It was all the time going to be a summer season of turnover for the Connecticut Solar, who noticed head coach Stephanie White go away for the Indiana Fever — and entered WNBA free company with Alyssa Thomas, DeWanna Bonner, and Brionna Jones all as unrestricted free brokers. However, the roster turnover the staff is at present within the midst of is certainly one of epic proportions.
Alyssa Thomas, Brionna Jones, Ty Harris, and DiJonai Carrington all have new WNBA groups
Thomas, who was cored final month, will play for the Phoenix Mercury subsequent season after 11 years in Connecticut, because of a sign-and-trade that introduced again guards Natasha Cloud and Rebecca Allen. Ty Harris, the staff’s place to begin guard final season, was additionally despatched to Phoenix as a part of that commerce — and later to the Dallas Wings within the Satou Sabally trade.
Brionna Jones, a three-time WNBA All-Star who spent her total 7-year profession with the Solar, signed with the Atlanta Dream as a free agent. And, in December, backup level guard Veronica Burton was chosen by the Golden State Valkyries within the franchises’s growth draft.
DiJonai Carrington was the starter from final yr’s staff most anticipated to see again in orange subsequent season — however early Saturday morning, Rachel Galligan of Winsidr reported the restricted free agent was being traded to the Dallas Wings in a deal that introduced again Jacy Sheldon and the 2025 No. 8 draft decide. Carrington is recent off of a profession yr that noticed her emerge as one of many league’s finest defenders, and finally win Most Improved Participant. Now, she’ll reunite with fellow backcourt mate Harris in Texas.
The Dallas Wings are finalizing a cope with the Connecticut Solar that will ship the No. 8 decide and Jacy Sheldon to the Connecticut Solar in alternate for Dijonai Carrington and the No. 12 decide a number of sources inform @Winsidr
— Rachel Galligan (@RachGall) February 1, 2025
The commerce formally signifies that the one returners from final yr’s rotation are Marina Mabrey and Olivia Nelson-Ododa. Veteran All-Star guard DeWanna Bonner can be an unrestricted free agent, however it seems extremely unlikely she’ll re-sign with the Solar given the path issues are headed.
The Solar swapped championship competition for a whole rebuild
The Solar completed with the league’s third-best document final season and have been one sport faraway from one other journey to the WNBA Finals. Now, simply 4 months later, the staff is poised to be unrecognizable. Because it at present stands, the 2025 roster is headlined by Cloud, Sheldon, Mabrey, and Nelson-Ododa — however it wouldn’t be surprising if one (or extra) of these gamers have been flipped.
Lexie Brown, a Los Angeles Sparks guard, posted on X that the Solar was “in all probability the perfect staff that by no means gained a championship.” However, regardless of being one of many WNBA’s winningest franchises over the previous decade, they have been by no means in a position to recover from the hump.
The unlucky actuality for Connecticut is that the Mohegan Solar Enviornment shouldn’t be a relatively fascinating place for gamers to play — the staff lacks its personal practice facility (and hasn’t introduced plans to construct one) and isn’t in a serious media market. Uncasville, Connecticut is a city of lower than 18,000, and the Mohegan Solar Tribe that runs the group hasn’t invested within the staff the best way different WNBA possession teams have. On condition that groups just like the Mercury, Storm, and Valkyries have already got their very own amenities — and groups just like the Sparks, Sky, and Fever have introduced plans to construct them — Connecticut has fallen squarely behind.
The Carrington commerce was one of many final dominos to fall, however it punctuates the tip of an period of sustained successful that by no means achieved the final word aim. The place the Solar go from right here stays to be seen — it’s believable that extra veteran gamers like Mabrey and Cloud gained’t wish to be part of the sort of rebuild, and will probably be difficult for the Solar to amass free brokers for the aforementioned causes.
New basic supervisor Morgan Tuck and head coach Rachid Meziane have powerful duties forward of them, as conserving the franchise aggressive regardless of the turnover will stay a precedence given the league’s rising recognition, and the Solar’s robust successful tradition. In December, Tuck instructed SB Nation the staff was very open-minded heading into free company.
“There are some gamers that now we have just a little bit extra pull [with], and a few the place, hey, they get to decide on the place they go,” Tuck stated. “So it’s arduous to say precisely, however it’s very open at this level, and now we have to make use of the following month or so to get it from open to just a little bit extra centered and pointed right into a path that we really feel is one of the best ways to go.”
Now, only a few months later, it actually looks as if that path is nearer to a reset than the rest.
