The Sun fell short this year will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Now, they will have time to rest but also improve their individual games for next season.
In the past, playing overseas was the only option for players to continue to make income when the WNBA season ended. Now there are leagues across the United States that allow players to stay, including Athletes Unlimited and Unrivaled.
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Rest and recovery
Health and recovery is something that the Sun are prioritizing this offseason. Given the length and demand of the season, vets like Tina Charles, who just completed her 15th season in the league, is going to take advantage of the time she now has to fully recover.
Charles frequently mentions her shoulder pain and even sat out a game this season due to it. For the first time ever, Charles will not be going overseas to play. Instead, she’s joining Athletes Unlimited.
“I’m looking forward to just being with my family,” Charles told reporters during her exit interview. “Looking forward to just having time to myself. This will be the first time that I’m not playing overseas or not thinking to play overseas. So I’m just looking forward to regrouping, getting my body right, getting back, healthier, stronger, rehabbing my shoulder, just taking care of my body mainly.”
Sun guard Bria Hartley will also spend the offseason recovering after suffering an MCL tear in her right knee during a team practice at the end of August. Hartley missed the remainder of the season.
Last offseason, Hartley played in Athletes Unlimited and had plans to play overseas instead this year. But things changed after her injury.
“I was originally signed to go overseas in Turkey,” said Hartley. “With the injury… [I’m] still navigating what the next steps are. But as of right now, Athletes Unlimited is not what I’m planning to do.”
Sun guard Marina Mabrey, who sustained a knee injury this season, says she wants to make some changes in her fitness routine to try and avoid getting injured in the future.
“I think just for me, the past two seasons, even in Unrivaled, the end of last season, this season, I had a lot of injuries. So for me, I think I need to do something differently because I usually spend the whole offseason working out crazy.
I think that I will do something a little more mobility based, like yoga, pilates, like light runs and stuff to try to keep myself healthy without overdoing it on the court, hoping that that will keep me healthy for Unrivaled and for [the] WNBA,” Mabrey told reporters.
Unrivaled and Athletes Unlimited
Unrivaled launched its inaugural season during this past offseason and made large strives towards success. The league has a players-first mentality and earned praise from many of the those who competed in it.
Co-founded by UConn alumni and WNBA stars, Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, the 3×3 style league generated revenue and just recently added two new clubs a year ahead of their original goal. There’s even more roster spots, too, increasing from 36 players to 48.
Sun rookie guard Saniya Rivers is going to some time away from basketball to both mentally and physically recover before playing in Unrivaled for the first time this offseason. Mabrey and Sun center Aaliyah Edwards are also returning to the league.
“I mean, the Future is Unrivaled,” Edwards told reporters with a laugh. “That’s all I’m gonna really say,” Edwards.
Edwards will be also participating in the Sports Illustrated tournament in California at the end of October, and will host two basketball camps in her hometown of Kingston, Ontario as well as in Kingston, Jamaica.
“So that’s very exciting,” Edwards said on her camps. “Been working on this project for a while, so it’s gonna be cool to go back to my roots. My family is Jamaican, so to kind of pour into the young girls over there, also give some insight, give some wisdom, and just again, going back to what I’m saying with the representation, just having the ability for those young girls to kind of look up to, talk to and aspire to be a WNBA player like myself.”
As for rookie Aneesah Morrow, she announced to reporters during her exit interview that she is going to play in Athletes Unlimited (AU) for the first time, too. In the meantime, she’s also going to enjoy herself and be around her family.
Traveling overseas
Sun guard Migna Touré, who joined the team in late July, will now head overseas to continue playing, telling the media: “I’m playing in Czech Republic. We have already a big objective [to try and] reach the EuroLeague competition. So it’s not a holiday[vacation] for me. It’s actually…[still]work [for me].”
Rookie phenom Leila Lacan did not participate in team exit interviews due to personal reasons, but she will return to play in the women’s EuroLeauge for Basket Landes in France.
Sun center/forward Rayah Marshall was originally unsure if she would play overseas or not during the offseason, as it depended on how her rookie season in Connecticut went.
“Prior to the season, I was like, ‘You know what? I just got out of college, we made a good run in March. If I get a lot of minutes here, then I don’t know, I don’t know if I will go and play overseas.’ I was fortunate enough to get a chunk of change from NIL, so it’s not like I would need [to play] overseas to provide [for myself] financially, but with the minutes that I had, I was like, ‘I need to work on my game. I need more game reps. I need more of a live rep.’ So I was like I will play after [the] season,” Marshall told reporters this past Thursday.
Sun center Olivia Nelson-Ododa is retuning to China to play in the WCBA for the Shanxi Xing Rui Flame. Nelson-Ododa also launched her health and beauty brand, Kayelise Beauty last offseason and plans to continue the development of that during her time off.
“Actually, it’s great that I’ll be able to be home just for a few months before I head overseas. So definitely some stuff [with Kayelise Beauty] in the works, definitely going to be coming out with some things and just using this time at home to really take full advantage of being able to work on the projects that I want to,” Nelson-Ododa told reporters.
Sun guard Lindsay Allen and forward/guard Haley Peters will also be heading overseas to continue to play. Both players are still unsure of exactly where they will play overseas but look forward to having a break from basketball.
“[I have] no vacation plans yet, but maybe spend some time with some family in the next month, and then I’m not sure I’ll go over to Europe or Australia and figure out some offers there at some point, not right away, but at some point in offseason, I’ll go over there to play,” Peters told reporters.
Allen is planning to go on vacation during the second half of September and rest before heading overseas this fall, too.
“I’ll head home this weekend, and then I’m going to take some time off and likely go overseas somewhere in November, so I’ll be home for a lot of it. I’m actually planning to go to Japan [in the] second half of this month for about 10-11, days, and then I’ll just be home for most of October for the most part,” she told reporters.
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Vacation plans
It wouldn’t be an offseason without some traveling, right? The Sun plan on doing just that and enjoying the company of loved ones that they may not get to see very often during the busy season.
“I do have a vacation plan. I don’t know exactly where I’m going yet, but I’m definitely going next week. So a bit of indecisive[ness], but I want it to be somewhere tropical,” Mabrey said when asked if she had plans to travel.
Rivers is excited to do some traveling as well but what she really can’t wait for is having meals cooked for her again.
“I’m looking forward to resting and spending some time with some family. Obviously, being in Connecticut, I can’t be under my family every day, can’t get the home cooked meals every day. I have to cook for myself. So [I’m] looking forward to… getting a home cooked meal, [and to] get loved on by my family,” Rivers said.
With rest and time to develop their skills, the Connecticut Sun will look to return next season as a newly improved team and make the playoffs again.
