The Connecticut Sun are facing massive uncertainty entering the 2025 WNBA season without a head coach and with five players set to hit unrestricted free agency, but the team’s schedule release Monday leaves little room for growing pains.
Head coach Stephanie White parted ways with the team on Oct. 28 to accept the same position with the Indiana Fever after she went 55-25 in two seasons with Connecticut. Assistant coach Austin Kelly will also join White’s staff in Indiana, and assistant Briann January has reportedly interviewed for head coaching jobs this cycle. All three of the Sun’s All-Star veterans — Alyssa Thomas, DeWanna Bonner and Brionna Jones — are currently free agents , and Thomas is the only member of the trio eligible to receive a core designation. Connecticut also does not have a first-round draft pick this year after trading it to the Chicago Sky to acquire sharpshooter Marina Mabrey in July.
The Sun’s schedule for next season includes four matchups with 2024 playoff teams in the first two weeks. Connecticut hosts the Las Vegas Aces, who made the semifinals last season after back-to-back championships in 2022 and ’23, for its second game of the year, then faces the Minnesota Lynx on the road coming off of their 2024 WNBA Finals run. The Sun play five of their first 10 games on the road in some of the most challenging arenas in the league, including the Indiana Fever’s Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis and the New York Liberty’s Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
From former UConn stars’ homecomings in Connecticut to the second-ever game at TD Garden in Boston, here are the biggest matchups on the Sun’s 2025 schedule:
May 18: Season opener vs. Washington Mystics
Connecticut host the Mystics for the first game of the 2025 season at Mohegan Sun Arena, and it will also mark the debut of two first-year head coaches who have not yet been hired. The Mystics were one of six teams to make a change this offseason, firing the father-son duo of head coach Eric Thibault and general manager Mike Thibault, former Sun coach, on Oct. 23, and they are now one of three teams along with the Sun and Dallas Wings who have yet to fill their open positions.
The Sun swept the Mystics in 2024, but all four meetings were battles, including an overtime game on the road in June. Washington’s roster also includes former UConn standout Aaliyah Edwards, who averaged 7.6 points and 5.6 rebounds in 22 minutes per game as a rookie last season.
May 27: Paige Bueckers’ likely first WNBA game in CT
The Dallas Wings won the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft lottery, and it is widely assumed that they will use it to select UConn superstar Paige Bueckers. Bueckers is in the midst of her redshirt senior season with the No. 2 Huskies and is currently averaging 22 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and two steals on 62.7% shooting from the field. If she does land with the Wings, Bueckers will play her first professional game in Connecticut in just the second week of the season.
The Sun went 3-0 against the Wings in 2024, but Bueckers could be a game-changing addition for the franchise alongside four-time All-Star Arike Ogunbowale and 2023 No. 3 pick Maddy Siegrist. Dallas plays a second game at Mohegan Sun Arena on June 20, so Connecticut fans should have multiple opportunities to see the Huskies star in her rookie year.
June 25: First meeting with Golden State Valkyries
For the first time since 2008, a brand-new franchise will join the WNBA in 2025. The Golden State Valkyries are the first of three expansion teams set to join the league by 2026, and the Sun will face the newcomers for the first time on the road in San Francisco in June.
The Valkyries are led by head coach Natalie Nakase, who helped the Las Vegas Aces to back-to-back WNBA titles over three years as an assistant to coach Becky Hammon from 2022-24. Golden State will begin building its roster with the WNBA expansion draft this Friday, and the Sun will have to leave at least one of their young standouts — Olivia Nelson Ododa, Veronica Burton or 2024 first-round pick Laila Lacan — unprotected.
July 15: Sun return to TD Garden vs. Indiana Fever
The Sun made history in 2024 at TD Garden, playing the first WNBA game ever in Boston in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 19,100 at the home of the Boston Celtics. Connecticut beat the Los Angeles Sparks 69-61 in the game, and they will look to break records again when Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever make the trip to Boston in 2025.
The Fever and Sun have a burgeoning rivalry after Connecticut eliminated Indiana from the 2024 WNBA Playoffs in a 2-0 sweep at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Sun went 3-1 against the Fever during the regular season, suffering their lone loss on the road in Indianapolis.
Connecticut Sun take step toward becoming ‘New England’s team’ with first-ever TD Garden game
Aug. 30: Sun host Minnesota Lynx for semifinal rematch
The Lynx and Sun battled through a hotly-contested series in the 2024 WNBA Playoffs, and Connecticut was ultimately eliminated in the semifinals for the second year in a row after forcing a deciding Game 5 in Minneapolis. Minnesota went on to force Game 5 in an all-time WNBA Finals series against the New York Liberty that included two overtime games and four decided by three points or less.
The Lynx will return MVP runner-up Napheesa Collier in 2025 and host Connecticut twice before the All-Star break on May 23 and June 29 at Target Center. The Sun get their lone home matchup against Minnesota late in the season, which could mean high stakes for playoff seeding if the teams are as closely-matched as they were in 2024. Connecticut went 2-1 against Minnesota in the regular season with all three meetings determined by a single score.
