
Chicago Sky Re-Sign Rachel Banham
Published on April 11, 2026 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Chicago Sky News Release
CHICAGO - The Sky officially re-signed guard Rachel Banham, the team announced today. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"Rachel had one of the all-time great shooting seasons for the Sky last year," General Manager Jeff Pagliocca said. "We're ready to get back to work with a competitive, high-character individual."
The Sky acquired Banham at the 2025 trade deadline, and she has averaged 8.4 points since joining the team. This past year with the Sky, Banham averaged career highs of 9.0 points, 2.7 assists and 2.0 threes made per game. She also set career highs in blocks, steals, rebounds, field goals made and free throws made. Her 86 three-pointers last year are the second-most in a single season by any Sky player.
In just a year and a half with the Sky, Banham is already No. 10 on the franchise leaderboards with 115 threes made. She also ranks No. 9 on the Sky's leaderboards with a 36.3% three-point clip over 60 games.
Banham is a Minnesota sports legend, helping her high school in Lakeville, Minnesota take home a conference championship. She then played for the University of Minnesota from 2011-16 where she is the program's all-time leader in points, games played, three-pointers and field goals.
In her 2015-16 senior season, she was Big Ten Player of the Year and an AP All-American after averaging 28.6 points and shooting 39.0% on her 9.5 three-point attempts per game.
After her successful college career, Banham was selected with the fourth overall pick in the 2016 WNBA Draft. She played from 2016-19 with the Connecticut Sun.
She got the opportunity to play for her hometown professional team when she was traded to the Lynx in 2020. Banham rejoined the Sun in 2024 free agency before she was traded to the Sky at the deadline that year. In all, Banham has 303 career WNBA appearances and holds an average of 5.8 points on 36.7% shooting from deep.
Chicago will tip off the 2026 regular season on Saturday, May 9 against the expansion Portland Fire on the road at 8 p.m. CT. Follow @chicagosky on all social media platforms and head to sky.wnba.com for the latest news, content and ticket purchasing.
Women's National Basketball Association Stories from April 11, 2026
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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
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