Golden State Valkyries Expansion Draft Speculation Series: Connecticut Sun

The Connecticut Sun has tried to win a championship with their current core for several seasons and further pushed their chips to the middle of the table to finish out this season, but a deciding game loss kept them from reaching the finals. They are now left with some uncertainty about whether they can make another push with this group or if they will have to make some big changes. Their next steps do not have to be decided before the expansion draft though so they will likely make the same decisions regardless of their plans. The Valkyries will then not be left with too many options to realistically choose from when they make their decision.

Salary and contract status for 2025 from Her Hoop Stats as sourced by Richard Cohen:
https://herhoopstats.com/salary-cap-sheet/wnba/team/2024/connecticut-sun-11eaecc7-3562-4a0a-b611-2362f5011b0b/

Hypothetical Protection Priority Order

1. Alyssa Thomas (unrestricted free agent)
2. Marina Mabrey ($210,000 guaranteed)
3. DiJonai Carrington (restricted free agent)
4. Tyasha Harris ($100,013)
5. Olivia Nelson-Ododa ($80,823 guaranteed, 4th year rookie scale)
6. Leila Lacan (draft rights)
7. Veronica Burton (reserved)
8. Abbey Hsu (draft rights)
9. Caitlin Bickle (reserved)
10. Tiffany Mitchell (unrestricted free agent)
11. Astou Ndour-Fall (unrestricted free agent)
Unprotectable: DeWanna Bonner (unrestricted free agent who has reached core limit), Brionna Jones (unrestricted free agent who has reached core limit)

Locks for Protection

Alyssa Thomas has been the star of the team for a while now as they have built around her defensive and unique offensive abilities in facilitating as the power forward. She has spent more than a decade with the team that she started her career with, but has never played under the core designation, so they would protect her for this process and then apply that tag before free agency opens.

Marina Mabrey was the midseason trade acquisition that they had hoped would provide scoring at a guard spot and she largely provided what was expected. She has a guaranteed contract for next season and should end up being protected even with the uncertainty regarding the rest of the lineup. DiJonai Carrington is going to be a big target in restricted free agency for teams trying to pry the wing away from Connecticut with an offer that the Sun might find difficult to match, but they will be able to protect her here and deal with that later. Tyasha Harris went from coming off the bench to starting at guard for pretty much the entire season and had solid production with an increase in minutes. She has a contract for next season with an increased salary and should also be an easy protection choice for the team.

Tough Team Decisions

The Sun will likely be choosing their final spots from a small group of players, including Olivia Nelson-Ododa, who has been a dependable backup center for the team to the point where she should occupy one of those spots and she will finish her rookie contract next season. The team opened up a roster spot partway through the season to bring in free agent Veronica Burton and bolster the defensive capabilities of their backcourt. She ended up providing valuable minutes in the role and will be in contention for a protection spot, especially being a reserved player and not being under contract.

French guard Leila Lacan was their first selection in the draft, but she did not sign a contract. Her rights are still held by the team as she played in the Olympics and then continued her career in her home country. The team would probably want to at least have the chance to sign her before letting her go in the expansion draft so they will have to consider using their last spot on her.

Likely Left Unprotected

The team brought in forward Caitlin Bickle to fill the last roster spot after she had not made the final roster the previous season out of training camp. She got to play in a few games, but did not show anything that would make her a priority for protection. The team picked scoring guard Abbey Hsu near the end of the draft, but she did not sign with the team for this season. Her rights are still held by the team as she recently started her professional career in Belgium, but is not likely to receive much consideration for protection.

The team shuffled their backcourt in the offseason when they received Tiffany Mitchell in a trade and she was a solid player for them off the bench early in the season. Unfortunately, she missed the back half of the season with an injury and, as an unrestricted free agent who would not be a target for the core spot in the expansion draft, they would not have any need to protect her. Astou Ndour-Fall returned to the league, but did not end up contributing as much as might be expected as a backup post player and will also be left unprotected as an unrestricted free agent.

Connecticut has two key players entering unrestricted free agency, but both have played the maximum number of years under the core designation and thus do not have to be involved in this process. DeWanna Bonner has been their main scoring threat on the wing as she has had a fantastic career so far and has already announced that she intends to play another year and not to retire. Brionna Jones is their starting center and played the last two seasons as the cored player and could be a Valkyries target in free agency.

The Valkyries Perspective

Connecticut has a fairly clear top seven so the Valkyries may not have a tough choice based on which player is left unprotected from that group. Leila Lacan would be an interesting pick since there is no guarantee that she is planning on playing in the league next year so her rights could continue to be held for future use compared to picking a player and crowding the training camp roster further. Veronica Burton has proven to be a rotation-caliber player and her reserved status meaning that she could end up signing at the minimum salary would make her an even more valuable pick. The team could take more of a chance as well by selecting Abbey Hsu or Caitlin Bickle, but that seems unlikely.