Sale of Sun and move to Houston approved by WNBA

The ink is dry on the paper and the Sun is setting in Uncasville.

The WNBA and NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved the sale of relocation of the Connecticut Sun from the Mohegan Tribe to the new owner, Tilman J. Fertitta, owner of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, the WNBA announced on Tuesday.

The Sun will play out the 2026 season in Connecticut before heading to Texas for the 2027 season where reports say they will be rebranded as the Comets, in honor of the charter WNBA franchise that won four WNBA titles before folding in 2008.

No sale price was announced but ESPN and the Associated Press reported in March that the team was being sold for $300 million, the highest price for a WNBA team.

Two offers in 2025 that were higher to keep the team in New England but the WNBA and NBA poured cold water on those proposed teams. According to published reports, the league rejected two previous offers of $325 million for the Sun last year.

A group led by Boston Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca would have moved the team to Boston but the league responded by saying that “relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams.”

A second offer of $325 million from former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry, who grew up in West Hartford, to move the team to Hartford was also rejected by the WNBA.

The WNBA said that neither Boston nor Hartford had participated in the recent expansion process – and why would they with a team in Uncasville?

The WNBA said they would be prioritizing cities that had participated in their recent expansion process.

Houston was one of the cities interested in a WNBA franchise but missed out. In June 2025, the WNBA announced that three new expansion franchises in Cleveland (2028), Detroit (2029) and Philadelphia (2030) each paid $250 million to join the league.

“I want our staff and players to just be able to focus on this season and being present for the 2026 last season in Connecticut,” Sun president Jennifer Rizzotti said before Wednesday night’s game after the WNBA reported the approval of the sale. “I think our fans deserve that. And I think as a front office staff, our job is to continue to put on a great show and put a great product on the floor but also make sure that we’re inviting people into this arena for the last time (for a Sun game), and they’re going to create some experiences that will last forever.”

For Connecticut fans, there are 19 opportunities remaining to watch the Sun play in the Nutmeg State, including a pair of games in Hartford.

They can watch a young team learning to play at the professional level or focus on the stars visiting the Mohegan Sun Arena such as four-time league MVP A’ja Wilson and the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces, who rolled past the Sun on Wednesday night, 98-69 before 5,482 fans.

The Aces, who won their first WNBA championship on the floor in Uncasville in 2022, looked like the team that won their third WNBA title in four years last fall.

Playing without Brittney Griner with a left foot sprain, starting guard Leila Lacan (overseas obilgations), Aaliyah Edwards (left thigh) and Shey Peddy (left knee), the shorthanded Sun played with the Aces for a short while.

Las Vegas led by two, 13-11, early in the first quarter before a 13-0 run to take a commanding lead. The Aces ran the floor, scoring easy baskets after rebounds, made steals and blocked shots.

Connecticut (0-3) stayed with nine-to-12 points for the remainder of the half and tailed by 11 at the break with Wilson sitting for most of the second quarter with two fouls.

But Las Vegas (2-1) was too much in the third quarter, using their experience and skill and run away from the undermanned and undersized Sun.

Chennedy Carter came off the bench to score a game-high 27 points for Las Vegas, hitting 13-of-16 shots from the field and pulling down eight rebounds. Wilson scored 22 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.

For the Sun, Aneesah Morrow scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds off the bench while Olivia Nelson Ododa scored 14 points and had six rebounds.

Connecticut shot just 33 percent from the floor and were just 3-of-13 from three-point range. Vying for offensive rebounds, the Sun were dominated by the Aces, 34-8, minimizing any second-change opportunities.

The two teams meet for the final time on the Mohegan Sun Arena floor on Friday night beginning at 7:30 p.m.