HARTFORD, Conn. — Ten-time WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner confirmed via Instagram on Saturday that she is signing with the Connecticut Sun for the 2026 season.
Griner is a six-time All-WNBA selection, a three-time Olympic gold medalist with Team USA and helped lead the Phoenix Mercury to a WNBA championship in 2014. As a proven winner with 12 years of experience in the league, Griner will provide crucial veteran leadership in the Sun’s overwhelmingly young locker room. Connecticut’s returning frontcourt is headlined by 2025 first-round draft pick Aneesah Morrow and former UConn standout Aaliyah Edwards, entering their second and third seasons in the league respectively.
Griner also shared the court with second-year Sun guard Saniya Rivers while playing for Vinyl in the 3-on-3 league Unrivaled this offseason.
According to multiple reports, Griner’s one-year contract will be worth seven figures — the first seven-figure contract in franchise history. Under the collective bargaining agreement that was ratified in late March, Griner will likely be earning at or near the new max salary of $1.19 million. The 2026 salary cap is $7 million, up from $1.5 million in 2025 under the previous CBA.
“Brittney is and has been one of the most impactful players in our game throughout her legendary career,” Sun general manager Morgan Tuck said in a statement. “What excites us the most is not just her on-court talent, but who she is as a person. Her leadership, resilience, and the way she connects with her teammates and fans bring immeasurable value to our franchise. From our first conversations, it was clear she believes in our vision, and we’re fully committed to supporting hers as well.”
Griner was the No. 1 pick in the 2013 WNBA draft out of Baylor and played the first 11 seasons of her career with the Mercury. She left Phoenix in 2025 to sign with the Atlanta Dream, but she struggled to find a comfortable place in first-year coach Karl Smesko’s system and had her least-productive year to date. Griner averaged 9.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in Atlanta, all of which were career lows.
Griner last made an All-WNBA team in 2021 before missing the 2022 season while detained in Russia for nearly 10 months. While traveling to join her team in the Russian Premier League, where she played for seven years, Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February 2022 on drug-related charges. Customs officials alleged they found vape cartridges containing cannabis in her luggage, and she was later sentenced to nine years in prison. The U.S. government declared Griner a wrongful detainee in May 2022, but she remained in Russian custody until December when she was freed as part of a prisoner exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Griner returned to the WNBA less than six months after her release and earned All-Star selections in both 2023 and ’24.
Though Griner may be past her prime, she’ll have a significantly bigger role in Connecticut than she did in Atlanta, where she played alongside a pair of All-Star guards in Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray as well as All-Star forward Brionna Jones. Griner averaged at least 12 field goal attempts for seven straight season before taking just 7.7 per game with the Dream.
On top of the on-court appeal, Griner was born and raised in Houston and will have the opportunity to play in her hometown if she remains with the franchise next season. Mohegan Tribe ownership announced on March 30 that it reached an agreement to sell the Sun to Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta and relocate the team to Houston beginning in 2027. The move will resurrect the Houston Comets, one of the WNBA’s founding franchises which won four consecutive championships from 1997-2000.
“Excited to be coming back home,” Griner captioned the short video posted to her Instagram account, which included images of her No. 42 jersey in the Sun’s orange and blue colorway as well as the Comets’ red, blue and white.
Griner is the Sun’s first free-agent signing of 2026, and the team also made a trade with the Dallas Wings on Thursday to acquire 2023 All-Rookie forward Diamond Miller. Connecticut has five players under rookie-scale contracts including Miller, and the team signed French guard Migna Toure to a training camp contract after she appeared in 18 games last season. The Sun also have a qualifying offer out to former UConn center Olivia Nelson-Ododa, who is a restricted free agent.
