February 22, 2025
Connecticut Sun add international experience and young talent in roster shuffle
It's a new era for Connecticut. Who will help get it started?
The Connecticut Sun have spent the past several seasons right on the edge of winning a championship. But in this year’s free agency period, the Sun are turning the page and rebuilding with a very different roster than we’ve seen in past years.
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The franchise is going through a transition with a new coaching staff and after losing all five starters to trades and free agency. After signing a veteran star in center Tina Charles, the Sun have added several other players since the beginning of February. They also recently denied guard Marina Mabrey‘s request to be traded.
Here is a rundown of Connecticut’s recent additions and what they could bring to the team in 2025.
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Yvonne Anderson
The Sun signed two-time Olympian and 5’7 guard Yvonne Anderson to a two-year contract on Feb. 6. Anderson is familiar with Connecticut after making her WNBA debut with the Sun in 2022, averaging 3.2 points across 11 games with the team.
“We are thrilled to welcome Yvonne to the Sun,” Sun general manager Morgan Tuck said in a press release. “[With] her wealth of international experience, exceptional basketball IQ, and leadership on and off the court, she is an incredible asset to our team. Yvonne’s commitment to the game and her positive impact on those around her make her a great fit for our team now and in the future. We are excited to see her contribute to our success and be a key part of our journey moving forward.”
Anderson was a star point guard at Texas from 2008 to 2012 and has spent the last 12 years playing overseas. She currently competes for the Turkish club BCK Mersin and is averaging 15.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 1.5 steals per game in Turkey’s top league (KBSL).
Anderson isn’t necessarily a high-volume 3-point shooter — an area in which the Sun struggled in previous seasons — but is explosive in the paint and a strong ball-handler. Last season, the Sun ranked second-to-last in the WNBA with 5.9 3-pointers made per game and shot 32.7% from behind the arc.
Anderson is a skilled pick-and-roll playmaker whose style will fit well with another new addition, guard Leïla Lacan, who is great out of pick-and-rolls. Anderson is currently fourth in the EuroLeague in assists per game, and her ability to score and facilitate will be important for Connecticut’s success next season.
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Leïla Lacan
Connecticut selected Lacan 10th overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft, and the franchise retained her rights after she didn’t participate in the 2024 WNBA season. Lacan signed a rookie-scale contract on Feb. 8.
Lacan is from France and helped the French national team to a silver medal in the 2024 Olympics. She is currently playing for the French club Basket Landes and is averaging 13.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game.
Lacan is a combo guard who has a lot of patience and craft in her game, including in pick-and-rolls.
When Lacan was drafted, The Next’s Noa Dalzell reported that then-Sun head coach Stephanie White noted her ability to get downhill, draw fouls and be disruptive on the defensive end.
“We felt like she was the most pro ready, that she had skill sets that we may not have had, or lost,” White said. “All of those things, as well as being a high IQ player, were really important. And we felt like she fit us in Connecticut and she fit our personnel.”
Lacan fits with some of Anderson’s strengths and will be important defensively and offensively this season. The Sun seem to be planning to invest in Lacan long-term, based on some of Tuck’s recent comments.
“As a young, talented player with international experience, we believe she has immense potential to grow and make an impact,” Tuck said in a press release. “This is a special moment for both Leila and our organization. We can’t wait to see her bring her unique skills and energy to the court for the first time. We are confident that she will develop into a key player for us in the years to come.”
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Kariata Diaby and Amy Okonkwo
Forwards Kariata Diaby and Amy Okonkwo were signed to training camp contracts on Feb. 13. Both players have an abundance of international experience.
Diaby, a 6’4 center, is from Ivory Coast and accumulated five years of professional experience in the Ligue Féminine de Basketball (LFB) in France. She spent four seasons (2020-2024) with Villeneuve D’Ascq before moving on to Tango Bourges Basket. She is currently averaging 11.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game for Bourges, which is at the top of the LFB standings with a 13-2 record.
Diaby has good lateral mobility and is skilled for her size at defending at the level of the screen in Bourges’ aggressive defense. Her lateral movement can assist Charles, and she provides another offensive threat in the paint.
Okonkwo is a 6’2 forward who plays with Diaby for Bourges. She is averaging 16.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. She is from Fontana, California, and played in college for California (2014-15) and TCU (2016-19). Okonkwo won Big 12 Player of the Year in 2018 and is a two-time Olympian, having played for Nigeria in the 2020 and 2024 Olympics.
Okonkwo is a 50% 2-point shooter, 40% 3-point shooter and 90% free-throw shooter in the EuroLeague. That efficiency alone drew attention from WNBA teams. She will most likely find success with the Sun through corner and wing shooting and attacking closeouts to get to the rim.
Her ability to be a scoring threat will add to the Sun offense and spread the floor for the post players.
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Abbey Hsu
Guard Abbey Hsu signed a training camp contract with the Sun on Feb. 17. She was selected 34th overall by Connecticut in the 2024 WNBA Draft.
Hsu played in college at Columbia and led her team to Ivy League regular-season championships in 2023 and 2024. She also helped lead Columbia to its first NCAA Tournament appearance as a Division I team in 2024.
Hsu accumulated a long list of accolades during her college career, including Ivy League Player of the Year (2024), AP All-America honorable mention (2024) and first-team All-Ivy (2023 and 2024). She has USA Basketball experience as well, winning silver medals at the 3×3 FIBA AmeriCup in 2024 and the 5×5 AmeriCup in 2023.
Hsu is a player with great work ethic. Over her career, she has become more aggressive and gained confidence. The Next’s Jenn Hatfield covered Hsu in college and often reported the praise that Hsu’s college coaches had for her development and consistency.
“I’m just so incredibly proud of her and just how she does things, how she goes about her work,” Columbia head coach Megan Griffith told The Next after Hsu set Columbia’s career scoring record in February 2024. “I think that honestly she’s such a joy to coach because she shows up the same way every day. … That’s just kind of who she’s been all year is just Miss Consistent.”
But then-Sun general manager Darius Taylor noted when the team drafted Hsu that her potential went way beyond her shooting abilities, according to Dalzell.
“She’s a really good shooter,” Taylor said, adding that the Sun had long been following her career. “She’s also a very good rebounder. We know that she has a high ceiling and potential to grow into even a better player. She won’t just be a shooter.”
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Looking ahead
The newest additions join Charles, Mabrey, center Olivia Nelson-Ododa, guard Natasha Cloud, guard Diamond DeShield, guard Jacy Sheldon and several other players on the Sun roster. This group provides a whole new look, and it will take time for the team to build chemistry and find success.
With all the movement Sun fans have seen this offseason, team president Jennifer Rizzotti and Tuck have reassured them that they still want the team to be competitive this season and that fans have to trust the process. It will be interesting to see how all the pieces will fit and work together this season.
Additionally, the Mabrey situation is likely still unresolved. The big question is: Will the Sun reverse course and end up trading her before or during the 2025 season?
As the Sun enter a new era, their focus and motivations seem to fit one category: players with international experience, whether in overseas leagues or with their national teams.
Editor’s note (Feb. 22, 5:20 p.m. ET): An earlier version of this story misstated the name of the former Sun general manager. He is Darius Taylor, not Darius Rucker.
