USWNT, Morgan take home top honors at ESPYS
Sun Name Former Player Morgan Tuck, 30, General Manager
UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- Morgan Tuck has been named general manager of the Connecticut Sun and will replace Darius Taylor, who will become the team's chief basketball strategist and director of scouting, the Sun announced Tuesday.
Tuck, 30, won four national championships as a player at UConn and played her first four WNBA seasons with the Sun, who picked her third overall in the 2016 draft. She won the 2020 WNBA championship with the Seattle Storm and joined the Sun front office in 2021 as director of franchise development. She has been assistant general manager the past two years.
"Morgan is a rising star in this industry," Taylor said. "Watching her grow into the front office executive she has become has been nothing short of amazing. Her career has come full circle with the Connecticut Sun organization. I know she will be instrumental in propelling this organization to its fullest potential."
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In his new roles, Taylor will devise strategy and recommendations around the expansion draft, roster management, free agency and scouting as well as overseeing basketball operations. Taylor joined the Sun two years ago after serving in various roles with the Atlanta Dream.
WNBA Schedule 2025: Next Season's 10 Must-see Games
Michael Voepel, ESPN.ComDec 2, 2024, 05:45 PM ET
CloseMichael Voepel is a senior writer who covers the WNBA, women's college basketball and other college sports. Voepel began covering women's basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996.
The WNBA's 2025 regular-season schedule will give us an immediate look at both the newest team and the newest No. 1 pick on opening day on May 16. But we will have to wait for the first WNBA Finals rematch.
The league released its 2025 schedule Monday -- broadcast and streaming details will be released next spring -- with the Dallas Wings and their top pick (expected to be UConn's Paige Bueckers) and the expansion Golden State Valkyries both playing on the first day. The Wings will host the Minnesota Lynx and the Valkyries will host the Los Angeles Sparks.
But the New York Liberty and the Lynx won't meet until July 30, the first of their four matchups in the 44-game regular-season slate. That's unless they meet again (as they did last season) in the Commissioner's Cup final, which is July 1. The Lynx won that 2024 title, but the Liberty won a hotly contested five-game Finals series for their first WNBA championship.
A lot will happen between now and the start of the league's 29th season, including the Golden State expansion draft Friday (6:30 p.M. ET, ESPN), free agency signings beginning in February, and the 2025 draft in April. All of it will affect rosters and matchups. But based on what we know now, here are the 10 must-see games of the 2025 regular season.
One of the WNBA's geographic rivalries -- Chicago's Wintrust Center and Indiana's Gainbridge Fieldhouse are 182 miles apart -- became spicier last season. Rookies Caitlin Clark of Indiana and Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese of Chicago brought more eyes to this series than ever before. Indiana, which won the season series 3-1, made the playoffs; Chicago didn't. The Sky are slotted to add another lottery pick -- No. 3 -- in the draft, and both teams have new coaches (Stephanie White for the Fever, Tyler Marsh for the Sky). It will be the first of five meetings between the teams in 2025.
Caitlin Clark was a nearly unanimous selection for Rookie of the Year, with the only first-place vote she didn't receive going to Angel Reese. Emilee Chinn/Getty Images May 21: Dallas Wings at Minnesota LynxIt's the second meeting between these teams in the season's first five days, but this one projects as Bueckers' homecoming game in Minneapolis. The Wings missed the playoffs last season, finishing 9-31, and fired coach Latricia Trammell despite her leading Dallas to the semifinals the year before. Longtime coach Curt Miller is now Dallas' general manager; the Wings haven't hired a coach yet. Bueckers, one of the front-runners for the 2024-25 national player of the year with UConn, projects as the favorite for WNBA Rookie of the Year.
