The Chicago Sky have their front office positions locked in with the hiring of Jeff Pagliocca as their new general manager, but he’s not new to the franchise.

“After my first year here, this was an organization I knew I wanted to be with long-term,” he said in his introductory press conference Tuesday. “The next natural step for me would be accepting and tackling a role like this, where it puts a lot of my skills to use as far as evaluating, identifying, developing and cultivating talent.”

Pagliocca’s resume spans over 20 years in player development, ranging from collegiate to pro talent – very similar to new head coach in Teresa Weatherspoon’s resume of skill development. Having two leaders with heavy player development backgrounds provides what Pagliocca believes will be a “competitive advantage.”

“Being able to discuss certain things with players and give them an edge with their game in their position, and be able to collaborate with Teresa [Weatherspoon]. This is a skill that I’m excited to bring to the GM row to be able to collaborate also with the players about some adjustments that they can make during the season,” he said.

The Sky’s “collaborative” approach they’ve preached since Weatherspoon’s hiring is what they want to carry into the front office as well.

“Collaboratively, it’s going to be very exciting for us to put our heads together and build out the player development and make sure it’s very effective for the Sky,” Pagliocca said.

“We have these standards about ourselves that we stand on, then you want everybody to start to talk about you: ‘I like how they play. I like how they look, I want to be a part of that,’” Weatherspoon told Marquee Sports Network. “That’s what you want to hear. You want to hear people want to be a part of what you do.That’s the key, and it’s critical.”

Even though Pagliocca has the general manager title, it will be a sound, group voice as to final decisions about roster construction with Pagliocca wanting to hear from Weatherspoon and players with the option to listen to Sky CEO Adam Fox as well if needed.

The Sky have 5 players under contract to return for the 2024 season: Kahleah Copper, Marina Mabrey, Dana Evans, Isabelle Harrison and Elizabeth Williams. What Pagliocca and Weatherspoon plan to do with the roster is still up in the air with roster conversations allowed to begin after the new year.