Sun rise

There will be a lot going on Tuesday night at TD Garden, between the game being a showcase for the possible future of the Connecticut Sun, Caitlin Clark coming to town, and the first meeting of Indiana and Connecticut since the shenanigans of June 17 that saw Jacy Sheldon, of all people, ejected, and every right-wing website abuzz at the savior, Sophie Cunningham (I still get alerts for such articles a month later, by the way). I will not be there, sadly, although prices have gone down significantly for the cheap seats (about $100 at the moment), I already committed to my summer job for the evening. If anything, the Sun seem slightly less likely to move to Boston in 2026 then they did when I wrote their obituary two months ago on the eve of the regular season. This article shows how much moving the team to Boston for one night involves, but reading between the lines, there seems to be a little reluctance for the Celtics (and Bruins) to share much, at least not yet. The Sun sold out...

In the grand scheme of life, or even the 2025 WNBA season, the Sun’s 92-88 loss to the Sparks Sunday won’t long be remembered, and won’t be a factor in whether Connecticut makes the playoffs or not, but dammit, the Sun had a chance to win this one. A good chance. But between the layups conceded in the first half and the inability to get a defensive rebound in the second half, it slipped away. Which is not to say it was a bad performance, which made it even more frustrating. Saniya Rivers joined Paige Buckers, Sonia Cintron, Kiki Iriafen, and teammate Aneesah Morrow as the only 2025 draft picks to hit 20 points in a regular season game, and those first three names just got named All-Stars already.  And Bria Hartley’s 25 points were just two off her career-high that she sent in the Wubble in 2020 for Phoenix (two of her teammates that day were her recent best friends Skylar Diggins and Sophie Cunningham), not bad for someone whose career looked finished before she signed with Connect...

In a way, the current status of the Los Angeles Sparks could be a bit of a cautionary tale for the Connecticut Sun, wherever they end up in the future. Long one of the marquee franchises in the WNBA (they went 102-30 from 2001-2004 and won two titles with Lisa Leslie ), the Sparks made the playoffs in 20 of 22 seasons, posting only four losing records in that span, ending in the Wubble in 2020. But they haven’t been back since, and - even after a big trade to acquire Kelsey Plum in the offseason - seem as far away as ever, moving quickly toward its fifth straight season outside the postseason. There has been some bad luck, of course, Los Angeles had a shot to get Caitlin Clark and the best odds to draft Paige Bueckers in April’s draft, only to see Dallas get her. Then they drafted Cameron Brink second overall in 2024, only to have her tear her ACL early in her rookie season (she is expected back soon thankfully). Kelsey Plum was acquired from the Las Vegas Aces last offseason (Getty Im...

There are two ways to look at the Sun’s 79-65 loss in Seattle late Friday night. Yes, it was a bit of a collapse down the stretch after Leila Lacan’s layup gave Connecticut a 62-60 lead with 6:25 left, and certainly a game the Sun had a chance to win if they could have executed a little better in the final minutes. However, if you've followed the team all season, you’ve seen a few road games against good teams that have been hideous from the opening tip , and this was most certainly not that. The way the roster was compiled, it was always going to be a struggle offensively (exacerbated, of course, by the absence of Marina Mabrey). But some of the defensive efforts have been particularly frustrating, allowing layup after layup with games turned into laughers before halftime. Friday was most certainly not that. I once played on a particularly untalented basketball team back in the day, and one thing I remember our coach saying when we were up against it was, “At least let them know w...