Delle Donne has become discouraged by the "revolving door" in Chicago, a source requesting anonymity put it, as players and coaches have left the team or were fired. The Sky dismissed Pokey Chatman in late October and saw three assistants leave within the last year, including well-liked former NBA big man Wayne "Tree" Rollins. In 2015, Sylvia Fowles forced the team to trade her to the Minnesota Lynx by sitting out.
Delle Donne's representatives declined to comment, as did Sky officials and Mystics coach and general manager Mike Thibault.
Rumblings about her desire to play in Washington began last summer. Her hometown in Delaware is within commuting distance, and on several occasions she has expressed a strong desire to be near her older sister, Lizzie, who was born blind and deaf, has autism and cerebral palsy and communicates with Elena through touch and smell.
Delle Donne said in a podcast interview last month that she's looking for a place for her and fiancee Amanda Clifton to raise children.
"You got to think about your family and where you want to be living and where you want them to grow up and make some traditions," she told Howard Megdal on "Locked on Women's Basketball."
Among the other reasons Delle Donne wants out of Chicago, according to those sources, are that she felt out of place on the team — and perhaps with the leadership role expected of her — and was dissatisfied that the front office wasn't marketing and investing in the team as much as in past seasons.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/ct-elena-delle-donne-sky-trade-spt-0125-20170124-story.html