Not much offensive help, but a good draft night for Sun

The 2025 WNBA Draft has come and gone, and there’s this strange feeling called hope for the Connecticut Sun as the season is now imminent.

There are holes and question marks, several of them, but I thought the Sun had a pretty good night Monday, and with everything that’s happened in the last few months, that’s a very good thing.

You probably know this already if you’re here, but the WNBA Draft is not somewhere where sure things are always found, particularly after the first couple of picks. With their success in recent years, the draft has been irrelevant to the Sun building a team. How many Sun draft picks of the last decade can you name?

Except for last year’s first-round pick, Leila Lacan, none of them will be on the Opening Day roster in 2025, which is somewhat a product of their success. (We should shout out the 20th overall pick in 2021, Dijonai Carrington as well as the 21st pick in 2019, Bridget Carleton, who helped eliminate the Sun last fall with Minnesota.)

It was interesting (and obvious) for the Sun to use general manager Morgan Tuck to promote the draft. Tuck was the third overall pick in the 2016 draft, but - largely due to injuries, unfortunately - started a grand total of 10 games for the Sun in four seasons.

The Sun had three of the top six picks (eventually) in the draft that season, Rachel Banham was fourth, but it was the No. 6 pick in 2016 that would change everything for the franchise. Technically Jonquel Jones was drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks, but immediately traded to the Sun. It is important to remember, though, that before Jones became a WNBA Most Valuable Player, she averaged only 14 minutes per game her rookie year with the Sun.

Which brings us back to Monday night. Will Aneesah Morrow and Saniya Rivers lead the Sun back to the heights they’ve gotten used to for most of the last decade? Probably not right away. But very few rookies come in and become stars immediately, so patience is going to be key, and we have to remember that.

Let’s look at the three picks the Sun made Monday night:

• No. 7 - Aneesah Morrow, F, LSU -  There are some red flags, namely her size (6’1”) and lack of shooting ability, but you don’t lead the NCAA in rebounding by accident. Former college teammate Angel Reese is a little taller, but she had a successful rookie season. Other than size, the biggest question for Morrow will be shooting. She didn’t take many three-pointers at LSU, but she tried 209 in her sophomore year alone at DePaul before transferring. She only made 25.4% of them, and that could define how effectively she is offensively in the WNBA. If she has the work ethic everyone says she does, we will see improvement.

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• No. 8 - Saniya Rivers, F, NC State - Unlike Morrow, Rivers’ numbers don’t jump off the page, but the hope - like Carrington before her - is that her athleticism will shine more with better players around her. She brings tremendous length, especially if she’s defending guards, can handle the ball if needed, and can rebound. Like Morrow, though, her outside shooting (although improved from her 1-for-31 from behind the arc as a member of national champion South Carolina as a freshman) is not consistent. Can she find enough offense to get on the floor consistently in the WNBA? They said the same things about Carrington, too, and look where she is now.

• No. 25 - Rayah Marshall, C, USC - A third pick with somewhat questionable offensive credentials, but I think Marshall has a good chance to make the final roster. She’s 6-foot-4, was one of the top rebounders in the nation in both her sophomore and junior seasons, and was a blocked shot machine until an inconsistent senior year. Marshall will have trouble contributing much of anything offensively early in her career, but should have potential to improve practicing every day against the kind of players she’ll be seeing in the WNBA.

So where does that leave the 2025 roster? Marina Mabrey and Tina Charles (who was the top pick in the 2010 WNBA Draft for the Sun) are probably the only two definite starters at the moment, and Mabrey - already annoyed at having to be part of another rebuilding project - was not given any offensive help in the draft. It’s probably not a great sign that the Sun’s second most reliable outside shooter might be Charles.

We’ll have time to delve into this a little more before the regular season starts, but Mabrey’s offensive numbers (including 42.4% from behind the arc) were outstanding last season, which is likely a lot of the reason she wasn’t moved despite her pleas. It will be tougher for her without the likes of Thomas, Ty Harris, and DeWanna Bonner around her, but the Sun need Mabrey to produce.

My guess for the 2025 starting lineup in mid-April: Jacy Sheldon (who did shoot 37% from three as a senior at Ohio State), Mabrey, Diamond DeShields, Morrow, and Charles.

After that: Lindsay Allen, Lelia Lacan, Olivia Nelson-Ododa, and Rivers should make the roster easily and could figure into the starting lineup at some point.

If there are three spots left, I think they’ll go to Marshall, Abbey Hsu (who made 375 three-pointers and shot 38.5% in four years at Columbia), and Yvonne Anderson.

Training camp begins April 27, and the Sun open preseason play on May 4 in Seattle. Here we go.