After a disappointing first-round exit last season, the Chicago Sky have become one of the teams to watch out for this season following some intriguing moves in the offseason. With the arrival of fresh talent in the form of Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso, the Windy City roster gave a glimpse of their might when they humbled last year’s WNBA finalists the New York Liberty in their recent pre-season encounter. However, this time Chicago will be the home of a former first-round pick who’ll be making a return after recovering from an unfortunate injury caused by an infamous incident, Kysre Gondrezick.

The former Indiana Fever No.2 will look to turn the tides in her favor professionally after missing out almost three years of her career. Nonetheless, the Sky ownership and management team saw her potential and provided her with a platform to showcase her exceptional skills. The same skills that had compelled the Fever to make her the 4th overall pick in the 2021 draft. This doesn’t come as a surprise for many considering her father Grant was an NBA star and her mother Lisa a national champion with Louisiana Tech. Being among one of the lottery picks obviously indicates her vast caliber as a basketball player.

Kysre Gondrezick was unstoppable during her NCAA days

The 5-foot-9 guard was quite an eminent personality since her High School days. She won the 2016 Michigan Miss Basketball representing Benton Harbor after averaging 40.5 points per game in her senior year. This also included a 72-point performance in a playoff game in a prep stage of her career.

In addition to this, Gondrezick also ended up being the second-highest scorer in Michigan girl’s history with a total of 2,827 points. Subsequently, she became a part of the Wolverines locker room for the 2016-2017 season. As a freshman Kysre Gondrezick made an appearance in 33 games which resulted in 24 double-digit scores. Then, she decided to continue her career in West Virginia. However, Gondrezick didn’t participate in the 2017-18 season because of the NCAA transfer rules.

Following this, she returned to the court and averaged 13.2 points and 4.0 assists per game in the 2018-19 campaign. These numbers improved when she played for the Mountaineers as a senior. Starting all 28 games, Gondrezick delivered 19.5 points along with 4.5 assists and 2.9 rebounds spending an average of 37.3 minutes on the hardwood.

As a result, this made her a worthy choice for any franchise when she decided to declare for the WNBA draft in 2021.

Gondrezick’s advent into the professional realm

The Indiana Fever didn’t have second thoughts about her as they made Gondrezick the highest selection ever in program history at West Virginia. Moreover, she also became the very first No. 4 pick in the franchise’s history and the second West Virginian player after Yolanda Paige to be a part of the Fever locker room. However, she couldn’t continue her college momentum professionally. The two-time All-Big 12 selection took the court for only 19 games. She could only register 1.9 points and 1.0 rebounds in just 9.1 minutes per game.

Additionally, on just 9 occasions, the rookie was seen on the court playing double-figure minutes. Still, her campaign had a silver lining. Evidently, she concluded the season being the fifth-best among all rookies in 3-point field goals and assists per game. Sadly, things got worse for the rookie as an unfortunate turn of events sent her life into a tailspin.

Kysre Gondrezick’s relationship with Houston Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr came under a very negative light on September 11, 2023. Porter was accused of assault as Kysre suffered a fractured vertebra in her neck. Kysre was taken to the NYU Langone Medical Center where the doctors confirmed the injury. Later, the WNBA star retracted her allegations of Porter Jr. and the latter was released after he paid $75,000. The case took its final turn on January 23, 2024, with Porter Jr. accepting a plea deal with the NYPD. But she will be looking forward to better things in Chicago.

Fans would love to see what she can offer while playing alongside Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso. The kind of numbers she pulled in college and high school are a testament to the immense talent she possesses.