Over the last few weeks, the Connecticut Sun have entered a new phase, changing the face of a squad that reached the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs last season. The entire 2024 starting lineup has exited via trade or free agency.
All-Stars Brionna Jones and DeWanna Bonner signed elsewhere after their contracts came to an end. The Sun also traded longtime stars Alyssa Thomas and DiJonai Carrington in anticipation of a free agency leap when theirs expire after this season. In return, Connecticut received two first-round picks (No. 8 and No. 25) in the upcoming draft, along with WNBA champion Natasha Cloud and younger talent they believe can build a long-term team.
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The Sun’s roster overhaul coincides with a pivotal moment in the league, including a new collective bargaining agreement after the players opted out in October. Additionally, the team finds itself trailing in a facilities arms race while the team continues to play inside the Mohegan Sun casino resort in Uncasville, Conn.
“We’re not hitting the panic button,” Sun president Jennifer Rizzotti said in a phone interview. “We feel good about the moves that we’ve made. We’ve been very intentional about our priorities…. And by 2028, I don’t think there will be a WNBA team without a new (training) facility. That’s the way it should be.”
The reassurance isn’t enough though for Sun guard Marina Mabrey, who has requested a trade after spending one season with the team. Rizzotti says the team is denying the request. “We knew at the time that she had already forced her way out of two teams, so it was a bit risky for us to trade for her, but we felt like it was worth it,” Rizzotti said.
The Sun, which recently brought back future Hall of Famer Tina Charles, have defended their roster moves while preparing to lose players to upcoming expansion drafts.
But the offseason hasn’t come without some rockiness for first-year coach Rachid Meziane and general manager Morgan Tuck.
“I’m very disappointed in a lot of how agents and GMs have talked and threatened [Tuck] through this process,” Rizzotti said. “She, through it all, has handled herself with integrity, fairness and steadiness that I’m not sure that I would’ve been able to have if I was dealing with some of these people.”
While the Sun re-signed Charles, the 36-year-old former MVP, this year, the franchise has struggled throughout its 22-year history to acquire top-tier talent in free agency—and that is often blamed on the team’s location and lackluster facilities.
The Sun, which are owned by the Mohegan Tribe, were the one of the first WNBA teams to have a facility designed solely for them.
WNBA franchises, including the Phoenix Mercury and the Las Vegas Aces, have placed pressure on other league owners by opening state-of-the-art training facilities with amenities only previously seen in the NBA. The Los Angeles Sparks just recently announced that they’re planning to build their own practice facility. They currently train at El Camino Community College, which they share with the school.
Rizzotti pushed back on the notion the team’s parent company is more focused on prioritizing gaming, concerts and its lucrative hospitality business than filling up the arena for women’s basketball games.
“There isn’t an owner in this league that doesn’t think that they will need a dedicated practice facility within the next two to three years to have a W team… Whether they’ve announced it publicly or not, every owner knows that’s a reality they’re facing.”
The Sun’s roster overhaul and lack of formal plans for a new facility may have members of fanbase jolted but management is confident that the temporary rebuild phase is setting up the franchise for more success in the long run.
“We have a vision for what we want which is retooling the roster and reset our culture,” Rizzotti said. “[Fans] have to trust that we’re retooling in a way that in a couple years they’re going to forget this moment.”
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