Chennedy Carter scores game-high 26 points in electric comeback at Atlanta

ATLANTA — Chennedy Carter’s return to Atlanta on Tuesday was accompanied by a sense of excitement.

It had been almost two years since she last played a game against the Dream, the team that drafted her with the fourth overall pick in 2020.

Four years later, Carter is at Sky, a franchise she considers “home.”

“They allow me to be myself,” Carter said. “When you allow players to be themselves and you don’t try to change them, you get the best version of that player on and off the field.”

Carter’s first three seasons in the WNBA were fraught with challenges.

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 did not play in 2021 and was traded to the Sparks before the 2022 season.

After one season in Los Angeles, Carter was released.

Her return to the WNBA after a season without playing is, she says, due to her growth, as a player and as a person. She spent the last year playing in Turkey and China. That experience, she says, allowed her to elevate her game but also “become more mature.”

“Most of the situations I’ve been through haven’t defined me,” Carter said at the team’s media day in May. “They’ve made me stronger.”

Carter signed a training camp contract with the Sky in February after discussions with coach Teresa Weatherspoon and general manager Jeff Pagliocca. Weatherspoon has known Carter personally for years, and one thing she knew from the start was that Carter could be the driving force for the Sky. It was just a matter of putting her in the right situation.

“She wanted to be surrounded by people who cared about her as a human being,” Pagliocca said. “We wanted her to feel that way. That it was about relationships first and basketball second.”

Seven weeks into the season, Carter leads the Sky in scoring at 15.3 points per game. She scored 26 points Tuesday against the Dream to break a tie with Marina Mabrey, whose four points dropped her scoring average to 14.1. After Carter made her case for sixth-place player of the year honors by coming off the bench in the first 12 games, Weatherspoon inserted her into the starting lineup on June 16.

The Sky were one of the worst teams in the league in the first quarter with Carter as a backup. They averaged 18.4 points per quarter in their first 12 games, ranking 11th. In the next five games, the Sky averaged a league-best 24.6 points.

“It was just about her finding her footing, feeling comfortable, being confident and letting her game flow,” Weatherspoon said. “She’s still trying to find her groove, but she’s doing a great job of coming in and scoring for us.”

List of 10 players

The Sky are expected to continue playing with 10 players available for the remaining two games of their three-match trip.

At this point, Weatherspoon said her priority is preparing the team in front of her. The Sky’s roster is down to 10 players after Pagliocca released point guard Kysre Gondrezick on Friday. Center Elizabeth Williams underwent season-ending surgery on her right meniscus last week.

Since Friday, six players, including Gondrezick, have been released across the league. Pagliocca will monitor the list of players who can be released.

The Sky could use seven-day contracts while considering other options, such as the possibility of a trade. Seven-day contracts would give Pagliocca some flexibility while maintaining additional cap space. According to HerHoopStats.com, the Sky have $165,378 in cap room.

The deadline for trades is August 20.