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Am I the only one entering the 2026 WNBA season with mixed feelings about the Connecticut Sun?
They will play their final season in Uncasville, Conn., after the franchise was sold to the Fertitta family, who will relocate the team to Houston. It's hard not to think of this as a lame-duck season of sorts.
Even though I live in Massachusetts, the Sun were the closest New England had to a WNBA franchise, and it's quite sad to see them leave. I admittedly do not go to every game. A commute from where I live to Mohegan Sun Arena is approximately two hours, which is a trek on a weekday. However, it always felt nice knowing there was an option to make that car ride. After 2026, that option won't be there anymore.
What makes it even more gut-wrenching for Connecticut is this season was the first under the a new collective-bargaining agreement, which allowed teams to spend serious money on players. Who was one of the players the Sun signed to a max deal? Brittney Griner.
Griner is a future Hall of Famer, and I commend her bravery during her detention in Russia. But she's in the twilight of her career, and it's obvious she only signed because of the team's move to her hometown next year. Not exactly something to get excited about when it comes to the on-court product.
That's especially true when Tina Charles is back for another season, and the team needs to look to Aaliyah Edwards and Aneesah Morrow as cornerstone pieces who need to get as much playing time as possible.
The only other notable moves the Sun made were signing Kennedy Burke and trading for Diamond Miller, two solid players, but they signal another rebuilding year, which again brings weird vibes in a season that likely will be defined by past memories and watching the team's future stars prosper outside of Connecticut.
Another person who could bring mixed or perhaps frustrating vibes to the Sun is head coach Rachid Meziane. Is he a good coach? It was hard to tell last year because of his odd rotations and lack of an established identity. Granted, Meziane wasn't exactly handed the greatest hand in his first season, so it's fair to give him another season. However, he will need to show improvement to provide hope that the Sun's rebuild will be successful.
That's because the Sun have an interesting core to potentially build around. You have the aforementioned Edwards and Morrow, and you also have Saniya Rivers and Leila Lacan entering Year 2. I liked their top two draft picks in this year's draft: Nell Angloma and Gianna Kneepkens, who should provide a much-needed offensive boost.
A playoff berth is a lofty goal for the Sun, but a fun, competitive team is all Connecticut fans can ask for, especially with how the league treated the franchise's sale; commissioner Cathy Engelbert claimed to reporters that there was not a Boston/New England bid, per Meghan L. Hall of USA TODAY.
That's because this franchise deserves a proper send-off for being a key part of WNBA history and is a lot more than the time Alyssa Thomas practiced alongside a kid's birthday party before a playoff game against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.
Hopefully, the young core of the roster can provide that.
Thanks for reading to the end! At the end of every post, I like to recommend a K-pop song. NiziU's "Too Bad" came out two weeks ago, and it remains an earworm for me. Yes, they're a Japanese group, but they're under the JYP Entertainment label, so I'm including their music.
