Some yeats agao, Ticha Penicheiro indicated on the broadcast of a WNBA game that she knew if anyone was going to break her single-game assists record it was going to be Courtney Vandersloot.
Vandersloot broke Penicheiro’s mark of 16 assists with 18 on August 31, 2020 before Caitlin Clark set the current record of 19 in 2024.
Take it from one of the best to ever do it. Penicheiro knew there was no better player when it came to racking up assists than Vandersloot.
Yes, Vandersloot rivals Bird as the WNBA’s best-ever PG
Yes, Sue Bird is widely considered the
greatest point guard of all-time, but you don’t have to be Penicheiro to look at the numbers and realize that, while Bird was a slightly better scorer and far better 3-point shooter, Sloot is the queen of assists, only trailing Bird in total dimes because she hasn’t played as long.
Before Clark came along, Sloot set the standard for assists per game with 6.6 (now second to Clark’s 8.3), while Bird averaged 5.6. Sloot has two games with 18 assists (one came in the playoffs), while Bird’s career-high is 16. Sloot has nine games of 15 or more, while Bird has the one.
Bird is of course a class act, and the darling of the WNBA. Even perceived GOAT, and Bird’s best friend, Diana Taurasi can’t claim as much popularity. That’s just who Bird is; that’s her personality. She was the United States’ flag bearer for the 2020 Olympics for a reason.
Sloot has too often lived in Bird’s shadow, but the diehard WNBA fans will always love her, because she too is a class act, whose consistently eye-popping assist numbers have delivered thrilling record chases. She broke the single-game assists record en route to becoming the first and, to this day, only player to average double digit dimes in a season.
From ages 39 to 41, Bird shot 41.4 percent from 3 with 146 makes, averaging 5.6 assists and nine points across 26.5 minutes per game. That’s a very high bar. Vandersloot is now 37 and returning from a torn ACL. She’s averaging 8.1 points and 4.1 helpers in 17.5 minutes per game, having played in eight contests so far.
It’s going to be hard for Vandersloot, and everybody else, to live up to what Bird accomplished in her late 30s and early 40s.
It’s only right that Sloot is back with the Sky
It’s unclear how much longer Vandersloot will play and what her role will be with the Chicago Sky this season.
We at least know that head coach Tyler Marsh has decided to put her in the starting lineup, for now. But the last time we saw her for a full season, she had an off year with the New York Liberty, averaging a career-low 6.4 points per game, while shooting 26.9 percent from distance, also a career-low save for the 21.7 percent she shot on 23 attempts last year before tearing her ACL.
We can only hope that Vandersloot comes close to being the star she once was, or at least remains a positive contributor and sees decent playing time.
When she first joined the Liberty ahead of the 2023 season, she was considered to be part of the Big 5 along with Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, Jonquel Jones and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton. She was a big reason why New York was considered a superteam. And she delivered with 10.5 points and 8.1 assists per game. She was an All-Star and finished 11th in MVP voting. In 2024, she won her second WNBA championship with the Liberty, although, after her scoring and assist averages severely dipped during the regular season, she was moved to a more limited bench role in the playoffs.
Back in Chicago in 2025, she was somewhat back on track with 10.6 points and 5.3 dimes before suffering her ACL tear seven games into the season.
On July 9, 2025, she was at center court, on crutches, giving a speech to her wife, Allie Quigley, as Quigley’s jersey was retired by the Sky. It was sad to see her on crutches, but Sloot was right back where she needed to be: in Chicago.
The state of Washington will also always mean a ton to Vandersloot, as she grew in Kent and went to Gonzaga. She nearly signed with the Seattle Storm in 2023 before choosing the Liberty.
But Chicago is seemingly just as important to her, as it’s where she met Quigley, and where Quigley grew up. It’s also where Sloot has spent 14 of her 16 WNBA seasons, and where she won a championship with Quigley in 2021.
Here’s what Vandersloot said in a press release upon returning to the Sky:
Chicago is where it all started for me—it’s home, it’s family, and it’s a point guard’s dream. The city, the fans, and the culture here have helped to shape the person I am today. I’m eager to embrace this next chapter, take on the challenge of leading and learning from a really talented young team, and bring my experience back to the place that means so much to me.
It’s a feel-good story to see Sloot back in azure blue. And for a second there, it looked like the high assist numbers would never escape her, even post-torn ACL at age 37. She dished out seven dimes in her 2026 return on June 26 and eight in the next contest. Since then, she’s managed four or fewer in every game, save for a six-assist performance on July 15.
Appreciate the last, best moments from the underappreciated Vandersloot
Who knows how well she will do over the remainder of the season, but I’m hoping for some more vintage Sloot moments. Remember when you’re watching her that you’re watching one of the best to ever do it; don’t take it for granted.
As underappreciated as she’s been, it’s fitting that she’s now teammates with Natasha Cloud, a great distributor in her own right, who was once Sloot’s biggest cheerleader during the 2020 Wubble season:
Sloot would go on to place fourth in MVP voting that year, the best finish of her career.
She’s received MVP voting points in seven different seasons, making it to two All-WNBA First Teams, three Second Teams and five All-Star rosters. In 2020, she averaged a league-record 10 assists per game and a career-best 13.6 points, while shooting 39.5 percent from beyond the arc (30 makes) and 88.9 percent at the charity stripe (56 makes).
What a career it’s been. Let’s hope she goes out in style.
