First, the Connecticut Sun lost its head coach. Then, its entire starting five.
Its championship window closed, and a new dawn shone through the reflection.
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The 2025 Sun season was a complete rebuild from years past — a mainly new roster and a focus on development rather than contending. Add in a new head coach making his debut in the WNBA, and Connecticut found itself in a new era, one where wins came rarely and off-court franchise news took the spotlight.
But Connecticut began its new chapter by proving it has enough — and is enough — to build for the future, thanks to a strong rookie core and new leadership. And even though the team’s future in Connecticut remains up in the air, it has received bids that will make professional women’s sports history.
While the Sun’s season ended without a trip to the playoffs for the first time in nine years, there was a lot of positive growth from the 2025 season that the franchise can develop for years to come — no matter where it’s located.
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“I think that we stayed standing and we tried to figure out, we tried to be better, game after game,” Sun head coach Rachid Meziane said. “And so I think that our resilience is something we can all be proud of. … We trust in our players, we believe in our players. And yeah, I think that it was a risk. It was a risk, but the fact that we stayed aligned together, I think that it’s something we can be proud of.”
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Strong young core
After an offseason of heartbreak from losing former stars DeWanna Bonner, Alyssa Thomas and DiJonai Carrington through trades and free agency, newly appointed general manager Morgan Tuck won back fans’ hearts by drafting two of college basketball’s biggest stars.
Connecticut selected former DePaul and LSU standout Aneesah Morrow with the No. 7 overall pick and former NC State star Saniya Rivers with the No. 8 pick. And add in rookie Leila Lacan, who was drafted No. 10 in 2024 but stayed overseas last summer, and suddenly, there was energy back in Uncasville.
“I think sometimes you forget, just like when you have rookies, that it’s new, and they’ve never done this before, and it’s the first time away from home. And that element, it just brings a different energy and a different light,” Tuck, a former Sun and UConn women’s basketball star, told CT Insider. “And I think that’s been the most refreshing part about this season.”
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Rivers’ upbeat personality kept the team loose during its losing streaks. Her on-court performances always charged the team when it needed it most. Morrow, despite being considered small for her position at 6-foot-1, immediately emerged as one of the team’s most aggressive and dependable rebounders. Lacan didn’t join the team until just before the All-Star break, yet her defense anchored the squad as the 21-year-old attacked every opponent relentlessly and backed it up with her consistent scoring.
The Sun also added former Husky Aaliyah Edwards via a trade with Washington late in the season to bolster its frontcourt. Edwards, a second-year veteran, fit in seamlessly with the Sun and provided an off-bench spark for Tina Charles and Morrow.
“I’m really proud of the way we finished, the way we were able to collect a handful of wins along the way, especially in August,” Charles said. “We had everyone healthy, and we added Aaliyah Edwards, and Leila was with us consistently. Just what a difference they made for our team.”
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Morrow finished the year with eight double-doubles and led the Sun with 6.9 rebounds per game. Rivers broke the Sun’s single-season rookie record for made 3-pointers (43) and was the only rookie in the WNBA this season to record 100 stocks (steals plus blocks).
Rivers and Lacan joined former Husky Nykesha Sales as the only three rookies in Sun history to finish their debut season with at least 250 points, 90 assists and 55 steals.
Lacan finished third on the Sun this year with 10.4 points per game and second with 3.7 assists per game. In the 25 games she played this season, including starting 15, the French star recorded double-digit scoring 11 times and had five assists or more eight times — including a career-high 14 against Indiana on Aug. 17. She was named to the AP All-Rookie Team.
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“I think we all thought she was gonna be great, but I don’t think we did this fast, this soon, and just, I think she changed our team when she came over,” said Tuck of Lacan. “… I think just the way she plays, right, like she’s so young, but she’s a pro, and she’s been a pro for a long time, and she plays with an intensity that a lot of players don’t play with consistently on both sides.
“Leila is a special one to me. … She’s just a huge impact player, and most rookies don’t come in and impact the team the way that she did. I’m like, ‘Dang, it was worth the wait.’ We had to wait a while, but she was definitely worth it. And, you know, she’s one that we definitely see as a key piece.”
New leadership
The 2025 season was Tuck’s first as the general manager of the Sun. The former Husky was promoted from assistant GM in the fall. Her first move was hiring Meziane to replace former head coach Stephanie White, who departed to coach the Indiana Fever.
