{"id":264327,"date":"2026-09-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/25\/two-iconic-wnba-chapters-come-to-a-close-the-gist\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T00:00:00","slug":"two-iconic-wnba-chapters-come-to-a-close-the-gist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/25\/two-iconic-wnba-chapters-come-to-a-close-the-gist\/","title":{"rendered":"Two iconic WNBA chapters come to a close | The GIST"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>The GIST: <\/strong>A thrilling 330 regular-season games later, the WNBA first-round matchups are officially set. While you wait for that aforementioned playoff preview and start planning your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegistsports.com\/bracket-challenge\/2026-womens-basketball\/new\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">women\u2019s basketball bracket<\/a>, let\u2019s reminisce about two iconic chapters that are coming to a close.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2600\ufe0f The Connecticut Sun\u2019s grand finale: <\/strong>The Nutmeg State has been synonymous with women\u2019s hoops since, well, forever. Some of the best the W had to offer \u2014 Tina Charles, Jonquel Jones, and Alyssa Thomas among others \u2014 called Connecticut home during their careers, a legacy that will live on long after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/wnba\/recap\/_\/gameId\/401857215\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">last night\u2019s season finale<\/a>: The franchise will relocate to Houston and rebrand as the Comets in 2027.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Sun authored a myriad of <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/mohegan-tribe-made-early-bet-172619159.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">historic WNBA firsts<\/a> during their 23-year existence, anchored in a community that truly embraced the franchise. The sun may be setting on this iteration of women\u2019s basketball in New England, but it\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/wnba\/2026\/06\/11\/wnba-expansion-cathy-engelbert-new-england-connecticut-sun\/90518224007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">only a matter of time<\/a> before it rises again.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\ud83d\udc51 Nneka Ogwumike retires after 15 seasons:<\/strong> No one\u2019s impacted the WNBA quite like Ogwumike. As president of the players\u2019 union, the 36-year-old was instrumental in negotiating two landmark CBAs over her decade-long tenure. She\u2019s always been a leader, an advocate, and a mentor \u2014 and <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/espnW\/status\/2103299735868035574?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\">truly beloved<\/a> by her peers because of it.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>And she was equally as impressive on the court. The 2012 No. 1 draft pick is one of the W\u2019s most accomplished players, stacking a championship, points, and accolades over her 15-year career. Ogumike\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/sparks-star-nneka-ogwumike-grateful-232955415.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cgrateful\u201d for all of it<\/a> \u2014 us too, madam president.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>What\u2019s next? The only certainty is that she\u2019ll play in Project B, the global five-on-five league that debuts in January. After that, who knows where her leadership acumen will take her, but we hear the WNBA front office <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/wnba\/story\/_\/id\/49861287\/wnba-commissioner-cathy-engelbert-retirement-replace-succeed-candidates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has an opening<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\n  n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\n  document,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n  fbq('init', '1716705275141133'); \/\/ Insert your pixel ID here.\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n      <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegistsports.com\/article\/wnba-chapters-close\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The GIST: A thrilling 330 regular-season games later, the WNBA first-round matchups are officially set. While you wait for that aforementioned playoff preview and start planning your women\u2019s basketball bracket, let\u2019s reminisce about two iconic chapters that are coming to a close. \u2600\ufe0f The Connecticut Sun\u2019s grand finale: The Nutmeg State has been synonymous with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":264328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6805],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-264327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-womens"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}