From French phenom to UCLA duo, meet the Connecticut Sun’s 2026 WNBA Draft class

NEW YORK — The Connecticut Sun had a successful night at the WNBA Draft on Monday, picking up four new players for its 2026 roster.

The Sun didn’t hold their own pick in this year’s draft, which would have been No. 5 overall, due to a 2024 trade with the Chicago Sky, but the team still added a pair of first-rounders for the second season in a row. After establishing a strong foundation with 2025 No. 7 pick Aneesah Morrow and No. 8 pick Saniya Rivers, Connecticut hopes to continue developing its young core in year 2 under head coach Rachid Meziane.

“I think we stuck to our plan in what we were envisioning for our team,” general manager Morgan Tuck said Monday night. “We want it to be something that turns into a championship culture. That’s obviously winning, but I think we want to be proud of the way we do that in how we show up every day to practice, how we show up at games, how we represent ourselves and our organization … From our staff to our players, we want people that are really bought in to understanding it’s a ‘we over me’ mindset.”

The Sun have had a quiet free agency outside of signing 10-time All-Star center Brittney Griner, so their rookies should have opportunities to contribute immediately. The team’s current roster features six players with less than four seasons of experience in the league.

Connecticut’s new draftees officially begin their WNBA careers when training camp opens on Sunday. Before the season begins, here’s what you need to know about the Sun’s incoming class:

No. 12: Nell Angloma, forward, France

Angloma was projected to go as high as No. 5 pre-draft, so when the French 19-year-old fell to the Sun, the pick was a no-brainer. Angloma has played professional for Basket Lattes in France’s Ligue Feminine since 2024, and she has appeared in multiple FIBA competitions as a member of the French junior national team. The versatile 6-foot-1 forward averaged 15.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists with Lattes during the 2025-26 season.

“We thought she’d be gone a little bit earlier, but she’s someone we’ve had our eye on for quite some time and were hoping she would be there,” Tuck said. “We were really excited when we knew we had the chance to get her.”

Though Angloma has never played in the United States, Connecticut is an ideal place for to make the leap into the WNBA as the only team with a European head coach plus multiple French players on the roster. Angloma overlapped with Sun standout Leila Lacan for a year while both were training at France’s National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance, and they’ve played against each other for several seasons in the LFB.

Meziane also coached against Angloma for a season while leading Villeneuve d’Ascq before he was hired by the Sun. He spent the first 12 years of his career coaching in the LFB.

“She’s very young, so she has lots of room for improvement, but her body is ready, and she’s not scared to play one-on-one,” Meziane said. “We know she can create her shot for herself and also create for her teammates, and she will bring some length and size. She’ll also bring some defensive alternatives because she’s a switchable defender.”

No. 15: Gianna Kneepkens, guard, UCLA

With the last pick in the first round, Kneepkens was about as perfect a fit as the Sun could have hoped for. Lacan and Rivers are both defensive juggernauts and strong facilitators in the backcourt, but neither is an especially prolific scorer and both struggle with inconsistency behind the 3-point arc. Kneepkens is one of the most efficient shooters in the class, finishing her final college season just shy of 50/40/90 splits — 49.3% from the field, 42.9% on 3-pointers and 93.3% at the free throw line.

“My whole career, it’s never been about ‘I want to be in the 50/40/90 club,'” Keepkens said. “It’s just been about making the right basketball plays, taking shots I’ve worked on and finding my teammates when I need to.”

Kneepkens began her college career at Utah and helped lead the program to its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2006 in the 2023 NCAA Tournament. She missed most of the 2023-24 season due to a foot injury but returned to average a career-best 19.3 points per game the following year.

The 6-foot guard transferred to UCLA after former Utes coach Lynne Roberts was hired to lead the Los Angeles Sparks in 2025. As a redshirt senior in 2025-26, Kneepkens averaged 12.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and a steal on one of the most talented rosters in the country and helped the Bruins to their first-ever NCAA Championship. She was the fifth UCLA player selected in the first round Monday, setting a new WNBA record for the most first-round picks out of one program in a single draft.

No. 18: Charlisse Leger-Walker, guard, UCLA

Leger-Walker was picked just minutes after Kneepkens, becoming the sixth Bruin drafted, and the pair were ecstatic to reunite in the WNBA. Leger-Walker wasn’t invited to the draft but attended with her mother as guests of UCLA teammate Angela Dugalic, who was drafted No. 9 by Washington Mystics, so she got to participate in the fanfare of being selected in person.

“I’m very humbled and grateful that they saw something in me and chose to bring me along to Connecticut,” Leger-Walker said. “With Gianna there, it’s extremely amazing for me obviously having someone I know, but just the friendship we have has been one of the best part of my year … She’s one of the best players I’ve played with, so I’m just excited that we get to continue that journey together.”

The 5-foot-10 New Zealand native was one of the oldest and most experienced guards in the draft, playing her fifth college season in 2025-26 thanks to the extra year of eligibility she earned as a freshman in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Leger-Walker played her first four years at Washington State and was named to the All-Pac-12 team every season, also earning Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in 2021 and Pac-12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player in 2023.

Leger-Walker transferred to UCLA in 2024-25 after the Pac-12 was decimated by conference realignment, but she redshirted the season to finish rehabbing an ACL tear suffered late in 2023-24. She returned this year to average 8.4 points, four rebounds, 5.6 assists and 1.6 steals to help the Bruins to the national title. Leger-Walker’s ability as both a passer and scorer should translate well to the Sun, who currently lack options at point guard.

No. 33/37: Taylor Bigby, guard, TCU

The Sun used the No. 33 pick on UConn center Serah Williams but made a trade with the Portland Fire half an hour later that sent Williams to the expansion franchise in exchange for Bigby (Portland’s pick at No. 37) and a third-round pick in the 2027 draft. With Griner and Olivia Nelson-Ododa returning in the frontcourt alongside Morrow and Aaliyah Edwards, a guard with scoring upside filled a bigger need for the Sun, and neither player was likely to make the team’s final roster, so Connecticut had little to lose by moving Williams for an additional future draft asset.

Bigby, a 6-foot-1 guard out of TCU, played her freshman season at Oregon in 2021-22, then transferred to USC and played with the Trojans from 2022-24. She transferred again to TCU in 2024, and her numbers steadily improved over her last two collegiate seasons. Bigby had her most productive year in 2025-26, averaging 8.2 points while shooting career bests both from the field (44.1%) and from 3-point range (38.9%). She was third on the team in made 3-pointers behind teammates Olivia Miles and Marta Suarez, who were drafted No. 2 and No. 16 respectively.

UConn center Serah Williams drafted No. 33 in WNBA Draft by Connecticut Sun, traded to Portland Fire