Connecticut Sun general manager Morgan Tuck likes her team's young core.
Connecticut Sun general manager Morgan Tuck likes her team's young core.Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
Connecticut Sun general manager Morgan Tuck has heard the question too many times not to expect it as soon as she arrived at TD Garden last week for the Celtics’ season opener alongside her team’s emerging talent, Saniya Rivers and Aaliyah Edwards.
The Sun have brought WNBA basketball to the Garden each of the past two seasons, and this year rumblings of bringing a team to Boston turned into full-fledged action when former Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca emerged as a potential candidate to buy the Sun and bring them to the city.
That bid was rebuffed by the WNBA, but the Sun had options aplenty, including another relocation offer from new Celtics owner Bill Chisholm, and a proposal to keep the team in Connecticut.
Tuck was asked whether the Sun will eventually land in Boston.
“I can’t really give an answer because I don’t know,” Tuck said. “But I think it’s always a good thing that people want a team. They want the W to be here. They want women’s basketball in this city. I always think that’s a good thing. Now, will they get it or not? Who knows? We’ll see. But it’s a good problem to have.”
The Sun and the WNBA are in a holding pattern. Negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement grew contentious as the season ended this month. The gulf between players and owners appeared as far as it’s ever been, and that hasn’t changed with the Oct. 31 deadline to reach an agreement fast approaching.
The sides could agree to extend negotiations beyond the deadline, which was a measure they needed to take five years ago. But in the meantime, teams across the WNBA have the challenge of planning for next season while the offseason is still uncertain.
“We just try to stay in the present,” Tuck said. “We try to plan out as much as we can, but just understand that we could be planning and things could change and we have to change the plan. So, you just try to control what you can control and focus on what we do know.
“It’s hard when you’re trying to keep a long-term vision in mind but you don’t know what long term will look like. But we’ll pivot if we have to. We have our Plan B’s and Plan C’s. It’s difficult at times, but it’s really all we can do.”
While the WNBA will welcome two expansion franchises — the Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire — there’s still no date for an expansion draft. Free agency typically starts in January, but in order to have a free agent period, there must be a CBA.
“We have to wait and see,” Tuck said. “I think the CBA is going to determine a lot with the expansion draft, and obviously free agency, too. So, we’re kind of playing the waiting game, seeing where things land. We know the rules from last year are probably going to have to change a little bit from this year with two new teams, but we’re just trying to plan for as much as we can because we just don’t know yet. So, we’re just kind of waiting, and hopefully we find out soon.”
When the Golden State Valkyries joined the WNBA last year, existing teams could protect six players from being taken in the expansion draft. (The Valkyries selected, among others, Veronica Burton, who went on to lead them to the playoffs and be named Most Improved Player.) This year, the Sun have five players under contract — Rivers, Aneesah Morrow, and Rayah Marshall (their three draft picks from 2025), Leila Lacan (their 2024 draft pick), and Edwards (acquired in a midseason trade with Washington).
Last year, the Sun went through the pains of tearing down a roster that came within one win of reaching the Finals, knowing that with the bulk of the players in the league on contracts that expire this year, they would have had to do it anyway. They started the process of rebuilding around that young core.
“We went through a lot last free agency, and I think that was the goal,” Tuck said. “We knew, to build a team — and when I looked at the success Connecticut had in the past, the way they got good — was really through the draft, select trades, and very select free agents. So. I think for us, we knew we were a really, really good team, but we were vet-heavy. We knew we had to get young, we had to start over. I think we knew they were going to be really good. But I think they exceeded the expectations we had for them. I think we have a really good young core that we can build with. They’re just scratching the surface.”
Edwards hosting camps
After hosting the first leg of her third annual “You Got Next” camp last week in her hometown of Kingston, Ontario, Edwards is preparing for the second leg, from Nov. 7-8 just outside of Kingston, Jamaica.
The idea came to Edwards when she went to Jamaica for the ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls Championships of track and field, but noticed a three-on-three girls’ basketball tournament.
She was struck seeing the girls play outdoors on concrete, knowing that women aren’t typically encouraged to play basketball in Jamaica. She had conversations with them and developed a relationship as a mentor that exists to this day.
“I wanted to pick those girls’ brains and pick those individuals who have a passion and help them celebrate that and tap into that by providing resources, providing visibility, and providing skill,” Edwards said.
More than 200 campers ages 11-18 attended the two-day session in Ontario. Between 150-200 girls are expected at the camp in Jamaica.
“One of the things I pride myself on is giving back in my community because they gave and poured so much support into me growing up,” Edwards said. “Any time I can put on for my country of Canada, I’m going to do it.”
Julian Benbow can be reached at julian.benbow@globe.com.