It is no secret that the Houston Rockets and owner Tilman Fertitta have wanted to own a WNBA team. One of the original WNBA franchises, the Houston Comets won four championships featuring stars like Cheryl Swoopes, Tina Thompson and Cynthia Cooper. Long time coach Van Chancellor was recently inducted into the Houston Sports Hall of Fame.
It was reported Friday that the Rockets are in high-level talks with the Connecticut Sun on a deal to purchase the team and move it to Houston as soon as the opening of free agency, which, depending on negotiations over the league’s current collective bargaining agreement, could be as soon as January.
The Sun, owned by the Mohegan tribe since 2003, has been seeking either an investor or a buyer for the franchise. It had a deal to sell the team to Boston but that was blocked by the WNBA, who wants teams on their shortlist for franchises to be first in line. That includes Houston, which the league has said is high on its list after expanding recently to three additional cities: Detroit, Cleveland and Philadelphia. The WNBA is seeking to align as many of its teams with NBA franchises as possible.
Prior to the Rockets season, Fertitta said his organization was interested in both a WNBA franchise and an NHL team. It appeared from that point that the WNBA was high on the list for the Rockets who had success with the Comets before they were disbanded in 2008. With the Toyota Center undergoing renovations and a new practice facility opened last summer, the organization seems poised to add more pieces to its expanding portfolio.
This article appears in [Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025](https://www.houstonpress.com/?post_type=newspack_collection&p=390334).