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While many critiqued Tuck’s hire of Meziane for his lack of WNBA experience, the Frenchman proved he can get players to buy in, develop and compete for one another. Meziane, a successful French club head coach and former Belgium national team head coach, looks back on his first season in the WNBA fondly, knowing his players helped him grow.
“It was a good, you know, learning season, a good learning opportunity,” Meziane said. “I think about how everyone grew this year. One of our main goals is every time to make young players better, to make this team better, and for myself, I have learned a lot being around all of them, coaches, players. … I’m very excited to start the next season, because I know that we are going to do better, and I will be better.”
The Sun started the year 3-17. But thanks to Lacan and Edwards’ additions, it ended the year winning six of its last 13 games. The Sun’s most impressive win was its 87-84 victory over the Phoenix Mercury on Sept. 6.
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Meziane said he’s most proud of his team for sticking together and being resilient through all the ups and downs. Both he and Tuck agree, watching their young stars develop was the most encouraging part of this season and the most exciting part about next year.
“Their role is incredible, and for me, they are doing more than rookies’ expectations,” Meziane said. “They are impacting this league, and it’s not just about the stats. I think off the court, they have embraced being a professional.”
Quick offseason look
The future forecast for the Sun remains cloudy.
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While the team can relax knowing it has its young core (Rivers, Lacan, Morrow, Edwards and rookie Rayah Marshall) all signed on for next year, everything else remains unknown — including the team’s future home.
Connecticut announced it is committed to playing the 2026 season in Uncasville, as the Mohegan Tribe, owners of the team since 2003, are in the process of selling the franchise. The tribe has received bids to buy the team and relocate it from groups in Boston, Hartford and even the WNBA itself. But the sale process hasn’t been smooth.
CT state officials have sent open letters to the league demanding clarity on the situation and warning of potential lawsuits following reports that the league is pushing its own agenda (a possible relocation to Houston). The State of Connecticut also submitted a proposal to buy a minority stake in the team to help keep the franchise in state.
Another unknown aspect of the Sun’s future — really, the entire WNBA’s future — is the ongoing CBA negotiations between the league and the players’ union. If the league and the players can’t come to a decision before the current CBA expires in October, many fear a potential walkout may be looming in the offseason.
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Building in free agency will be important to the Sun, who, as of now, are lacking veterans for 2026. Outside of its young core, both former Husky Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Haley Peters enter the offseason as restricted free agents along with Mamignan “Minga” Toure, who has the reserved player tag.
Top veterans Charles, Marina Mabrey and fellow former Husky Bria Hartley are all unrestricted free agents.
The Sun will be forced to make their first 2026 roster moves early this offseason thanks to another expansion draft. The WNBA will introduce two new teams next season (Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo) and conduct an expansion draft before free agency. While details of the expansion draft have yet to be announced, each existing team will only be allowed to protect a small number of players. Last year, each team was allowed to protect six players.
With so many unknowns, building a roster becomes difficult.
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“You think about planning long term, but long term is becoming, like, I don’t want to say short term, but shorter, right? It’s not as long as what we have had in the past,” Tuck said. “… So, I think for me, it’s keeping that in mind, right, and understanding, like, the point of overhauling our whole roster was to get young, just to kind of start over. So, I think we want to continue to build on that as much as we can.”
Looking ahead to the 2026 draft, the Sun also likely won’t have a lottery pick. Connecticut, which finished third to last in the league in 2025, traded its 2026 first-round pick to Chicago in 2024 in exchange for Mabrey. Plus, it has the worst odds to land the No. 1 overall pick out of the five teams that lost out on the playoffs this year. Lottery odds are based on a team’s combined record from the most recent season and the season prior.
As of Sept. 12, the Sun’s only first-round picks in 2026 are picks No. 12 (from Phoenix) and No. 15 (from Minnesota).
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Sep 14, 2025
UConn women’s basketball beat reporter
Maggie Vanoni covers UConn women’s basketball for Hearst Connecticut Media Group. She comes to Connecticut after growing up and working all along the West Coast, including stops at The Seattle Times and The Orange County Register. Before joining Hearst, she covered all things UCLA athletics for the OC Register. Outside of writing, she enjoys spontaneous adventures, reading, hiking and visiting her family back home in Portland, Ore.
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