CHICAGO — Near another bad ending on Tuesday night, many people filtered out of Wintrust Arena. A smaller cohort decided to repeat themselves.Sell The Team! Sell The Team!It wasn’t the first time frustrated Chicago Sky fans have chanted this, but the timing was a touch confusing. Said team had played well. Said team nearly beat the Atlanta Dream, one of the best clubs in the WNBA. The Sky fell, but tolerably so.The explanation arrived a few minutes later. A fan hustled to the floor after the final buzzer and stood outside a temporary barrier of yellow ribbon, holding a large blue posterboard, hoping to grab the attention of one of the visiting players. A message in white lettering bordered a collage of images in the middle. DON’T WORRY CHICAGO, her sign read. ANGEL IS STILL WATCHING OVER US.Chicago fans still long for Angel Reese, who moved in the offseason to the Atlanta Dream. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)Angel Reese doesn’t play here anymore, of course. But this was never going to be beside the point Tuesday, even though she and the Dream swung through the arena in the preseason, even though everyone has had time to get out of their feelings and insist the most seismic trade of the offseason was for the common good. Her presence loomed. A reminder of what’s missing, even when what’s missing is not entirely a basketball problem.It doesn’t matter that Reese, specifically, isn’t on Chicago’s roster anymore. It matters, a lot, that this is a Sky without a single star.Call it an existential challenge in the modern WNBA, if not an outright dilemma. The visibility of the game, and the willingness of the players to avail themselves to fans and followers across all mediums, creates an increasingly measurable dynamic: Allegiance to the team is hardly the only thing. There’s fealty to individuals, regardless of the uniform they wear, which is plain to the eye and ear when Dallas Wings fans invade Atlanta, or Atlanta rolls through Chicago. And so on. Connection counts. Even by way of TikTok.So to be noticed, it won’t always be enough to win. You better have someone worth noticing, too.