This year’s WNBA draft was a bittersweet occasion for the Connecticut Sun as they selected picks for the very last time as a franchise.
The Sun, who had the 12th, 15th, 18th and 33rd picks, have emphasized the importance of having a young core. They continued on that path by adding four new, young faces to the team including French standout forward Nell Angloma as the 12th pick, UCLA teammates Gianna Kneepkens (15th) and Charlisse Leger-Walker (18), who will help add depth to a team still trying to rebuild, as well as UConn forward Serah Williams whom they selected as the 33rd pick, but later traded to the Portland Fire for Taylor Bigby of TCU and a 2027 third-round pick.ย
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Engelbert addresses sale
Prior to the draft, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert addressed the sale of the Connecticut Sun. Engelbert again referenced that there were 13 cities bidding for a team about 18 months ago and they didn’t receive a bid from Boston or the New England market.
She did acknowledge that not having any bids could be partially due to the fact that the Connecticut Sun were already New England’s team.
The Mohegan Tribe reached a deal but Engelbert said that there is nothing final quite yet and that once they receive the agreement, the league will go through their Board of Governors to put it to a vote.
“Obviously the Connecticut Sun has the opportunity under the sunset season,” Engelbert said while addressing Sun fans directly. “So I would say to the fans, support the Connecticut Sun this season. And it’s a great basketball state, obviously, for women’s basketball. Some would call it the center of women’s basketball with how successful UConn’s been over so many years. I would say stick with us. Stick with the WNBA. We know that fandom won’t go away.”
It will be interesting to see how losing the Sun will affect WNBA fans in the New England market, as some fans have told The IX Sports that attending games will be difficult and they aren’t interested in traveling to another market.
Bonjour
The Sun used their 12th pick to further their French depth to select Angloma. Angloma joins guards Leila Lacan and Migna Tourรฉ as well as head coach Rachid Meziane in representing the country of France.
“It’sย good for me because I know some people who can help me, and yes,ย it’sย more comfortable for me…,” Angloma told reporters regarding the French connection. “I talkedย a little before with the head coach,ย Rachid [Meziane], andย I’mย very gratefulย for this. Andย I’mย excited to meet all the fans,ย new staff, all of them. I cannot wait to start the season.”
Angloma also mentioned that she got to play with Lacan for a year in the past and is excited to meet her again.
Sun head coach Rachid Meziane feels that Angloma will fit well with the team’s style of play with her aggressiveness and ability to run the floor. Defense has started to shape the team’s identity and Meziane also believes that defensively, Angloma will make an impact.
“Don’t forget that she’s very young, so she has a lot of areas of improvement, but she’s body ready, and she’s not scared to play and to play a one-on-one, and defensive wise, she will have a big impact…we know that everything starts from our defense, and she will be a very important piece,” Meziane told reporters after the draft.
Angloma had caught Meziane’s eyes for a while now and he followed her game when she played for a French academy in Paris. He has been very impressed with her and her growth as a player with an excitement to get to know her and utilize her skills.
Connecticut Sun general manager Morgan Tuck weighed in on Nell’s talent as well, referencing that her versatility will help her fit into the team’s system.
“She’s played against pros for quite some time, so I think with her experience, potential, athleticism, versatility, I think she can be someone special,” Tuck told reporters after the draft.
Tuck was actually surprised that by the time their 12th pick rolled around Nell was still an option on the draft board.
“I think we thought she’d be gone a little bit earlier, but she’s someone that we’ve had our eye on for quite some time, and we’re hoping that she would be there, and so we were really excited when we knew we had the chance to get her,” Tuck said.
UCLA duo join Sun
For their 15th pick, they selected Kneepkens from UCLA. Kneepkens previously spent four years at the University of Utah before transferring to UCLA as a graduate student this past offseason.
Kneepkens is coming off a national championship season, helping to lead UCLA to its first title in program history. She was a difference maker for the Bruins this season and can be in Connecticut as well where she would be filling a similar role as she did at UCLA, to help increase offensive productivity.
After losing guard Marina Mabrey to the Toronto Tempo in this year’s expansion draft, the Sun have lost their second leading scorer. Kneepkens may be a great fit for the Suns scoring-wise.
