A complete overhaul to their roster forced the franchise to find a new identity going into the 2025 WNBA season. In December, the Sun hired first-time head coach Rachid Meziane and, with just two returners in Marina Mabrey and Olivia Nelson-Ododa, added to their roster in February by acquiring a shifty guard in Lindsay Allen and bringing back one of the most dominant bigs in the game, Tina Charles.
Later that month, the Sun then denied Mabrey’s trade request and, instead, looked to build around her fiery spirit, tenacity and three-point shooting ability that earned her the nickname Money Mabrey. They also signed 2024 WNBA draft pick Leila Lacan, who helped the French national team win silver in the 2024 Olympics, to a rookie-scale contract.
In April, the Sun also looked ahead at their future and drafted Aneesah Morrow and Saniya Rivers in the first round of the 2025 WNBA draft, as well as Rayah Marshall out of USC with the No. 25 pick. Just a week before the season started, they signed another relentlessly tough vet, Bria Hartley, who had bounced back from multiple knee injuries, to a training camp contract.
“Our main goal is to rebuild a culture first,” Meziane told The Next then. “We are not expected to dominate early and to win all of our games. … But right now we are starting a new cycle, so I don’t think that we will talk about winning all our games, so it’s a good thing for us. It would put too much pressure on us. As everybody knows, a lot of players left the team. So we are rebuilding. So just to be patient and build a new culture.”
The Sun won just two of their first 17 games before the arrival of Lacan — against Indiana and Atlanta —but even with her addition in July, it was evident that what the Sun truly needed was a complete reset. So, they brought sage onto the practice court and dialed in on building a sense of togetherness and camaraderie as a team.
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“Every team has its strengths and personalities,” Meziane told The Next in July. “I feel that for us … to be efficient is to play together, to swing the ball and try to create a bigger advantage and find open teammates. We don’t have a one-on-one player; some can do it, but not with the consistency we want. … We need to be patient [and] maybe try to play differently. Today, we have to think together and play as a team.”
Everything shifted when the Sun beat the Seattle Storm on July 9, winning just their third game of the season. What they proved, not just to the league but to themselves, was that they could compete — and win — against a playoff contender and thrive within Meziane’s system.
Team-first basketball, consistency and energy are all words he has used throughout the season, but what that manifested into for the Sun was chemistry off the court, too. They formed bonds, made TikToks and found meaningful friendships that showed promise of a team not only on the mend, but on a new path forward.
“I think perspective is everything,” Mabrey said during the team’s exit interviews Sept. 11. “Maybe you don’t get exactly what you want every time, but at the end of the day, I get to do this job. I’m blessed to be in this league, to be the player that I am in this league, especially looking back seven years ago, when nobody thought I’d be on the team very long, slash, ever make an impact, slash, be one of the best players.
“So I think that there’s a pride in that, and I’ll never step on the court and let somebody just cook me or my team willingly, so, just because I didn’t get what I want, I think just going out there, and maybe you’re not having everything your way, but there’s a lot of joy in what I got out of this year, and I learned a lot about myself. So I feel like God just kind of put me in this position to keep me here, because that’s where I belong.”
The Connecticut Sun huddle before a game at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, on Sept. 8, 2025. (Photo credit: Chris Poss | The Next)
Mabrey credited the rookies for shifting her perspective, too, especially when she realized how her teammates were handling her approach initially: “We had different personnel, and I realized that at first they weren’t really responding to the way I was doing it,” she said. “So just being self-aware and understanding, okay, this isn’t working. I’m going to try a different way. Maybe I need to change myself, or look in the mirror and see what I can do better, too.
“And then also making genuine relationships. That was a really big part of my leadership style that I think has helped me realize that the more the players know me as a person, the more willing they are to receive what I’m saying on the court. And I gotta say, I gotta give to the rookies. They’re the ones that made me realize that I need to change, that it’s not working. And they weren’t afraid to tell me, ‘No, this is not it.’ I appreciate them, and I think that that is a big reason why I was able to step into myself a little bit this season.”
Rivers is one of the rookies Mabrey has formed a deep connection with, all while bringing an ever-present smile and joy to the Sun’s locker room, despite going through her own personal battles after the loss of her mother.
When the Sun returned from the All-Star break, they looked like a completely different squad, and the wins, though they were few, came when they battled night in and night out. They also had fun while hyping each other up, hitting the ‘Tina Shimmy’ when celebrating big plays and, eventually, dancing their way through a three-game winning streak in August and amassing a total of eight wins in the second half of the season.
“It was one of the things I enjoyed about this team, celebrating the little things within such a long-winded season,” said Aaliyah Edwards, who joined the team in August via a trade. “I did come and enjoy the team on the tail end, but I think that I was welcomed with open arms, and there was just such a refreshing vibe to this team when joining. So I did appreciate those little moments, those little celebrations, even just Tina dancing in the middle of our dance circle.”
With an 11-33 record to end the season, the Sun, who missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016, will carry this momentum into the offseason. Some, like Mabrey and Rivers, will compete in Unrivaled, while Morrow will take her double-double rebounding prowess to Athletes Unlimited. Charles, who will also be playing in AU, announced at the last home game against the Atlanta Dream that she will be returning next season to rock an orange and white Sun jersey in 2026.
As for where the team will be located, that is currently the subject of headlines regarding the potential sale (and possible legal concerns) of the franchise. Throughout the season, there were numerous sightings of fans holding signs that read, ‘KEEP THE SUN IN Connecticut.’ One of those signs was also hung up on the wall in the women’s restroom at Mohegan Sun.
Only time will tell what happens next, but one thing is certain: the Sun ended the season on a high note and with a sense of togetherness, just like Meziane had hoped they would. The team even celebrated the end of the season at the Vista Lounge in Mohegan.
“That was like our first time coming together as a team and celebrating, so honestly, we had a good time,” Rivers told the media. “The DJ was great. We just got on the dance floor [and] people who never danced the whole season was on the dance floor.”