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The Connecticut Sun have wrapped up the 2025 WNBA season. The players have had their exit interviews, and the playoffs are just around the corner.
The Sun (11-33) won’t be in the playoffs this year and the franchise is going to look to rebuild next season. But just what direction the franchise will go will be determined by several factors, some of which isn’t within their control.
Here are three non-player storylines for Sun fans to follow this offseason.
Will the Mohegan Tribe still own the team in 2026? Will the franchise still be in Connecticut in 2026? The question may not be answered right away, but there is clear interest in something happening. How quickly that happens is anyone’s guess.
Two different NBA owners have offered $325 million — Boston Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca and former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry. Both would have moved the team, Pagliuca likely to Boston and Lasry to Hartford full-time. The WNBA ignored the offers, in part because it wants an expansion franchise in Boston to charge a huge expansion fee.
The WNBA offered $250 million to buy the team, a move that would have allowed the league to transfer ownership to Houston Rockets owner Tillman Fertitia and move the franchise to Houston. The state of Connecticut is even in the game to try and keep the franchise in the state. The idea would be to split time between Uncasville and Hartford.
The WNBA and the players’ association are negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement. The current deal expires after the WNBA playoffs and it’s likely a new deal will take time to get done. The surge in popularity in the league in the past few seasons have put the players in the position to significantly change the financial equation. Just how much ownership and the league are interested in doing that remains to be seen.
How does that impact the Sun? The franchise can’t pursue free agents or make trades until the CBA is negotiated and ratified by both sides. The longer that drags out, the harder it will be for the franchise’s leadership to make decisions about the roster.
Like last offseason, the Sun and the rest of the league will have to leave some players unprotected for the WNBA expansion draft as two new teams, the Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire, come online. This doubles the chances of the Sun losing players to other teams. With a core of young players that could be a part of the franchise’s future, tough decisions could be at hand.
The Sun lost one player to Golden State’s expansion draft, guard Veronica Burton. The possibility exists for Connecticut to lose one player to each team, depending upon how this expansion draft is set up.
