Kiah Gillespie, a 3rd-round pick in 2020, won’t play for the Chicago Sky this season for personal reasons

CHICAGO — The Chicago Sky waived guards Alexis Prince and Japreece Dean and announced forward Kiah Gillespie won’t play the 2020 season in advance of Tuesday’s WNBA roster deadline.

The WNBA and its players union set the deadline for teams to get under the salary cap so players would begin to be paid June 1, the Associated Press reported. That means teams had to set their rosters before seeing players in training camp, which was set to open April 26 but was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Sky’s roster is now at 11 players.

The Sky selected Dean and Gillespie in the third round of last month’s draft. Dean was the 30th overall pick out of UCLA, while Gillespie was the No. 32 pick out of Florida State, where she was an AP honorable mention and All-American.

The Sky said Gillespie is sitting out for personal reasons, and so the team will retain her rights for the 2021 season.

Prince signed a training camp contract in February. She has played in 20 career games with the Mercury and Dream in 2017 and 2018.

“I’m most looking forward to us being in the pre-practice circle for the first time,” Sky general manager and coach James Wade said in a statement. “That’s the one time when I can see everybody’s faces at the same moment. … That’s probably the one thing I’ve missed the most, us being together, getting ready for a common goal — and that’s to be the best team that we can possibly be.”

———

©2020 Chicago Tribune

Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.