The Seattle Storm has already undergone a rather eventful off-season in the news cycle.

An external investigation was conducted stemming from claims of bullying and harassment by the team’s coaching staff.

According to reports on Wednesday, no violations were found.

After those reports were released, we learned by Wednesday evening that franchise player Jewell Loyd requested a trade from the franchise that drafted her first overall back in 2015.

As prolific of a scorer as it gets, the Niles West product, born in Lincolnwood, is sure to have a solid list of suitors.

Maybe none as appealing as the Chicago Sky, however.

Here are three reasons why Loyd and the Sky make great sense for each other.

1.) Championship Pedigree

Experience is invaluable when speaking to building a team with the desires to contend.

Loyd is a player with a bevy of that, having made the playoffs in eight of her 10 years in the league.

She also has two championships and knows what “it” looks like regarding the individual work and team dynamics needed to confidently keep a team’s name in those conversations, making her very aware of what it does not feel or look like.

She’s been there, reaching the summit, serving as a never-ending reminder that things have to be done in particular ways daily.

Those dynamics also align directly with all that coach Tyler Marsh has communicated in his short time spearheading the new direction of the franchise from the sidelines.

The perspectives and chosen methods of approach grow more intentional and detailed knowing that daily habits are what make for a successful franchise regarding winning.

Loyd would immediately help further stamp this as Marsh works to both shift and establish identity with this new group.

Coming from a player with her status in the league as well, she’d be a much-needed pillar in tandem with the leadership Elizabeth Williams provides.

2.) Three-Point Shooting

The Sky were without collective viability in their spacing, true shooting, or elite shot-making talent for a great majority of the 2024 season — especially after trading Marina Mabrey just before the All-Star Break.

Though Banham certainly worked to provide a whole lot of that, she was the sole hub, which made operating in the half-court and generally finding space as constricted as can be.

Loyd is versatile in the ways she can generate said shots, doing so effectively off screens, in catch-and-shoot scenarios, in transition, and in pick-and-roll contexts.

Each of these, and the ways in which she has to be accounted for by a defense, would have her serve as not only a chess piece to strategically position and move around the board (in the half-court especially) but also as a piece for the Sky to consistently dictate with.

Though she is a volume scorer, and that sometimes comes at the cost of efficiency, the overarching threat that she is, is something that will keep a defense held to account for her and shift the way teams grew comfortable defending them in 2024.

She’d serve as a much-needed breath of fresh air in their offensive process, give them a boost in shot profile, and also allow the Sky to carve out space for their elite frontcourt talents to work with more room.

3.) Offensive Creation

Over the past two seasons, Loyd is a player who’s seen a shift in team context that placed a first-option type of onus on her shoulders, and a shift from being a player with some defensive attention to the player on her team that’s directly in the opponent’s crosshairs — and in multiple ways.

Her 2023 season, following the retirement of Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart’s decision to leave for New York in free agency, was dominant.

She led the league in scoring (24.7 points per game), which is also the third-highest mark in league history, and set the then-WNBA record for points scored in a season (939).

In 2023, just 12 players compiled 40+ possessions in isolation – her 88 points was only second to Rhyne Howard of the Atlanta Dream.

Loyd made the most threes in this context as well with 13.

The threat her creation poses for defenses often lends her to garnering the attention of 2-to-3 on her touches, which sets up shop for advantage creation in the other pockets of the floor external of her.

She’s adept at scoring for herself but is also a very good playmaker based on the attention she garners.

The Notre Dame product has finished top 12 or better in pick-and-roll points created in eight of her 10 seasons.

Even more, in what was a “down” season by her “Gold Mamba” standards (a moniker bestowed upon her by the late Kobe Bryant back in 2015), she generated 356 points in pick-and-roll — good for 9th most in the WNBA in 2024.

She also saw a defense “commit” to her on 207 of her pick-and-roll possessions last season, which was the eighth most.

This skill to engage multiple defenders, especially in pick-and-roll, is a dynamic that would greatly benefit the young Sky frontcourt pieces — Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso — as she’s great feeding a roller in these two-player scenarios, but is also adept at engaging their matchup, to then make both passes and scoring opportunities that much more effective.

In all, especially for a team that desires to take steps towards the contending realm, having the opportunity to add a former WNBA leading scorer who’s also a six-time All-Star, you at least have to see about it.

That latter part, in at least making a call to see about it, is sure to happen.

Having another hometown kid would be somewhat reminiscent to when the Sky surprisingly added Candace Parker prior to the 2021season, and we saw the result of that.