With a lot of talk about the franchise’s future, the Connecticut Sun, who are expected to relocate and become the Houston Comets in 2027, went young with their first pick in Monday’s WNBA draft.
The Sun selected 19-year-old Nell Angloma with the 12th overall pick, picking the 5-foot-11 athletic wing from France, who will be one of the youngest players in the WNBA.
The Sun had two first-round picks and used the other selection to take UCLA sharpshooter Gianna Kneepkens with the 15th overall pick.
The highlight, though, is Angloma, who turns 20 in June. Angloma, playing in her second professional season in the French women’s league, averaged 15.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game this season, ranking second in the league in scoring and first in offensive efficiency. Playing in the 2025 FIBA Under-19 Women’s Basketball World Cup, she led France in scoring with 17 points per game.
“I’m a competitor first,” Angloma said on the ESPN broadcast of the draft. “I’m excited to meet all (my teammates) and do my best every time to help my team.”
One of the only knocks on Angloma is she hasn’t developed her outside shot yet. That’s not a problem for Kneepkens, who shot 43.1% from the 3-point line in her college career that included four years at Utah before transferring to UCLA where she won a national championship. Playing on a team that had a record five players go in the first round of the WNBA draft, Kneepkens still averaged 12.8 points at UCLA.
Kneepkens has five older brothers and when ESPN’s Holly Rowe asked her who taught her to shoot like that, she quipped, “Not any of them.”
The Sun used their second round pick on Charlisse Leger-Walker, who played with Kneepkens at UCLA. The 5-10 Leger-Walker had a 2.5 assist-to-turnover ratio her senior year, which ranked eighth in Division I. After transferring to UCLA from Washington State, she averaged 8.4 points and 5.6 assists per game for the national champions. Leger-Walker is the first player from New Zealand to be picked in the WNBA draft.
In the third round, the Sun took UConn’s 6-foot-4 center Serah Williams, who averaged 13.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2 blocks in her college career. One pick after the Sun took Williams, the Washington Mystic took University of Texas point guard Rori Harmon, who went to Houston’s Cypress Creek High School.
Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta reached an agreement to purchase the Sun from the Mohegan Tribe for a reported $300 million. The Sun will continue playing in Connecticut this summer, but pending approval by the other league owners, the team will relocate to Houston’s Toyota Center next season. The Rockets already have hired Kevin Pelton as assistant general manager and vice president of analytics to work with the Sun’s current front office.
The Sun went 11-33 last season, but have a promising young core, led by Leïla Lacan, who turns 22 this summer. The point guard from France averaged 10.4 points and 3.7 assists as a rookie last season. First-year players Saniya Rivers and Aneesah Morrow also are coming off promising debuts.