{"id":577251,"date":"2026-04-11T04:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T04:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/577251\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T04:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T04:20:09","slug":"brittney-griner-finalizing-seven-figure-deal-to-join-sun-sources-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/577251\/","title":{"rendered":"Brittney Griner finalizing seven-figure deal to join Sun, sources say"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Alexa PhilippouApr 10, 2026, 10:35 PM ET<\/p>\n

Close<\/a>Covers women’s college basketball and the WNBA
\nPreviously covered UConn and the WNBA Connecticut Sun for the Hartford Courant
\nStanford graduate and Baltimore native with further experience at the Dallas Morning News, Seattle Times and Cincinnati Enquirer<\/p>\n

Multiple Authors<\/p>\n

Ten-time WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner<\/a> is finalizing a seven-figure deal to join the Connecticut Sun<\/a>, sources confirmed to ESPN on Friday.<\/p>\n

The move comes as the Sun prepare for their final season in Connecticut before the franchise’s relocation to Houston in 2027. Griner, 35, is a Houston native and played collegiately at Baylor.<\/p>\n

The terms of the agreement are unknown. Sun sideline reporter Terrika Foster-Brasby first reported the deal.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

1 Related<\/p>\n

Griner will join a team that is building around a young core, including Connecticut draftees Leila Lacan<\/a>, Saniya Rivers<\/a> and Aneesah Morrow<\/a> as well as recently acquired players Diamond Miller<\/a> and Aaliyah Edwards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Griner, a 6-foot-9 center, is a six-time All-WNBA and seven-time All-Defensive team selection, two-time Defensive Player of the Year, eight-time blocks leader and two-time scoring champion.<\/p>\n

Prior to last season, she had spent her entire career with the Phoenix Mercury<\/a>, who drafted her No. 1 in 2013. She helped them win a championship the following year.<\/p>\n

Last year was the start of a new era for Griner as she left Phoenix to join the Atlanta Dream<\/a>. She registered a career low in minutes (20.8), points (9.8), rebounds (5.2) and blocks (1.2) and was coming off the bench by the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Griner has also had an illustrious international career, including as a three-time gold medalist with USA Basketball.<\/p>\n

She missed the 2022 campaign after being wrongfully detained in Russia for nearly 10 months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alexa PhilippouApr 10, 2026, 10:35 PM ET CloseCovers women’s college basketball and the WNBA Previously covered UConn and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[99],"class_list":{"0":"post-577251","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}