165,378 in cap room.
The trade deadline is Aug. 20.
