Courtney Vandersloot, a former Kentwood High School basketball star, re-signed for one year with the WNBA champion Chicago Sky.
The upcoming 2022 WNBA season will mark Vandersloot’s 12th season with the Sky. She helped lead Chicago to its first title in October 2021.
Vandersloot, a point guard, will be paid $195,000 for the one-year contract she signed Feb. 17, according to the chicago.suntimes.com.
“We have built something special here in Chicago, and it didn’t happen overnight,” Vandersloot said in an article on the Sky website. “I am proud to be a part of this franchise and beyond excited for the opportunity to join my teammates and the Sky family to try and go back-to-back!”
The 5-foot-8 Vandersloot, a 2007 Kentwood graduate, played for Gonzaga University in Spokane before being drafted third overall in the 2011 WNBA draft by Chicago. At Kentwood, she led the Conquerors to a 28-1 mark her senior season and a third-place finish at state.
Vandersloot finished with 10 points,15 assists and nine rebounds as Chicago beat the Phoenix Mercury 80-74 in Game 4 of the best-of-five series for its first title.
Chicago also re-signed re-signed veteran guard Allie Quigley, the wife of Vandersloot, to a one-year, $135,000 contract, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
“We are incredibly happy to announce the signatures of Allie and Sloot ¬– we don’t take these moments for granted,” said James Wade, Sky general manager and coach on the team’s website. “This is a big day for our franchise to bring back two of the biggest cornerstones in our team’s history and they make every single player around them better. Both Allie and Sloot have done so much for our team and for the city to arrive at the level at this level, and it speaks so much about their character and talent.”
Vandersloot has led the WNBA in assists for the last five seasons (2017-2021). She is the first and only player in WNBA history to reach a 10 assists per game average and holds all-time WNBA records for: highest assists in a season (300), highest assists per-game in a season (9.1), and highest career assists-per-game (6.2).
Last season, she continued to re-write the league’s record book, recording the most assists in a single postseason (87), most assists in a playoff game (102), most assists in a Finals series (50), highest assist average in a playoff season (10.2) and highest assist average in a Finals series (12.5).
Vandersloot’s performance has garnered her three WNBA All-Star appearances (2011, 2019, 2021), a total of 21 WNBA Peak Performer awards (2015, 2017-21). In her first season, Vandersloot was named to the WNBA All-Rookie Team (2011). She now has been selected to the All-WNBA Second Team three times (2015, 2018, 2021) and the All-WNBA First Team twice (2019, 2020).
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