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Rickea Jackson is starting fresh with the Chicago Sky after a challenging two seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks. The No. 4 pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, she sought a new opportunity and had a say in her trade to Chicago.
(Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/TNS)
CHICAGO â Rickea Jackson was looking for a clean slate.
By the end of her second season in Los Angeles, the 6-foot-2 forward felt it was time for a change. The Sparks won only 29 games over those two years. Jackson, the No. 4 pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, averaged nearly 15 points last season yet still felt uncertain of her role in the teamâs future. Both sides agreed a change was needed.
When trade negotiations began during a whirlwind week of free agency, Jackson was offered the opportunity to provide a list of preferred landing spots â and a voice in a final deal. By the time the Sparks had a deal in place to swap Jackson for Ariel Atkins, Jackson felt she was choosing Chicago as much as the Sky were choosing her.
âI wanted to be somewhere where Iâm prioritized from the beginning,â Jackson told the Chicago Tribune. âItâs no secret that I basically had a different coach almost every year of my career, so I know how to adjust. But I just wanted to be somewhere that, from the jump, they got it right. From the jump, I felt prioritized. They know my game. They get who I am.â
Still, having agency in that decision didnât make the change any easier. Jackson thrives in a stable environment. Moving halfway across the country a week before training camp began didnât exactly provide that consistency.
Jackson brought some familiarity to her new home â sheâs a Detroit native and her mother, Caryn, grew up in Chicago â but she hadnât visited the city outside of games in more than a decade, when she drove down to watch her godsister Betnijah Laney debut with the Sky in 2015.
With only a few days to find an apartment, get a new car and make a plan for her dogs to move out to Chicago, Jackson still is feeling off balance. But the easiest antidote is to lean heavily into basketball. She emphasized professionalism from the first day of training camp, waking up earlier and tracking her diet more closely to prepare herself for the season.
Jackson is leaning this season on a central teaching from Nikki McCray-Penson, her former coach at Mississippi State: Donât let anyone put you in a box. Jackson sees McCray-Penson â a founding legend of the WNBA who died in 2023 after a long battle with breast cancer â as the last coach who poured both belief and challenge into her game.
Rickea Jackson left the Los Angeles Sparks seeking a clean slate after feeling uncertain about her role and the team's performance during her two seasons there.
Rickea Jackson averaged nearly 15 points per game last season with the Los Angeles Sparks.
The Sparks traded Rickea Jackson for Ariel Atkins as part of the deal during the free agency negotiations.
Rickea Jackson hopes to embrace a new opportunity and establish her role with the Chicago Sky after her trade.
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âI promised her I would never let anyone do that,â Jackson said. âShe was the first person that told me: âYou can be so much more than a four player (power forward). You can do so much more than a post player. I want you to do everything.ââ
Following McCray-Pensonâs guidance, Jackson hopes to develop into a more versatile player in Chicago. She was asked mostly to play the four throughout her two seasons in Los Angeles, but that will change in Chicago, where veteran forward AzurĂĄ Stevens will slot into the four and move Jackson out to the wing.
Jackson embraces this shift, which will allow her to dig into 3-point shooting and floor-spacing. She believes the four and three are often interchangeable in the WNBA, reflecting a playerâs preferences more than a locked-in expectation for a role.
âItâs evolving,â Jackson said. âWhoever you are as a player, I feel like thatâs what that position is for you. If you are a four player that can handle, itâs going to look a little different â you can pop, you donât have to roll. If youâre a generic post player, youâre probably going to roll a little bit more, set off screen. It has to be right for you.â
Coach Tyler Marsh and general manager Jeff Pagliocca are aligned in a vision for an extremely mobile frontcourt that will feature Jackson and Stevens flanking center Kamilla Cardoso. The Sky donât want to limit their bigs to the low block and plan to stretch the floor as much as possible, which appeals to a smaller forward like Jackson.
This blueprint for the Skyâs style of play â heavy spacing with ample length on the wing â is what attracted Jackson to the team despite the ânegativityâ surrounding its perception after several losing seasons and star departures.
âFrom what Iâve seen so far, Iâve got nothing but positivity,â Jackson told reporters after practice Wednesday. âTheyâre standing in my ear and letting it be known: I need to score, I need to be a dog from the beginning. Them pushing me, thatâs something that my career has been missing for a while. ⊠Itâs only Day 3 and honestly Iâm going to run through a wall for Tyler, for Jeff.â
Jackson doesnât hide the fact she wasnât content in Los Angeles, where her minutes and role vacillated and the Sparks missed the playoffs both seasons. She acknowledged that the Sky have their own baggage but didnât feel those concerns outweighed the hope she saw in the teamâs future.
âThe secret is, every front office has its flaws,â Jackson said. âChicago is more under a microscope so itâs been more out there, but a lot of front offices have their flaws. Some are just better at hiding it.â
The Sky are eager to repair that reputation through investments such as a revamped player wellness staff and a new training facility. But Jackson has a simpler answer: âWinning heals all those things.â
Starting May 9 in Portland, Ore., she and the Sky will attempt to dole out that healing elixir.
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