Tag: Connecticut Sun

There’s a lot going on in the WNBA’s 2022 Free Agency period, and it’s all so exciting

Tracking the latest WNBA Free Agency news.

News was surprisingly slow throughout the opening week or so of this season’s WNBA Free Agency negotiation period. From January 15th until the 22nd, most of the action revolved around players being re-signed by their current teams, qualifying offers being agreed to and rumors being leaked around who players were meeting with.

But a lot happened last week in the lead-up to February, the first day in which contracts could officially be signed. As you’d expect, the first couple days of February brought a lot of headlines.

Here’s a rundown of all the important signings and expected deals and rumors to this point of the free agency period.

Alyssa Thomas is somehow ‘probable’ for the Connecticut Sun’s next game after tearing her Achilles 8 months ago

How can Alyssa Thomas even play basketball right now?!?!?

Listen. Are we certain Alyssa Thomas is human and not some sort of cyborg or something?

Because it just feels like there’s no way any regular human should be planning on playing basketball just eight months after tearing their Achilles.

Thomas tore hers playing overseas in the Czech Republic for USK Praha. She later returned to the United States after suffering from what they called a “serious injury.” Eventually, the Sun confirmed it was a torn Achilles. She had surgery on January 20.

And here we are, on September 15. And it appears that she’s ready to play basketball once again. She practiced with the team per Sun Head Coach Curt Miller and they’re “very optimistic” about her playing chances.

The Sun also dropped this tweet on us.

Sounds a lot to me like she’s going to play. And WNBA Twitter could not believe it. This just doesn’t feel possible.

Recapping the WNBA’s wild free agency period

The WNBA’s new collective bargaining agreement has sparked major movement in its free agency period.

WNBA free agency has only been upon us for a day and a half and things are already getting insane.

In just a couple days, here’s where we are:

  • Angel McCoughtry left the Atlanta Dream and signed with the Las Vegas Aces
  • Kristi Toliver left the WORLD CHAMPION Mystics and signed with the Los Angeles Sparks
  • The Phoenix Mercury signed and traded DeWanna Bonner to the Connecticut Sun

Those are three big moves that all impact last year’s semi-finalists. The Mystics got worse after having a historic offensive year while the Sun, Aces and Sparks all got a lot better.

This is NBA-level chaos for the WNBA in February when the offseason is supposed to be dead. You absolutely love to see it.

It’s all thanks to the WNBA’s new CBA

The league’s new collective bargaining agreement was the secret sauce the league needed to get its offseason popping.

Teams really just ain’t broke anymore, to put it bluntly. They have more money to play with. The league’s max salaries have jumped up to $215,000 from $117,500 last year, and the league’s salary cap spiked by more than 30%.

The league will be a lot better for it

The league might literally have more super teams than it can handle right now. Three teams in the W have at least three 2019 All-Stars their team — that’s a FOURTH of the league.

That’s not even counting the Mystics, who have Finals MVP Emma Meesseman, or the Storm, who were without Brianna Stewart and Sue Bird for most of last season. Or what about the Sun with Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner? The list goes on.

To put things simply, the WNBA is going to be wild next year.

This is absolutely great for the WNBA as it continues to grow its brand. People love watching super teams despite how much they claim to hate them. All we have to do is look to the NBA’s ratings for proof.

The NBA is as competitive as its ever been right now during the Warriors’  lost year and the league’s ratings are down. When people were firing off their snake emojis at Kevin Durant? Ratings weren’t a problem.

That theory withstands the test of time. Whether it’s Magic’s Lakers, Jordan’s Bulls or LeBron’s Heat, people watched. As much as folks cry about parity, it hasn’t gotten people to watch.

Super teams sell. The WNBA has plenty of them. You can do the math from there.

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