‘More money is coming’: Canada’s Nurse on one-year deal with WNBA's Chicago Sky

Los Angeles Sparks guard Kia Nurse (10) shoots over Indiana Fever forward Aliyah Boston (7) in the first half of a WNBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Michael Conroy

Newly signed Chicago Sky guard Kia Nurse chose her free-agency destination carefully.

Currently in Nashville, Tenn., for her first Athletes Unlimited basketball season, Nurse tapped into the experience of the 39 players around her to help assess whether Chicago would be a good fit. This was in addition to the regular team meetings that take place around free agency.

When it came time to decide on a contract length, with the WNBA collective bargaining agreement set to expire at season’s end just before a $2.2 billion US media deal kicks in, Nurse made an easy choice and signed a one-year deal.

“At the end of the day, more money is coming,” said Nurse, who agreed to terms with Chicago last week. “So I was taking that one-year deal because more money is coming, and we deserve to get paid and we are going to get paid. Period.”

Nurse, 28, from Hamilton, Ont., plans to have a strong season with the Sky and parlay it into a potential payday when she hits free agency next winter — the same time the expansion Toronto Tempo can sign their first free agents.

She sidestepped questions about the possibility of playing for the Tempo.

“My whole career has been being able to put Canada on the map in a way we haven’t had before,” she said. “I’m grateful to have been in that position and every time that I step on the floor I’m representing Canada, whether it’s at the Olympics, WNBA or (Athletes Unlimited).”

For the next four weeks, Nurse will be the lone Canadian competing in Athletes Unlimited, a league founded in 2020 initially as a women’s softball league before expanding into basketball, volleyball, and lacrosse. Its 24-game basketball season features weekly team changes and crowns a season-long individual champion.

Nurse’s participation comes amid strained relations between the U.S. and Canada, sparked by tariffs imposed on Canadian goods by U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday, later paused on Monday. In response, fans in several Canadian cities, including at Sunday’s Toronto Raptors-Los Angeles Clippers NBA game, booed the U.S. national anthem.

During a media call, five other players nodded vociferously when Nurse said she proudly represents Canada among her 39 American peers.

“One of the things I love about basketball is perspective and being able to see perspectives of everything, whether it’s political, where people came from, how they grew up, what are the things that were tough for them that maybe I resonate with,” Nurse said.

“So yeah, I’m a really proud Canadian. It’s Canada ‘til I die at the end of the day.”

The Sky will mark Nurse’s fifth team in her past five seasons dating back to 2020 with the New York Liberty. The three-time Olympian missed the entire 2022 campaign with a knee injury.

She said she consulted with players in Nashville who played for Sky head coach Tyler Marsh as well as forward Elizabeth Williams, who spent the past two seasons with Chicago, before coming to her decision.

“Chicago, I feel like was a really good fit. It was an opportunity for me to go in there and be around a mixture of really young, talented players and some talented vets and to come in and bring my leadership skills, bring my personality and be in a great city,” Nurse said.

On Wednesday, Nurse will join fellow WNBA players like Lexie Brown, Alysha Clark, and Maddy Siegrist for the start of Athletes Unlimited’s third basketball season.

Players earn points through a fantasy-style system that rewards team successes like wins as well as individual accomplishments from made three-pointers to steals to drawn fouls.

“There’s great people. It’s great talent. You got refs. It’s still a five-on-five basketball game. Just the scoring system is different, but it makes every quarter, every possession, every moment in the game count,” Nurse said.

Nurse might not have found herself there at all were it not for Brown, her former Los Angeles Sparks teammate.

“I just kept bothering her about it. And she finally was like, ‘OK, I’ll just give it a try,’” Brown said.

“I was with her all summer and it was frustrating for us as a whole, but seeing her just after one scrimmage just having that huge smile on her face that we didn’t really get to show that much over the summer. Little moments like that is what makes me love (Athletes Unlimited).”

Nurse, a one-time WNBA all-star, averaged 7.6 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game across 40 contests with the Sparks last season as Los Angeles struggled to a league-worst 8-32 record.

The Canadian, in her second season back after tearing her ACL, admitted it was a tough year mentally as she struggled to rediscover her joy for the game.

It appears now that Athletes Unlimited has served as a welcome antidote as she prepares for Year 1 in Chicago.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2025.