WNBA: Has the Connecticut Solar’s championship window closed?

In some ways, 2024 was a attribute Connecticut Solar season.

The crew exceeded expectations, propelled by their toughness, tenacity and simply sufficient well timed shotmaking to complete with a 28-12 report and at No. 3 within the league standings. Alyssa Thomas bullied her option to triple-doubles. DeWanna Bonner performed with ageless power. DiJonai Carrington established herself as a star in her function. Brionna Jones returned to her pre-injury effectivity. Midseason addition Marina Mabrey instantly imbibed the Solar’s signature depth. Ty Harris emerged as a stable two-way start line guard. Veronica Burton earned enjoying time along with her aggressive perimeter protection.

The Solar have a blueprint for regular-season success. However within the postseason, they as soon as once more hit a ceiling. Connecticut took the Minnesota Lynx to Recreation 5 of the semifinals earlier than they gave out, their effortfulness unable capable of overcome their opponent’s extra environment friendly execution.

This time, nevertheless, may need been the final time that this period of Solar basketball replayed this script. So, what went proper, what went incorrect and what’s subsequent for Connecticut?

What went proper for the Solar?

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DeWanna’s not executed

Though she made it clear throughout her exit interview that this was NOT her remaining WNBA season, DeWanna Bonner’s play all through her fifteenth season ought to have made it apparent that the 37-year-old shouldn’t be executed.

Bonner retains churning out equally stable seasons. This 12 months, that meant averages of 15 factors, six rebounds, two assists and practically two “shares” (steals+blocks) per recreation. These numbers, nevertheless, fail to seize all she nonetheless does for Connecticut. She is a 6-foot-4 Swiss Military Knife, possessing a mixture of enviable size and sneaky power that may be deployed throughout all positions on each ends of the ground.

Her longevity and consistency has resulted in an increase up the ranks of WNBA data. Having performed the third-most regular-season video games in league historical past at (502), she is fourth all-time in factors (7482, simply six factors behind Tina Thompson for third) and ninth all-time in rebounds (3067, and once more simply three behind Thompson). Within the playoffs, she’s scored the second-most factors (1191), grabbed the third-most rebounds (593, 5 behind Tamika Catchings for second) and snagged the third-most steals (105, three behind Candace Parker for second).

DiJonai’s earned enchancment

Analysts and followers typically bemoan the dearth of alternative for all however the highest-drafted WNBA gamers, as roster limitations ceaselessly end in gamers chosen exterior the lottery struggling to discover a WNBA house. Due to this structural actuality, gamers who succeed regardless of less-than-favorable circumstances deserve all of the extra credit score. DiJonai Carrington is now the perfect archetype of such a participant.

The No. 20 total choice within the 2021 WNBA Draft, Carrington has molded herself right into a beneficial participant: a lockdown defender, a transition menace, a wise cutter and still-refining exterior shooter. In 2024, her onerous work culminated within the Most Improved Participant award and a spot on the All-Defensive First Workforce.

And whereas Carrington deserves the vast majority of the credit score for her development, Connecticut additionally fostered the situations mandatory for her to blossom into the participant she has turn into. The crew’s different younger vets—Ty Harris, Veronica Burton and Olivia Nelson-Ododa, all of whom started their WNBA careers with different organizations—even have skilled regular enchancment in Uncasville, with all three establishing themselves as gamers who ought to get pleasure from lengthy careers within the league due to their capability to contribute to a successful crew.

Name me Mabrey!

Midseason trades within the WNBA are uncommon. People who really matter are even rarer. But, the Solar’s midseason swing for Marina Mabrey proved the right match.

With out the gun-slinging guard from the Chicago Sky, Connecticut doubtless wouldn’t have lasted till Recreation 5 of the semifinals. Mabrey, whether or not as a starter or sixth participant, offered scoring juice for the Solar, fearlessly firing up jumpers. If she missed, she’d not hesitate when taking the following one. After makes, she’d have fun with a snarl, expertly embodying the spirit of the Solar.

Her regular-season scoring and effectivity improved after becoming a member of the Solar, as she scored nearly 15 factors per recreation whereas capturing 46.7 p.c from the sector and higher than 42 p.c from 3. Within the playoffs, she elevated her manufacturing to nearly 16 factors per recreation.

What went incorrect for the Solar?

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Not their greatest towards the most effective

The Solar began the season with nine-straight wins. They then had been 12-1 by way of the season’s first 13 video games.

That first loss got here to the New York Liberty. Their second and third losses, skilled back-to-back within the 14th and fifteenth video games of the season, had been to the Las Vegas Aces and Seattle Storm. That’s three playoff groups that completed the season with successful data. For the season, Connecticut went 1-2 towards New York, 0-3 towards Vegas and 1-2 towards Seattle. Their regular-season mark towards Minnesota, the one different crew to complete with a successful report, was 2-1. So when going through the league’s greatest groups, the Solar had been a subpar 4-8.

Connecticut may be counted on to handle enterprise towards the league’s mediocre and underwhelming groups. That’s not one thing that needs to be taken without any consideration, as successful constantly in the most effective girls’s basketball league on the planet is troublesome. However the Solar do it, bringing their model of bodily, defense-first ball to the court docket no matter what crew is on the opposite facet. What they haven’t fairly cracked, although, is what to do when their model of ball doesn’t work, when the opponent’s abilities, technique and stars can outpace and outlast the Solar’s grinding, gut-it-out method.

Connecticut is nice. They’re superb. However in 2024, simply as in season’s prior, they weren’t adequate to beat the most effective and, in flip, win a WNBA title.

What’s subsequent for Connecticut?

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A coming Solar-set?

Was 2024 the final time that Connecticut hit their ceiling?

Thomas, Bonner and Jones are unrestricted free brokers. Will the Solar select to once more outlay giant salaries to trio when it appears much less and fewer doubtless that subsequent 12 months shall be the 12 months once they lastly will breakthrough and seize the franchise’s first, elusive championship? Or, with enlargement and a brand new CBA on the horizon, will Connecticut select to retool and construct round a brand new core that, finally, may bust by way of that ceiling and convey a title to Uncasville?

As a result of the three are unrestricted free brokers, the selection doesn’t belong to the Solar group. (Thomas is eligible to be cored; Bonner and Jones usually are not.) The gamers themselves may go for new alternatives. The crew, nevertheless, can have a say over the way forward for Carrington, who’s a restricted free agent. The group can also unilaterally select to retain Burton, a reserved participant. As Mabrey and Nelson-Ododa are the one gamers on assured contracts for 2025, Connecticut has flexibility, which they’ll use to work with Thomas, Bonner and/or Jones to make sure they continue to be in Solar uniforms or to construct the following iteration of the Solar.

Whether or not Stephanie White would be the head coach of regardless of the Solar seem like in 2025 is also a query. When reporting on the Chicago Sky’s teaching search, Annie Costabile of the Chicago Solar-Occasions indicated that White shouldn’t be anticipated to return. It’s unclear if this resolution is being initiated by White, who might even see a extra favorable teaching alternative elsewhere, or the crew’s administration, which could search a head coach who shouldn’t be in line for an extension and better wage, particularly if the crew’s stars don’t return.

Briefly, don’t be stunned if vital upheaval occurs in Uncasville this offseason.