CHICAGO – General Manager and Head Coach James Wade announced today the Chicago Sky has acquired All-Star forward/center Jantel Lavender from the Los Angeles Sparks in exchange for the team’s 2020 second-round draft pick.
“We thought it was important to add another veteran to our core, especially a player that has championship experience like Jantel does,” Wade said. “I’ve coached against Jantel for a number of years in playoff series and I have always valued her skillset. She’s a player that helps make teams better and bring players together, so we value her for who she is off the floor just as much as we do on the floor.”
Originally selected by the Sparks with the No. 5 overall pick of the 2011 WNBA Draft, Lavender was named 2016 WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year, selected to the 2015 WNBA All-Star team, and helped lead the Los Angeles to a 2016 WNBA Championship title.
In her eight seasons with Los Angeles, the Cleveland, Ohio native has posted career averages of 8.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.0 assists per game, while shooting 81.4 percent from the free throw line.
“It’s hard to fill in for All-Stars and future Hall-of-Famers in the way that she has and never miss a beat and still help the team win,” Wade said.
During her four-year collegiate career at Ohio State University, Lavender led the Buckeyes to four straight NCAA Tournaments. She holds the school’s record for most consecutive starts, remains the program’s all-time scoring leader, and is the only player in Ohio State’s history to be Big Ten Conference Player of the Year for four straight seasons.
The Chicago Sky open the 2019 regular season in Minneapolis on Saturday, May 25. Tickets for home games at Wintrust Arena are available now by calling (866) SKY-WNBA or by visiting sky.wnba.com.