The 2021 WNBA season is approaching and Illinois sports betting apps have Chicago Sky betting futures for the championship are live right now. Is now the time to get your bets down on Chicago’s team winning its first title, though?
That depends on how you see a number of factors. Just like with any other gamble, the key is measuring your potential reward versus risk. The Sky have their unique set of circumstances for the coming season that speaks to both sides of the debate.
Looking at Chicago Sky betting futures
The five Illinois online sportsbooks don’t have the sky as the limit for Chicago this season. Most of them have the Sky as a third- or even fourth-tier championship contender. Here are the odds as of the time of this writing:
| Team | BetRivers | DraftKings | FanDuel | PointsBet | William Hill |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle Storm | +175 | +175 | +170 | +150 | +180 |
| Washington Mystics | +300 | +300 | +400 | +350 | +350 |
| Las Vegas Aces | +350 | +350 | +450 | +350 | +350 |
| Los Angeles Sparks | +500 | +500 | +600 | +600 | +600 |
| Chicago Sky | +1100 | +1100 | +1400 | +1000 | +1400 |
| Minnesota Lynx | +1100 | +1100 | +3300 | +2500 | +1000 |
| Connecticut Sun | +1100 | +1100 | +1000 | +800 | +1000 |
| Phoenix Mercury | +1100 | +1100 | +1000 | +800 | +1000 |
| New York Liberty | +6000 | +6000 | +7500 | +5000 | +6000 |
| Dallas Wings | +6000 | +6000 | +10000 | +7500 | +7500 |
| Atlanta Dream | +6000 | +6000 | +10000 | +10000 | +10000 |
| Indiana Fever | +8000 | +8000 | +10000 | +7500 | +7500 |
So, depending on which book you use, you can get a line of anywhere from +1000 to +1400 on Chicago Sky. But, is now the best time? It’s difficult to give a concrete answer to that question.
WNBA free agency is still ongoing, and the 2021 draft has not yet taken place. We don’t know how Sky’s final roster will look. It’s also possible that preseason play could produce some injuries that would drastically alter Chicago’s chances this season.
At the same time, the Sky may be essentially done in free agency for the offseason. In addition to landing one of the prizes of free agency in forward Candace Parker, Chicago recently brought back center Astou Ndour.
So, while we may not know the entirety of the roster yet, we can look with some certainty at the main rotation pieces for the team. Given the talent already on the roster, it’s likely that general manager/head coach James Wade will be active on draft day in terms of making trades. WNBA rosters only allot for 12 active players.
That’s just an example of the kind of reward vs. risk conversation that bettors need to have in this situation. If you put down your money now, you might get the best payout. However, a key injury or two could doom your wager. It’s also important to understand futures betting from a bankroll perspective.
Why futures bets are unique
The crucial thing to note with any futures market is that it usually takes months to settle your bet. In this case, you’re likely going to be waiting until sometime in October to see if you get a payout. That’s usually when the WNBA Finals take place.
Of course, if the Sky don’t get that far, you’ll already know you’ve lost your wager. So, before you place a futures bet, you should make sure you can afford to have that amount of money in your bankroll held up.
One potential advantage of tying that part of your bankroll up early is the bigger payout if you wager wisely. There’s a lot of reason to believe in the Sky’s chances in 2021.
The Sky may have no limit this season
Whether IL sportsbooks are too low on Chicago for 2021 is an easy case to buy or sell. For your consideration:
Buy
The Sky have had the league’s best offense over the last two seasons by several important metrics and all of the key players in that scheme are back for 2021. What’s kept them from advancing deeper into the postseason is a defense to match.
Parker is one of the best on-ball defenders in the league and Ndour gives them even more rim protection. They’ve got fantastic depth if everyone stays healthy.
Sell
Chicago hasn’t made it to the semifinals in the past two seasons despite having arguably the league’s best offense. Sure, adding Ndour and Parker plus having a healthy Azurá Stevens in the rotation should upgrade their defense, but will it make enough of a difference to enable them to defeat the Las Vegas Aces, Seattle Storm or Washington Mystics in a five- or seven-game series? They might have to do that against two of those three teams to win the title this year.
The Sky deserve some consideration if you’re looking at WNBA 2021 championship futures. Whether or not now is the time to pull the trigger is also up to you.
