{"id":249441,"date":"2026-04-14T16:35:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T16:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/249441\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T16:35:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T16:35:07","slug":"are-they-houston-comets-connecticut-sun-draft-players-soon-headed-to-houston-for-relocation-in-2027-wnab-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/249441\/","title":{"rendered":"Are they Houston Comets? Connecticut Sun draft players soon headed to Houston for relocation in 2027 WNAB season"},"content":{"rendered":"

MANHATTAN, New York (KTRK) — The Connecticut Sun made their final official draft picks Monday night before the franchise relocates south <\/a>under the Fertitta family’s ownership to revive the Houston Comets for the 2027 WNBA season.<\/p>\n

In total, 45 women were called by Commissioner Cathy Englebert to find out where they would be playing within the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

The first round was star-studded, with projected No. 1 pick from UConn, Azzi Fudd,<\/a> joining the Dallas Wings to reunite with her former Huskies teammate, Paige Bueckers, who was also Dallas’ No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft.<\/p>\n

The Sun had two draft picks in the first round through various trades. The first selection was 19-year-old forward and French professional player Nell Angloma at No. 12 in a trade with the Phoenix Mercury. Angloma joins the team from the Basket Lattes Montpellier Association.<\/p>\n

She represented France at the 2024 FIBA-U18 Women’s EuroBasket, where she averaged 14 points and 7 rebounds, ultimately leading her team to the championship, earning MVP honors and being named to the All-Tournament Team, according to her draft stats.<\/p>\n

The franchise then took it west, selecting national champion UCLA guard Gianna Kneepkens at No. 15 through a trade with the Minnesota Lynx, and her teammate, New Zealand professional basketball player Charlisse Leger-Walker, in the second round.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Former Comets head coach Van Chancellor thrilled about WNBA team’s comeback to Houston<\/a><\/p>\n

Kneepkens started her career at Utah, where she averaged 19.3 points a game before officially transferring to UCLA in her final year of eligibility. She was placed on the preseason watchlist for the 2026 Naismith Trophy College Women’s Player of the Year.<\/p>\n

Walker made her debut for the New Zealand women’s national team at 16 years old. During her collegiate tenure, she played at Washington State, where she earned 4 All-Pac-12 Team (2021-2024), Pac-12 Freshman of the Year (2021), and Pac-12 All-Freshman Team (2021). She was granted an additional year of eligibility due to COVID-19 and transferred to UCLA, where she rehabbed her ACL injury after redshirting during the 2024-25 season.<\/p>\n

The Kneepkens\/Walkers selections put UCLA over the record for the most first-round draft picks from a single university, with 6 players drafted overall. The record had been held by UConn since 2002.<\/p>\n

In the third round, the team stayed home and selected UConn forward Serah Williams. Williams made a dent in her collegiate career at Wisconsin, making the Big Ten All-Freshman Team and being named Big Ten Freshman of the Week four times. She ultimately hit the transfer portal to play under Geno Auriemma at UConn.<\/p>\n

The draft wasn’t the only place where the team made off-season moves. It was reported that Houston native and 10x WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner would be moving on from the Atlanta Dream to the Sun in a seven-figure, one-year deal. Griner will be joining veterans Tina Charles and Marina Mabrey, along with a promising young core led by rookie point guard Le\u00efla Lacan, who joined the team at midseason and is under contract for three more years.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Brittney Griner finalizing 7-figure deal to join Sun before franchise relocates to Houston: Sources<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sun finished the 2025 season with an 11-33 record and 11th overall in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n

The franchise will move to Houston and will be fully operational for the next WNBA season.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MANHATTAN, New York (KTRK) — The Connecticut Sun made their final official draft picks Monday night before the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[94723,56,58,57],"class_list":{"0":"post-249441","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-94723","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-houston-headlines","11":"tag-houston-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}