WNBA season preview: Why can’t 2026 be the start of something special for the Connecticut Sun?

Expect Leïla Lacan can take her game to another level

Sun and Comets fans should be proclaiming that Leïla Lacan is the best point guard from the 2024 WNBA Draft class. Sure, that’s sounds absurd, but it’s not entirely outlandish. Lacan is still just 21 years old, yet she’s been playing professionally in France since 2022. She’s both seasoned and still developing, as she showed when she debuted for the Sun in the second half of the 2025 season. Lacan’s stats were solid, as she averaged 10.4 points, 3.7 assists and 2.4 rebounds in almost 27 minutes per game across her 25 total games and 15 starts with the Sun. Her impact, however, was transformational. When Lacan arrived in Connecticut, the Sun had two wins; by the end of the season, they had 11. This is not a coincidence. The Sun had an even scoring margin with Lacan on the floor, the only rotational player not in the negatives. Per Basketball Reference, the Sun were 18.4 points per 100 possessions better with Lacan on the floor. In 2025, the Lacan-less Sun were a near-automatic win for opponents; whereas with her, the Sun became a tough out capable of upsetting any team. She proved she can make a difference as a scorer, with six games scoring more than 15 points and twice reaching her career-high of 22 points. And she did so efficiently, with a 2-point percentage of 58.9 percent, which was the seventh-best mark in the league. Her 3-pointer needs work, as she shot just 22.4 percent from long range. That makes it even more impressive that she scored so efficiently inside the arc, as teams did not have to defend her as a 3-point threat. If she can make teams treat her as a 3-point shooter, she can become an more efficient—and more dangerous—scorer. Lacan also proved she can make a difference as a playmaker, notching a 14-assist game with zero turnovers in addition to eight games with five or more assists. And she certainly proved she can make a difference as a defender. Lacan averaged 2.2 steals per game, swiping three or more in 10 contests. Overall, she finished 10th in the WNBA with 55 total steals—despite playing in just 25 games.

Anneesah Morrow is just going to find a way to make an impact

Aneesah Morrow’s game isn’t supposed to be impactful in the modern WNBA. She’s an undersized big without a reliable outside shot. Morrow, however, has shown she has no mind for such presuppositions. She’s going to do what needs to be done to influence the action. She earned her way into more minutes over the course of her rookie season and appears poised to claim a significant role from the jump in 2026. She was the star of the Sun’s preseason win, with 21 points, seven rebounds, three steals and a block in the victory over the Toronto Tempo. She even hit a 3—even if was not necessarily a replicable make. Rebounding, despite standing 6-foot-1, is Morrow’s signature skill. And in a WNBA that should increasingly value creating extra possessions, Morrow’s work on the glass can help the Sun get the small wins on the margins that, eventually, become bigger, overall wins on the ledger. The Sun’s 2026 second-round draft pick, Charlisse Leger-Walker, could similarly be an atypical-but-impactful star in her role for Connecticut. The sixth UCLA Bruin selected, Leger-Walker doesn’t possess outlier size or athleticism, plus she carries a significant injury history. But, like Morrow, she just does things that contribute to good basketball. Leger-Walker played with veteran poise during her preseason debut, with the Sun outscoring the Tempo by 11 points in her almost 24 minutes. While Lacan will be the starting point guard, Leger-Walker appears ready to be the steady backup. Or, maybe even more. As Zack Ward chronicled during the college season, Leger-Walker has a star-scorer past that, maybe, could re-emerge, at least occasionally, for the Sun.

Can Saniya Rivers begin to realize her full potential?

Three members of the Sun have the chance of making a star (or star-ish) leap: Saniya Rivers, Aaliyah Edwards and Diamond Miller. The three are former first-round draft picks who have flashed high upside, yet struggled to sustain it. Rivers, entering her second season, is the most intriguing. She, in contrast to Morrow and Leger-Walker, screams “WNBA athlete.” In fact, she might be the best athlete in the league, standing 6-foot-1 with long limbs, leaping ability, quickness and speed. Translating all those traits into consistent on-court impact is the challenge for Rivers. A potential game-changing defender who can feast in transition, Rivers brings undeniable strengths to floor that are, at least the moment, balanced by severe weaknesses. The offensive halcourt is the issue. She’s a questionable shooter who also has yet to use her athleticism become a dynamic playmaker. Right now, in a high-leverage game, teams are unlikely to guard Rivers in the halfcourt, instead packing the paint or diverting more attention to, and thus making things more difficult for, other players. She was scoreless in 23 minutes in the Sun’s preseason game, going 0-for-6 from the floor, including 0-for-3 from 3. Still, the tools make it impossible to give up on Rivers becoming something special. Possibly, a former Sun star, Alyssa Thomas, is an instructive example. A bullying athlete compared to the bursty Rivers, Thomas thrives as a defense-to-offense engine. In the halfcourt, she has eschewed an outside shot, instead prioritizing getting to the basket or making plays for others. Rivers, unlike Thomas, will not be empowered as the primary playmaker for the full-strength Sun, but can she, with an assist from the sets and schemes of Meziane, become a threatening secondary playmaker and driver who tears up tilted defenses? Sun fans, how are you feeling about this Sunset season? And Comets fans, let us hear from you, too. What players are you most intrigued by? Who do you think is poised for a breakout season? Do you think this squad could sneak up on a lot of opponents and pull off some suprising upsets?