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May 27: Atlanta Dream at Los Angeles SparksTwo of the league's new coaches, the Dream's Karl Smesko and the Sparks' Lynne Roberts, left their college teams early this season to go to the WNBA. This will be their first matchup as pro coaches, and a chance to see some big-time young stars like Atlanta's Rhyne Howard and Los Angeles' Rickea Jackson (and Cameron Brink if she has returned from a knee injury that cut short her rookie season).
June 7: Las Vegas Aces at Golden State ValkyriesThis will be the first meeting between Aces coach Becky Hammon and her former assistant Natalie Nakase, coach of the Valkyries. Another of Hammon's former assistants, the Sky's Marsh, will first meet up with the Aces on Aug. 25 in Chicago.
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Las Vegas' A'ja Wilson was the unanimous MVP last season, while Minnesota's Napheesa Collier was one vote shy of unanimous runner-up and won the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year award. The two stars are in the primes of their careers, and this will be their first meeting of 2025.
July 13: Dallas Wings at Indiana FeverThis projects as the second meeting between Clark and Bueckers, who faced off in the NCAA tournament twice. UConn won their 2021 Sweet 16 game; Iowa won their 2024 national semifinal. Indiana and Dallas first meet on June 27 in Texas.
July 15: Indiana Fever vs. Connecticut Sun (Boston)Stephanie White left the Sun to return to her home state of Indiana and her second stint as Fever coach. She led Connecticut in the WNBA's first game at Boston's TD Garden last season in August, a 69-61 win over Los Angeles. Now she returns with Indiana and star attraction Clark for what's likely to be another sellout at TD Garden.
Aug. 10: Minnesota Lynx at New York LibertyThis is the first time the teams will meet at Barclays Center since the decisive Game 5 of the 2024 championship series. (Unless, again, they play there for the Commissioner's Cup in July.) Game 5 and the title went to the Liberty, 67-62 in overtime on Oct. 20. Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was furious with the officiating afterward, proclaiming, "This s--- was stolen from us." The league opted not to fine her.
A'ja Wilson capped her record-setting 2024 season with her third MVP award. Ian Maule/Getty Images Aug. 13: New York Liberty at Las Vegas AcesThe Aces beat the Liberty in the 2023 Finals, but New York avenged that with a 3-1 semifinal series victory over Las Vegas last season on the way to its first WNBA title. This will be the third meeting of the season between the Liberty and Aces, and Las Vegas' Wilson and New York's Breanna Stewart, who between them have five MVP awards.
Did we see Diana Taurasi's final WNBA game last season? Or might she come back for a 21st year in the league, in which case this could be her regular-season finale. If Taurasi returns, this could be her fourth meeting of the season against fellow UConn star Bueckers. The first would be June 11, Taurasi's 43rd birthday, in Phoenix.
WNBA Teams Take To Social Media For Humorous Schedule Reveals
How could Paige Bueckers fit on the Dallas Wings? (2:37)Andraya Carter and Carolyn Peck discuss how Paige Bueckers could impact the Dallas Wings if she is selected with the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft. (2:37)
Kalan Hooks, ESPNDec 2, 2024, 05:35 PM ET
After a 2024 WNBA season that saw unprecedented fan interest, the 2025 season is locked and loaded.
Editor's Picks11dKevin Pelton
The league announced Monday that its 2025 regular season will begin Friday, May 16, and conclude Thursday, Sept. 11. The 2025 season will introduce many new additions, including the debut of an expansion team, the Golden State Valkyries.
The season will also include 44 games for each team, 22 at home and 22 away.
Golden State will play its inaugural game at home against the Los Angeles Sparks, preceded by the 2024 WNBA Finals runner-up Minnesota Lynx taking on the Dallas Wings, who are expected to land UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers as the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft.
Opening night will also include the Atlanta Dream facing the Washington Mystics.
Each team revealed its 2025 schedules on social media Monday, doing so in creative and comedic ways. Here are the schedule releases of each WNBA team.
Atlanta Dream Dallas Wings Golden State Valkyries Los Angeles Sparks Minnesota Lynx Washington Mystics
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