From the outset, it looked like this season would be the re-rise of the Sky. New coach. New “big two” tag-team tandem. New front office and leadership group. New players. New life.

A life, as we will found out early on, that is in its discovery (not rebuild!) stage; a life that this season will be finding itself game by game; a life that is incomplete. And will remain that way for a while.

Because, before their seminal No. 3 pick Kamilla Cardoso — the key component they calculated in the Kahleah Copper trade — went down with a shoulder injury that by early reports is going to keep her out for at least half of this season, the non-rebuild rebuild looked like it was going to have a short life span.

That turnaround was imminent. That way, sooner than later, the Sky were going to be back among the WNBA elite, back in title conversations.

Then remembrance. The 2023 Marina Mabrey trade with Dallas and the 2024 trade with Minnesota to move the Sky from eighth to seventh in this year’s draft (a pick that got them Angel Reese) both had “addendums” that included them giving up their second-round pick for next year and the rights for the Lynx to swap for their 2026 first-round pick and for the Wings to reserve the right to swap the Sky’s first-round pick in 2025.

Leaving the Sky open to very possibly not having any single-digit first-round picks in the next two drafts.

Which would be somewhat digestible if we didn’t have to watch Paige Bueckers all season long in her final year at UConn and think about how if former Sky coach and general manager James Wade, before his abrupt exodus, hadn’t Richard Daley’d the organization the way the former mayor did the city with the parking meters, maybe there would have been a chance the Sky (by learning how to put themselves deep in the loss category, not tank) position themselves this season to nab Ms. Buckets at the top of next year’s draft and complete the roster reconstruction that would have rivaled and reminisced the Storm’s 2015 and 2016 genius when they used their back-to-back No. 1 draft picks to get Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart to add with the already-there Sue Bird. Organically assembling a “big three” that won them a chip in 2018 and another in 2020.

Not only is Bueckers not going to be an option for the Sky, neither is Kiki Iriafen to complete what could be one of the best position-less frontcourts the W has ever seen. Or Olivia Miles or Azzi Fudd (both a year removed from injuries) as the point goddess who could do for the Sky what Jalen Brunson is doing for the Knicks. Or Hailey Van Lith, if she returns to self after spending a year under Kim Mulkey’s spell at LSU, where Reese starred.

Now add another year to those miss-outs, this time thanks to Adam Fox (current Sky president/CEO) and Jeff Pagliocca (current Sky GM). The same things don’t happen in 2026, just different players: Flau’jae Johnson, Kiki Rice and Ashlyn Watkins to be for the Sky what Jackie Young is for the Aces. All elsewhere because of suspect trade and questionable draft moves made that got us standing on a squared circle.

As Bleacher Report’s Joseph Zucker wrote about the Sky’s 2024 season: “Should the Sky wind up as one of the worst teams in the WNBA, the pick swap (as part of the Mabrey deal) could go down as one of the worst transactions in recent memory.”

Then epiphany. After watching all of the activity that’s happened with and within the Sky organization leading up to this discovery (again, not rebuild!) season, it’s hard not to believe that the light at the end of their tunnel is closer than it actually is. Especially after watching what the Bears just did over the last two years, maybe the Sky’re thinking long game and know (knew?) how to play this out perfectly all along. Maybe the Sky saw the further future instead of the near future as their salvation and it is we who didn’t.

Maybe they’re making queen moves and the rest of us are positioning pawns.

The endgame for them could be the 2027 draft, not the next two. The JuJu Watkins/MiLaysia Fulwiley/Madison Booker/Mikaylah Williams/Hannah Hidalgo generational, unicorn lottery that will change the trajectory of several WNBA franchises. So in the Sky’s mind, why not put themselves in position to be first then instead of now. To just wait the next two years in order to shape the next 10. To embrace incompleteness knowing that true completeness comes to those who plot instead of plan.

Am I giving them too much credit? Maybe. But we’ll see. They say in business, “Sometimes you have to lose a million dollars to make 3 million.” Well, sometimes in professional sports, you have to lose a season — or two — to win a few championships. To get back to where you belong. Sometimes, when playing the long game, it’s the smart ones who know how far away that light actually is.