{"id":577464,"date":"2026-04-11T06:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T06:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/577464\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T06:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T06:51:08","slug":"brittney-griner-signs-with-connecticut-sun-in-huge-payday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/577464\/","title":{"rendered":"Brittney Griner signs with Connecticut Sun in huge payday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Connecticut Sun are making a big splash for their <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/03\/27\/sports\/rockets-owners-buying-connecticut-sun-moving-to-houston\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">final season<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>The team has agreed to a seven-figure contract to bring in Britney Griner, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SheKnowsSports\/status\/2042783807435092332?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2042783807435092332%7Ctwgr%5E655bbc9e5054299b952413dda24eb42dcd07caa0%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnypost.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D39055544action%3Dedit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">according to Sun sideline reporter Terrika Foster-Brasby<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Griner, a nine-time WNBA All-Star and future Hall of Famer, is one of the most decorated players in the history of the league and will be playing in her 13th season since being drafted No. 1 overall in 2013. <\/p>\n<p>The deal also comes after the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/03\/20\/sports\/new-clause-in-wnba-cba-will-boost-young-stars-salaries\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WNBA introduced its new collective bargaining agreement<\/a>, which will \u2014 among many other advances \u2014 raise players\u2019 salaries, making a select group of them millionaires for the first time since the league\u2019s inception.<\/p>\n<p>Brittney Griner spent last season with the Atlanta Dream.  Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>The move comes one day following <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/wnba\/story\/_\/id\/48442449\/aces-agree-119-million-deal-jackie-young\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Jackie Young\u2019s reported one-year, $1.19 million agreement<\/a> to return to the Las Vegas Aces.<\/p>\n<p>Griner, who spent last season with the Atlanta Dream, turned 35 this past October, was a standout on what was a surprising run to the league\u2019s No. 3 seed, with the team finishing 30-14.<\/p>\n<p>The 6-foot-9 center started in her first 25 appearances before being moved to an off-the-bench role. <\/p>\n<p>The Baylor alum came off the bench for her final 14 regular-season showings and all three Dream playoff games. <\/p>\n<p>Brittney Griner won a WNBA title with the Phoenix Mercury in 2014.  Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>The Dream were eliminated by the Caitlin Clark-less Indiana Fever in the first round after opening with a 17-point win in Game 1.<\/p>\n<p>Griner finished the 2025 season with career lows of 9.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. <\/p>\n<p>Griner spent her first 11 seasons with the Phoenix Mercury, establishing herself as one of the best players in league history, starring on the 2014 WNBA Champion team, also led by Diana Taurasi and DeWanna Bonner. <\/p>\n<p>Brittney Griner poses with her third Olympic Gold Medal in 2024.  Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>The six-time All-WNBA honoree is also a three-time Olympic Gold Medalist, having played for Team USA in the 2016, 2020 and 2024 Summer Games, with two World Cup titles in 2014 and 2018.<\/p>\n<p>She was also named to the W25, a list honoring the WNBA\u2019s top 25 players of all time in celebration of the league\u2019s 25th anniversary in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Connecticut Sun are making a big splash for their final season. The team has agreed to a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[3444,5550,4384,5551,99,434,23316],"class_list":{"0":"post-577464","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-atlanta-dream","9":"tag-brittney-griner","10":"tag-connecticut-sun","11":"tag-phoenix-mercury","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-wnba","14":"tag-wnba-free-agency"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577464","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=577464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}