A year after coming one win away from the WNBA Finals, the Connecticut Sun finished the season with the league’s third-worst record.
That doesn’t sound great on paper.
But it’s all part of the plan.
Only two players from the 2024 Semi-Finals Sun team returned — Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Marina Mabrey — and in place of All-Stars Alyssa Thomas, DeWanna Bonner, and Brionna Jones, the organization brought in a slew of young talent, headlined by rookies Leila Lacan, Saniya Rivers, and Aneesah Morrow, as well as second-year forward Aliyah Edwards.
Former UConn star Morgan Tuck — who was drafted by the Sun in 2016 — was named the general manager of the franchise last December, and shortly after, she led the organization through an expansion draft, free agency, the WNBA Draft, and the beginning of a rebuild.
This week, Tuck sat down with SB Nation to discuss her first year at the helm.
The following conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity. This article is the first in a two-part series overviewing her remarks.
Noa Dalzell: Morgan, it’s great to have you back. We caught up last year, soon after you were promoted to the GM role. As I was preparing for this interview, I was thinking to myself — what a whirlwind year, not just for the Sun, but also for the WNBA at large. You have the Expansion Draft, you have the WNBA draft, you have an almost completely new roster. On a personal level, what was this past year like for you?
Morgan Tuck: Whirlwind is the best way to put it. It was interesting, right? When I think back to a year ago, I knew I was getting into something that would be challenging — and it 100% lived up to that. It was very challenging. It was all over the place, good and bad. In my short professional career since playing, it was definitely my most pivotal year. I learned the most. I grew a lot, and really had to get out of my comfort zone. It was quite the year, but it was one that I definitely needed, so I’m appreciative of it.
Dalzell: You had to kind of re-envision what this roster was going to look like. There was a ton of turnover on the Sun this summer, and you come back with only two returning players. What was your initial vision for the offseason, and how do you feel about how things came to fruition in Year 1?
Tuck: We knew that we were going to have a good amount of turnover, right? We look at a “team cycle,” and I think our cycle at the Connecticut Sun was really, really long. I was here the last time we weren’t good — when I got drafted in 2016 and we didn’t make the playoffs. We sustained a lot of excellence for a long time, right? Obviously, we didn’t get that championship. That’s the main thing.
We knew coming in that it’s gonna have to change, right? We can’t just stay status quo, and do things the same way, and expect a different result. We anticipated a little bit that we were gonna have some of the players’ wants that we spoke about, that we were gonna have to make some changes.
When I looked at the history of Sun and how we got really good — that team that was in the Semi-Finals six straight years and made the Finals — they built through the draft and select free agents. That’s something that I came in understanding: the way that we’re going to be able to restart our cycle is, we have to get younger. We have to be able to find some really good draft picks to be able to build our team and rebuild a young core. That’s what I was most proud of from our team in the past, was that core — the couple players that you mentioned, Bri Jones, we had Jonquel Jones for a little bit — that core was really, really good.
And besides DB [DeWanna Bonner], they were all drafted here. We wanted to carry that a little bit to say, Look, we can find a way to get back to where we were, and even above that, and further than that, but we have to start over at some point. It just so happened to be that Year 1 was when we had to do that.
But now looking back in hindsight, I think we did a pretty good job of making sure that we’re building this young core. At the beginning, it was rough, right? We were like, ‘What are we doing? Is this plan gonna work?’ As we went through the season, toward the end, we were like, ‘Okay, I think we’re on the right path.‘ And it gave us some hope for the future.
Dalzell: It was very clear that this Sun team post All-Star break was a much better team — you accrued an 8-14 after the break. And you mentioned building through the draft. The Sun selected Saniya Rivers and Aneesa Morrow with the 7th and 8th picks in the draft. What drew you to those two players, in particular, and what did you make of their rookie seasons?
Tuck: First was who they were as people. Both of them have very different personalities, but they’re great in their own ways. We felt like who they were as people fit into what we were trying to do and the type of people that we want on our team, and then watching them, [seeing] the impact that they have on their team and how they interact with their teammates.
Obviously, their skill level [is high] — they have to be able to play. They wouldn’t have got drafted if they didn’t. But I think seeing the way that they impact their team, and understanding the system that they’re in, how they’re being used, or how they’re being asked to play and to contribute.
We don’t assume that they’re going to come in as rookies and do the exact same things that they did in college, right? They were seniors; they were there for four years. But we watched them for a couple of years prior — you have a good understanding of their game, you try to get to know them a little bit, and talk to people that are around them.
We got really lucky, because we had Aneesah and Saniya as our picks that we wanted. We knew the few that would be gone — the lottery picks, they’re going to be gone before that. So when we thought realistically who we could get, we hit on who we wanted to get. We were really excited about that, and knew that both of them, obviously, they’re very great [right now], but they have a lot of potential. And so that, to us, was a really green flag. We felt like we needed people that — yes, they’re really good right now, but they have the capacity and ability to grow and get better, and we can kind of form them into what we need, but they get to be themselves and spread their wings. We got really lucky with our draft picks, and we’re excited that we got players of that caliber at the 7th and 8th pick.
Dalzell: Leila Lacan appeared to be one of the key midseason changes. She was drafted when you were assistant general manager, but didn’t come over until this season. What went into selecting her in 2024, when you guys were still competing for a championship, and what did you make of the 25 games she played for Connecticut?
Tuck: First, shoutout to Darius Taylor. He was our GM the last couple of years, and I was Assistant GM. When we watched her, the intensity with that she plays at, it’s unmatched. She’s so young. A lot of young players in her age range just need time. They have to get used to the physicality in the system. But she’s been playing over in France and playing as a professional for a long time.
Her defense is what really changed it for us — it was just a different level that we hadn’t had. When you watch a player first, you see their size. She’s long, she’s a big guard. Her intensity, her work ethic, the way she impacts the game on both sides, really stood out. There’s a lot of really, really great players overseas too, so you know that who they’re doing this against aren’t nobodies, right? They’re playing at a really high level. She played for really great teams, and then being on the Olympic team for France, she was playing against some of our best players in the world that have ever played, and she was able to hold her own out there.
We knew that 2025 was the year we wanted her to come. I wish she could have come even sooner; the beginning of our season would have looked a little bit different if she were out there. But she showed everyone there’s a reason we drafted her, and I think she’s just scratching the surface of how good she’ll be. So she’s one that we’re really excited about.
Dalzell: When we last spoke in December, it was hard to state anything for certain about the upcoming season. But now, with a year under your belt, how would you characterize the identity of this team moving forward?
The young core is going to be key for us. And with youth, you need to have select vets, and really good vets, around the team. It speaks to our identity that we’ve had that really gritty, hard-nose, defense-first type of mentality — get up and down, push in transition, that’s how we want to play, and those are the type of players that we want.
We want players who are great people who are really bought into what we’re trying to do, and how we want to play and how we want to work as a team. What made Connecticut really good in the past was that they win by committee. We’re able to create stars and create superstars over time, but they win by committee. It’s not usually one person who’s carrying the load. And so for us, that’s the overall vision.
Building around our youth, and the younger players we have ,is going to be one of our main focuses as we go forward. Because again, for us to be successful, we have to be able to build through the draft and create a little bit of momentum and cadence. I don’t think we’re a team that can pick and select different players every year and go out there and give a good product. We have to build some momentum from this year into next, and we think we can do that best by focusing on youth.
Part II of our interview with Morgan Tuck, in which we discuss Veronica Burton’s breakout year with the Golden State Valkyries, Marina Mabrey’s trade request, Rachid Meziane’s WNBA coaching debut, and more will be out on Wednesday.
