“No One Really Wants To Go to Connecticut”: Brittney Griner Makes Feelings Clear on Joining the Sun in Free Agency

In her first eleven years in the WNBA, Brittney Griner had made a home out of her fans in the Valley. But not only was moving on from the Phoenix Mercury an emotional hurdle, but moving into the next step after a short one-year stay in Atlanta was another big question mark. If you were to ask the 6-ft-9 center, however, her landing in the freezing land of Connecticut has a deeper meaning.

“I’ll throw it out there. No one really wants to go to Connecticut,” she revealed on Sue Bird’s podcast yesterday while talking about what led her to join the Sun franchise. “But I wasn’t looking at it like where I would be.

I was looking at the opportunity — what I’d be able to do being with a younger team, being a vet.“They’re moving to Houston. I haven’t played in Houston in forever, that’s appeasing to me.

I wanted to go somewhere, and I was like, instead of waiting till trying to get there once they get to Houston, I was like, ‘Well shoot, I’ll go and put in the work and do the grind and learn the system, learn the people.’ So that’s how I ended up here.”With the Dream, Griner struggled to find her footing.

Her usage reduced over the last season as she put up only 9.8 points and 5.2 rebounds in 20.

8 minutes on the floor — all career lows. But when the Sun came calling, Griner saw an opportunity to take on a fresh challenge and step into a leadership role with one of the league’s youngest teams.But what’s interesting is that despite being one of the basketball states in the US, housing the UConn Huskies, the biggest name in women’s NCAA basketball, Connecticut is not that appealing to many.

UConn head coaches have said as much that the players going there go for only one reason: to play basketball. But moving from a thriving city of Phoenix to Uncasville wasn’t the biggest hurdle for Griner.“The biggest adjustment for me is stepping into that veteran role, just being so vocal,” she said back in May.

“I’m just used to just talking on the side, you know, with players and not deman