The Connecticut Sun have the most unusual origin story in American professional sports — and as of this fall, that story has a final chapter in Uncasville. The franchise began in 1999 as the Orlando Miracle, struggled for four seasons in Florida, and was purchased in 2003 by the Mohegan Tribe — becoming the first and only major professional sports team owned by a Native American tribe. Relocated to a casino-resort arena in a small Connecticut town, the Sun instantly became contenders, reaching the WNBA Finals in 2004 and 2005 behind Lindsay Whalen, Nykesha Sales, and Katie Douglas.
What defined the Sun was sustained excellence without the ultimate prize. Connecticut was one of the league's best-run, most competitive franchises for two decades — and never won a championship. Four Finals appearances (2004, 2005, 2019, 2022), four defeats. The 2019 team, led by Jonquel Jones and Courtney Williams, pushed the Washington Mystics to five games. The 2022 team fell to the Las Vegas Aces. The Sun were the franchise that did everything right and kept running into someone else's coronation.
The modern era belonged to Alyssa Thomas — "the Engine," a triple-double machine whose ferocious two-way game made her the heart of the franchise through the late 2010s and 2020s. Around her: DeWanna Bonner, Brionna Jones, Jasmine Thomas — veterans who turned Connecticut into the league's toughest out. The Sun's identity under a succession of sharp coaches was defense-first, physical, disciplined basketball: no shortcuts, no drama, just execution.
Mohegan Sun Arena gave the Sun one of the league's most distinctive home courts — a building widely regarded as one of the toughest environments in the WNBA, filled with passionate, knowledgeable fans in the heart of the country's most basketball-obsessed state. Connecticut calls itself the basketball capital of the world, with 18 combined national championships between the UConn men's and women's programs, and the Sun were never separate from that tradition. They were the afterparty for basketball junkies — the place where hoop didn't stop for the summer. Rebecca Lobo was on the team's first roster; Tina Charles, Jonquel Jones, Alyssa Thomas, Nykesha Sales and Morgan Tuck all carried the UConn-to-Connecticut pipeline. The All-Star Game was staged at Mohegan Sun Arena four times (2005, 2009, 2013, 2015), the draft was held there from 2014 to 2016, and the franchise became the first WNBA team ever to turn a profit — purchased by the Tribe for $10 million and run like a model organization for 23 seasons: a 461-375 record, 16 playoff appearances, four Finals trips.
Then came the sale saga that defined the 2026 "sunset season." In August 2025, word leaked that Boston Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca had struck a $325 million deal with the Mohegan Tribe to buy the Sun and move them to Boston — but the league blocked it, ruling that relocation decisions belonged to the board of governors, not individual franchises. A second $325 million offer followed from a group led by former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry, with a vision to keep the team in Connecticut and move it to Hartford; the league shot that down too, insisting a buyer had to come from a city that had already gone through the expansion process. The league pointed to Houston — which had raised a $250 million expansion bid in 2024 — and by March 2026 the Sun were sold to Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta for $300 million, the largest sale in WNBA history. The WNBA and NBA boards of governors unanimously approved the sale and relocation on May 13, 2026.
Beginning with the 2027 season, the franchise will play in Houston under the Houston Comets name, reviving one of the most recognizable identities in women's basketball — the original Comets won the WNBA's first four championships from 1997 through 2000 before ceasing operations after 2008. Team president Jen Rizzotti — the former UConn star — will move with the organization as president of basketball operations, general manager Morgan Tuck is expected to follow, and roughly 75 to 80 percent of the front office staff will make the move as well.
The final season was difficult on the court. Connecticut missed the playoffs and finished 11-33, a long way from the teams that regularly competed for championships. But the farewell was pure Connecticut: the franchise welcomed a dozen legends back across the season — Sales, Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Whalen, Thomas, Jones, Charles among them — and on the final night, with former players returned and longtime season-ticket holders recognized, the Sun beat the expansion Toronto Tempo 95-81 in their last game at Mohegan Sun Arena. Ashlon Jackson came off the bench for 18 points, Raegan Beers added 17 points, eight rebounds and two blocks, and Aaliyah Edwards chipped in 16 — a young core giving it everything to the end. Rizzotti, fighting back tears in her postgame speech, told the packed house: "You never disappointed. You proved that Connecticut deserves a WNBA team."
The rivalries were forged in playoff heartbreak: the Mystics, the Aces, the New York Liberty, the Atlanta Dream. The Sun's story is the noblest kind of sports tragedy — a first-class organization, beloved players, and a championship that kept slipping away in Uncasville. The name, the arena, and the Connecticut chapter are coming to an end. But the franchise — its operations, its front office, its winning DNA — continues in Houston, where the Comets name comes with four banners of its own. One of these years, this organization is going to be right.
