Brittney Griner was introduced by the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun on Friday, April 17, 2026 at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT.
Courtesty of Connecticut Sun
Brittney Griner was introduced by the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun on Friday, April 17, 2026 at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT.
Courtesty of Connecticut Sun
Brittney Griner was introduced by the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun on Friday, April 17, 2026 at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT.
Courtesty of Connecticut Sun
Brittney Griner was introduced by the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun on Friday, April 17, 2026 at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT.
Courtesty of Connecticut Sun
UNCASVILLE — Morgan Tuck is 8-8 against Brittney Griner as a player.
The two All-American bigs faced off just once in college, when Tuck was a freshman with UConn women’s basketball and Griner was a senior at Baylor. They also met 15 times as pros during Tuck’s five-year career in the WNBA.
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Yet, when working together, they’re a gold-medal pairing.
While the sample size is small – they two teamed up for Team USA to win the 2018 World Cup – Tuck and Griner look to bring their winning partnership to Uncasville this summer in the Connecticut Sun’s final season in Connecticut.
“I’m surprised she doesn’t remember how many times she’s beaten me,” said Tuck Friday morning, smiling during Griner’s introductory press conference at Mohegan Sun.
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To which Griner responded, also smiling, “It’s about who we’re gonna go beat now.”
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Tuck, in her second season as the Sun’s general manager, signed Griner to a one-year standard-max contract of $1.19 million last week to become one of Connecticut’s biggest free agency gets in years. Griner’s expected not only to become the Sun’s focal point on both sides of the ball this season, but also its star veteran among its young core.
Brittney Griner was introduced by the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun on Friday, April 17, 2026 at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT.
Courtesty of Connecticut Sun
“My perspective has obviously changed from when I played against her (and) I was a freshman at UConn at XL Center (now PeoplesBank Arena), and we lost, and it was terrible after. But, you know, at that time, I was looking at her kind of like in awe, right?” said Tuck.
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“(She’s) someone that I really looked up to, and I still look up to her, but in a different way as a player. I think just seeing how effective she’s been over her longevity is really admirable. … The experiences she’s had and how she’s handled it, I don’t know if any of us could handle it the way that she has. To still be that positive light, inspiration, I think she’s just someone that I still really look up to and just glad that I’ve gotten to see a lot of her career.”
Griner begins her 13th season in the league in 2026. She’s a 10-time WNBA All-Star, a two-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, and a WNBA champion. She’s led the league in blocks eight times and twice in scoring.
Her first 11 years in the WNBA were based in Phoenix as she played alongside former UConn women’s basketball great Diana Taurasi with the Mercury. Griner’s game blossomed in Phoenix. She became an unstoppable rim protector and post presence and learned what it means to be a pro, both on and off the court, from one of, if not the, best to ever play the game.
“She taught me a lot, and I learned a lot by watching her, her pulling me to the side, her having tough conversations with me when I was younger on where I want my career to go,” said Griner on Taurasi’s mentorship. “And, you know, I appreciate her for all those moments. Penny Taylor, Candace, Dupree, Sue Bird; I’ve had a lot of really good people pour into me. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to watch them from an arm’s length away.”
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Griner left Phoenix last year and spent the 2025 season playing for Atlanta. She admits now that it wasn’t the right fit. She averaged career lows of 9.8 points per game (in 2024 she averaged 17.8) and 5.2 rebounds per game. Signing with Connecticut this season, she said, was “an easy decision.”
“That transition from Phoenix to Atlanta for me, you know, I’ll be honest, it was rough for me, a little bit, you know, the mental side of it,” Griner said. “It was different. I’d been somewhere basically my whole career, and that was definitely, it was tough for me. It was an adjustment. … But I feel really good about this. I’m in the right headspace. I feel like I went into it and I knew what I wanted. I knew what I was looking for. You don’t know what you don’t know until you know. And I know this is what I want. And this was the right place.”
Brittney Griner was introduced by the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun on Friday, April 17, 2026 at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT.
Courtesty of Connecticut Sun
Getting to work with Tuck again was an added bonus.
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“Having a GM here that, you know, was a player first, that was also something that was big for me too,” said Griner, who hugged Tuck sitting next to her. “I feel so comfortable going and talking to Morgan about anything. I feel like I can bring her anything. She understands where I’m coming from, what it’s like for us, road trips, games, housing. I mean, it’s just the list goes on. And I think she’s doing an amazing job.”
Both Tuck and Sun head coach Rachid Meziane joked that they’ve lost more games to Griner-led teams than they’ve won. Tuck at the NCAA and WNBA levels, and Meziane at the international level, while Griner played in Russia, and he coached in France. Griner played seven years for UMMC Ekaterinburg in Russia during the WNBA offseasons.
She stopped playing overseas after getting arrested at a Moscow airport for drug-related charges in 2022 and spending nearly 300 days detained at a Russian prison before being released in a prisoner-swap with the United States.
Brittney Griner was introduced by the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun on Friday, April 17, 2026 at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT.
Courtesty of Connecticut Sun
Griner returned to the WNBA in 2023 and earned All-Star honors that season and in 2024, averaging at least 17.5 points and 6.3 rebounds each season.
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“We expect her to be who she is, so a strong presence on both ends of the floor, and to bring her experiences, her leadership, her positive leadership,” said Meziane. “I have a lot of respect for her and who she is.”
With the Sun, Griner is expected to become the team’s primary defender and rebounder. No one else can compare to her size (6-foot-9), experience, skill and athletic prowess. Off the court, she plans on being the best mentor she can to the Sun’s young frontcourt group, which includes former Huskies Aaliyah Edwards and Olivia Nelson-Ododa.
“Some of my best leaders shared their experiences, grabbed me, pulled me underneath their wing, and I’m looking to do the same thing,” said Griner.
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The Sun begins training camp on Sunday after a condensed free agency period that officially kicked off last Saturday. Connecticut has a 17-player training camp roster, which it will need to cut down to 12 (plus two developmental players) before its season-opener on May 8.