“I think one thing that was really special about our UCLA team is they’re just incredible players all around,” Kneepkens told reporters after being drafted. “I think it’s a skill to know how to play with great players, and you obviously need that in the WNBA. So I feel like I got great practice with that, and I’m just going to continue to do that. You have to know when you have to hit your teammates, and you have to know when it’s kind of your time. So I think that’s something I really learned and will be useful for me.”
For the Sun’s 18th pick, they chose to go with her UCLA teammate, Leger-Walker. UCLA set a WNBA record of having six players drafted last night.
“It’s really special,” Kneepkens said on what it’s like to enter the league with her teammates. “I think it makes the transition a little bit smoother, because, you know they’re experiencing the same thing. So when you can lean on them in tough moments, that feels nice to have someone like that. I’m so proud of all of them and just grateful I got to do this journey and continue to do this journey alongside them.”
Leger-Walker is also the first player from New Zealand to get drafted to the WNBA and spoke on inspiring future players from her home country.
“I have such a huge village in New Zealand supporting me, and I just always want to stay grounded in that and rooted back to my culture,” Leger-Walker told reporters. “And I think I’m really proud of the way that I’m able to kind of represent that and just put on for a lot of the kids, especially the young girls back home, who see this pathway, and now, I think, has become a little bit more realistic for them.”
Not only did she make history being the first New Zealand player but the night was truly special for her as she was there to support her teammates in hopes that she’d hear her name called.
Leger-Walker’s UCLA teammate Angela Dugaliฤ, who was drafted ninth overall to the Washington Mystics, gave up a few seats at her draft table so that she could experience getting drafted with her mother.
“I could not be more thankful for her and the friendship we’ve had, but that was really big for me,” Leger-Walker said.
It was truly a dream come true for Leger-Walker, who dreamt of the moment when she was rehabbing from an ACL injury in the past.
“This has just been such an amazing experience,” Leger-Walker said. “I mean, it’s been such a dream of mine, not only to, make the league, but also just get the opportunity to play against some of the best players in the world, if not the best players in the world. And so just having the chance to do that again, I’m just so grateful and humbled that I get that chance, and then just to experience all of this with my teammates has been absolutely unreal, like I’m so proud of them, just seeing them walk across that stage and seeing all the emotions and having all of our families here together, I could not be prouder of every single one of them. They deserve it so much.”
Stylistically, they fit within Meziane’s vision
Tuck was asked about how the young UCLA duo will fit stylistically into Meziane’s system but also culturally. Tuck referenced that Meziane wants his team to have a flowing offense where players have a high IQ and “know how to play the game” rather than just running plays for the sake of running them.
“I think that everyone can respect UCLA’s system and what they’re able to do and how they maximize their players, even with a really stacked roster that has a ton of talent,” Tuck said. “I think Gianna [Kneepkens] and Charlisse [Leger-Walker] were able to find their spot to be really effective. They could play team basketball, which I think is also very important.
And obviously they’re really great people, and I think Cori Close at UCLA has built a really good culture there. Soย I think whenย you’reย looking at the type of players that stylistically, yes, they fit into the system, but I think also who they are as people, reallyย fitsย into whatย we’reย trying to build into the overall vision of how we see our team growing over the next coupleย years.”ย
Both Kneepkens and Leger-Walker are excited that they get the chance to continue to play on the same team at the next level. Kneepkens had a huge smile on her face when talking about the opportunity.
“I am so incredibly excited. Charlisse is one of my best friends.ย We talked like, ‘oh, we really want to go on the same team.’ Obviously,ย it’sย hard and you have no control, but when I was backย there, I was so excited. So that’sย gonnaย be really fun,” she said.
The final pick
Williams from UConn was drafted 33rd by the Sun but shortly after was traded to the Portland.
This trade makes sense for the Sun, who already have a heavy post presence in forwards Aaliyah Edwards and Aneesah Morrow and centers Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Brittney Griner.
With the Sun relocating to Houston next season, there are a lot of unknowns. And yet, one thing Meziane and Tuck know for certain is that they want to build something special that will turn into a championship in the future.
“We want it to be something that turns into a championship culture, right?,” Tuck said. “…But I think we want to be proud of the way that we do that, how we show up every day to practice, how we show up at games, how we represent ourselves in our organization…We want to feel that we’re leaving a legacy that’s more impactful than just if we won the game or not, if we win the championship or not.”