When the Connecticut Sun were ousted from last season’s playoffs in the semifinals by eventual WNBA runners-up Minnesota Lynx, the feeling was different regarding the team.
The Sun have built a reputation of being a perennial bridesmaid – but never the bride that has the ring(s) placed on its finger(s). This round of postseason disappointment felt different. It felt as if the team was on the verge of possibly embracing a new look.
Given the news regarding Connecticut and free agency, it appears all of those seasons of playoff heartbreak has finally caught up to the Sun. When Stephanie White, who was 2023’s Coach of the Year, decided to leave New England to return to the Indiana Fever to coach Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark, it appeared to be a case where there being fire (no pun intended) where smoke was billowing out of.
Along with White replacing Christie Sides in the Hoosier State, Connecticut also underwent changes in its front office. Darius Taylor, former Sun general manager, took a job within the organization as its Chief Basketball Strategist and Director of Scouting. Former WNBA player Morgan Tuck was promoted to general manager. Also, Rachid Meziane – whose experience is mostly on the international circuit, became the team’s head coach.
This free agency period has already seen the Sun take loss after loss after loss. The first domino to fall was when Alyssa Thomas, who has had her name mentioned in MVP conversations, was traded to the Phoenix Mercury. Per ESPN’s Alexa Philippou, the Sun got back Natasha Cloud, Rebecca Allen and the 12th overall selection in the 2025 WNBA Draft.
That trade has also led to plenty of speculation about DeWanna Bonner’s future in Connecticut. As it turned out, she would reunite with Coach White at the Indiana Fever.
Another domino that fell was when Brionna Jones, one of the premier bigs in the WNBA, decided to take her talents south to the Peach State by signing with the Atlanta Dream. Jones joins what looks like a stacked Atlanta assembling that also landed Brittney Griner in free agency. Incoming coach Karl Smesko will have plenty to work with between Jones, BG, Rhyne Howard, Allisha Gray and Jordin Canada.
Seatbelt season is on its way to North Texas. Connecticut also dealt DiJonai Carrington – last season’s WNBA Most Improved Player – to the Dallas Wings in exchange for Jacy Sheldon and the eighth overall selection in this year’s draft.
It is always a sad occasion when a team goes from contender status to a rebuild and/or tank. But that is what playoff heartbreak does to an organization.
Connecticut experienced this heartbreak in 2019 when it lost in that year’s WNBA Finals to the Washington Mystics. It experienced this once again in 2022. The Sun did reach a high in terms of playoff success when it engineered a miraculous comeback in Game 5 of a semifinal series against the Chicago Sky – defending champions at the time.
That comeback to deny the Sky a repeat effort as champions ironically was what sent the Sky into a rebuild – including Candace Parker going south and west to the Las Vegas Aces and Courtney Vandersloot going east to the New York Liberty.
Connecticut’s bid to experience championship euphoria was stopped in its tracks thanks to those same Aces as it would be A’ja Wilson instead who became a WNBA champion for the first of (currently) two occasions.
The Sun were eliminated in the semifinals in 2023 by the Liberty and last season in those same semifinals by the Lynx last season. And in an even crueler twist of fate, Jonquel Jones – who was a former league MVP with the Sun, played in both of those Finals with Connecticut and joined the Liberty prior to the 2023 season – not only won her first-ever championship in 2024 with New York but was named Finals MVP.
Also – the trade that landed Carrington to Dallas? That trade was co-engineered by current Wings general manager Curt Miller who was Connecticut’s (and Los Angeles’) former coach – including in both of those Finals appearances.
The Sun had developed a reputation as being the Doc Rivers of the WNBA – and were denied time and time again their 2008 Boston Celtics moment where anything’s possible. And as passionate as those fans are about women’s ball in the Constitution State they deserve a winner.
Ironically, the growing state of the WNBA has had many within the W’s social media spaces to pontificate that the Sun would be better off moving to the City of Beans. The Sun did compete in an exhibition game last season at TD Garden and have been more aggressive in branding itself as the W franchise for – not only the Nutmeg State – but for all of New England.
Being in Boston would give the franchise better access to facilities and corporate sponsors that can offset that raised costs of operating a franchise in such an expensive locale. Boston would also be more attractive to prospective free agents than Uncasville.
Mohegan Sun Arena – and the Mohegan Sun Casino it is attached to – is in a very rural area of Connecticut in the southeastern part of the state. It is not exactly an easy drive to a larger city such as Hartford and is very difficult to get to.
Access to its own private facilities – something franchises such as the Aces, Liberty, Lynx, Mercury and Seattle Storm enjoy (also soon to be the case with the Fever, Sky and Sparks) – has been an Achilles heel of the Sun. And that was displayed prior to one of Connecticut’s postseason contests with the Fever last season when video surfaced of the team practicing at the Mohegan Tribal Facility – alongside a community center event.
Add that to players such as Thomas, Carrington and Mabrey experiencing the top-tier, state-of-the-art facilities at Unrivaled in Miami, and it was only a matter of time before the Sun would indeed set on this era of Connecticut basketball.
Connecticut did get a couple of boosts recently. The Sun announced the signing of Tina Charles – the same Tina Charles who was drafted by the Sun in 2010 with the first overall selection out of UConn. Charles had a resurgent season in 2024 with the Dream. She played in 39 of Atlanta’s 40 games and averaged 14.9 points and 9.6 rebounds to lift Atlanta to the eighth and final playoff berth.
The Sun are also bringing Diamond DeShields into the mix. While DeShields had a down season in 2024 with the Chicago Sky, she has shown she is capable of putting up big numbers. DeShields averaged 13.1 points in 30 games in 2022 with the Mercury.
And while the Sun are getting talented players back including Charles, DeShields, Cloud and Sheldon, it is yet to be seen how this will compare with what Connecticut had at various points as a contender with Bonner, Thomas, Carrington and both Joneses.
This gives the Sun plenty of time to address its facilities situation in advance of the 2027 draft – when notables such as MiLaysia Fulwiley, Mikaylah Williams, Hannah Hidalgo and – of course – JuJu Watkins will be the marquee names of that class. If 2027 is too soon – there is the 2028 class which will likely include Joyce Edwards and Kiyomi McMiller as headliners. Another likely 2028 headliner will be Sarah Strong – already a fan favorite given she sports the navy blue and red of UConn.
It will be weird seeing the Sun closer to the bottom of many a WNBA power ranking list as opposed to at or near the top of such a list which has been the case the last several seasons. But a Sun’s rise always follows the setting of said Sun – and we believe that if it lands the right talent in coming drafts and builds top-tier, state-of-the-art facilities that it will not be a Miracle once it does again.
(Sidenote: Connecticut especially needs to get it together because one of our favorites in Terrika Foster-Brasby deserves to cover a winning Sun team.)
