Skylar Diggins benched in Chicago after 19 games: Why the Sky made the move and how the star is reacting

Seven-time All-Star Skylar Diggins confirmed Monday that she has been benched just 19 games into her tenure with the Chicago Sky. Diggins first took to social media to vent her frustration about the decision before speaking to the media after practice in Tempe. The 6-14 Sky are in Arizona to take on the Phoenix Mercury on Tuesday. 

"Now I'm coming off the bench?????? Cool," Diggins posted on Instagram on Monday. That was followed by a video that seemed to point to issues behind the scenes. "And the crazy part about it all is that I've been so quiet. I've been so good and quiet," Diggins said. 

After practice, Diggins said that she had to accept the coaching staff's decision. 

"Every decision that's made basketball-wise is made by [Marsh]," Diggins said. "That's my boss. Even if I don't like decisions, I have to be a pro and go with whatever he thinks.

"I've been in this league for almost 400 games. I've been in a lot of places, and that's always the case. I've been putting my body on the line. I'm here for this team. I've done everything that's been asked of me. I've been great professionally. That's the decision that's made, and I gotta live with that."

Diggins, the No. 3 pick in 2013, has started 341 of her 354 career games and has not come off the bench since 2016. 

Why did Diggins sign with the Sky?

Diggins spent the last two seasons with the Seattle Storm, who tried to build a contender around her and Nneka Ogwumike. That experiment failed -- the Storm were eliminated in the first round in each of the last two seasons -- and Diggins was part of the exodus from Seattle this offseason. 

Instead of signing with a contender to chase a ring as she nears the end of her Hall of Fame career, Diggins decided to join the Sky, who had gone 23-61 in the last two seasons and finished tied for last place in 2025.

"I've been on the other side in 2021, playing versus that championship team, and just seeing the arena light up, seeing Chicago basketball at its peak," Diggins said at the Sky's media day, when asked why she signed in free agency. She also pointed to the organization being "serious about wanting to get back to a high level." 

Playing in Chicago also gave Diggins, a South Bend, Indiana native, a chance to return home. Of course, it helped that the Sky gave her a two-year, $1.8 million contract -- more than the $1.78 million she had earned in the last 10 seasons of her career (2016-2025) combined, per Spotrac. 

Diggins complains about 'frustrating experience,' calls out 'loser mentality'

Ahead of the season, everyone from general manager Jeff Pagliocca to coach Tyler Marsh to Diggins' teammates spoke about the importance of her leadership. 

"It's been two weeks and I can't put into words the magnitude of what her presence has been thus far," Marsh said at media day. "You feel it as soon as she walks into the gym. There's an accountability, there's a level of focus that she demands that's contagious to the rest of that group. I think they feed off of that. That's what we wanted when we brought her in."

While Diggins and the Sky got off to an exciting 3-1 start, everything fell apart after Rickea Jackson tore her ACL in their fourth game, and it didn't take long for Diggins to voice her concerns. 

"We gotta have more maturity and more leadership on and off the floor," Diggins said after a June 7 defeat to the Toronto Tempo that dropped the team to 4-7. "... If it was just versus one team, I'd understand that, but now it's been struggles. That's a trend of ours. It's disappointing. Really is. It's frustrating.

"The games ain't gonna slow down, and teams are gonna keep getting better and better around us, so we gotta figure out how we're gonna turn this corner here. It's been an extremely frustrating experience."

"Like (Azurá) said, effort all around needs to go up, and we have to get out of that loser mentality that we have," Diggins continued.

Little has improved since then. The Sky are 3-13 since that 3-1 start, and have sunk to 13th place at 6-14. They are four and a half games behind the Washington Mystics for the eighth and final playoff spot, and to make matters worse, owe the Mystics a 2027 first-round pick swap. (Remarkably, they also owe the Mystics an unprotected 2028 first-round pick.) 

Chicago Sky's season slipping away in familiar fashion as Skylar Diggins bemoans 'loser mentality'

Isabel Gonzalez

Why has Diggins been benched?

Marsh didn't shed much light on his decision to move Diggins to the bench, nor did he disclose who would take her place. "It's a coach's decision. It's my decision, and the conversations that me and Skylar had will stay between us," Marsh said after practice Monday. "She understands how effective she can still be and how big of a piece that she is for us on this team".

But we can draw some of our own conclusions, and the decision comes amid Sydney Taylor's breakout, franchise legend Courtney Vandersloot's return from injury and a clear decline in play from Diggins. Taylor, an undrafted rookie, is averaging 16.4 points on 47% shooting since she was inserted into the starting lineup. And while Vandersloot has only played three games so far upon her return from a torn ACL, the Sky have won her 48 minutes by 22 points. 

Diggins is one of the best guards of her generation, and at her best was a dynamic two-way presence who could both score and facilitate. We've seen only glimpses of that player this season. Diggins is averaging 14.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.9 assists on 39.2% shooting. The only two times she's scored less or shot worse was her rookie season and 2016, when she was returning from a torn ACL. 

While Diggins is shooting the ball well from 3-point range -- 38.2% on 3.6 attempts per game -- she doesn't get to the basket like she used to, and her finishing has fallen off a cliff. She's shooting a career-worst 41.1% in the restricted area and 39.8% in the paint overall. 

As concerning as some of her offensive issues have been, her defensive decline has been a much bigger issue for the Sky. Over the winter, Pagliocca put forth a new vision for Sky basketball based on "toughness and grit," and players they knew were "gonna fight at all times," he said. "We wanted to make sure that the team was much more competitive than it has been."

But despite signing a number of defensive-minded players, the Sky have struggled on that side of the ball. Overall, they are 12th in defensive rating (107.9) and 12th in opponent turnover rate (16.6%). The difference with and without Diggins has been staggering, and can no longer be written off as small sample size theater. 

The Sky's season is slipping away and there's no benefit to tanking. Moving Diggins to the bench may not be the magic fix that turns everything around, but it's certainly worth a shot given the underlying data.