Around the Sun

Tina Charles is the Ultimate Competitor—And a Future Hall of Famer

By Anthony Price

Connecticut Sun's Tina Charles celebrates after a win. Photo: Stephen Joyner Jr.

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Tina Charles is a throwback: a mature, coachable, no-nonsense basketball star who leaves it all on the court.
 
So when Connecticut Sun GM Morgan Tuck announced her signing in early February, there was no mystery about what the franchise was getting: a poised veteran with 13 years in the WNBA and international experience, still fueled by a love for the game. 

​Last season, Charles averaged 14.9 points and 9.6 rebounds with the Atlanta Dream. For a Sun team that lost or traded all five starters from the 2024 team, the need was obvious: production in the post and veteran leadership. It was a match. 
 
Tuck made Charles the centerpiece of the rebuild. “Tina not only helped define the success of this franchise during her early years, but she also set the bar for excellence, both on and off the court,” Tuck said. 
 
This move signaled how Tuck planned to build the team. Charles is a winner—three-time Olympic gold medalist, decorated with more awards than some museums—and, in many ways, the embodiment of Connecticut basketball itself.

860 is home. It’s where I started.

​860 
 
Wearing dark sunglasses, Tina Charles sat beside GM Morgan Tuck at the press conference podium. “For me personally, Connecticut is home,” Charles stated. “860 is home. It’s where I started. It’s just a special place for me personally.” 
 
Now nearing the end of a brilliant career, Charles has come full circle—back to the franchise that drafted her No. 1 overall in 2010. A future Naismith Hall of Famer, she has already been enshrined in the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame (2024), cementing her place among the game’s greats.
 
But Tuck didn’t fly to Istanbul in the offseason to lure Charles back for a farewell tour. She wanted wins and to build a winning culture. Charles, who signed a one-year deal, made her stance clear: “I’m just staying present,” she said, when asked about her future. “I have a passion for this game. Right now, I can say this year I will be here. I’m ready to play, and I’m excited to get back out there and represent.” 

Tina Charles shots over a Washington Mystics defender. Photo: Stephen Joyner Jr.

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Tuck’s bet has paid off. Charles is averaging 16.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. She has been a steadying force in the Sun’s locker room, on a team that has five rookies, a rookie coach, and a rookie GM. 

​From New York City to Storrs
 
Charles grew up in Jamaica, Queens, the daughter of Angella Murry, originally from Jamaica, and Rawlston Charles, from Trinidad and Tobago. Basketball grabbed her early, and by the time she reached high school she was already a prodigy. At Christ the King (NYC), she became a force—scoring 1,750 points, pulling down 1,224 rebounds, and blocking 432 shots over three varsity seasons. As a senior in 2006, she was the consensus National Player of the Year.
 
From there, Charles took her talents to UConn, where she carved out one of the most decorated college careers in history. Between 2006 and 2010, she helped the Huskies reach three consecutive Final Fours, winning back-to-back national titles in 2009 and 2010.
 
Individually, she was unstoppable. In her senior season alone, Charles swept nearly every major award—the Naismith Trophy, Wooden Award, and Player of the Year honors from both the Associated Press and the United States Basketball Writers Association.
 
She graduated as UConn’s all-time leader in points and rebounds, and third in blocked shots. Her career record? An astonishing 146–6—winning 96 percent of her games in Storrs.

I have a passion for this game. 

Big Hole 
 
The team dug themselves a crater-sized hole early in the season, losing their first five games before finally earning a narrow 85-83 win over  the Indiana Fever on May 30. The win gave the team and fans a flicker of hope—fragile, like a candle in the wind. 
 
It turned out to be false hope. Just two days later, the team suffered its worst loss in franchise history, a 100-52 pounding at the hands of the WNBA champion New York Liberty. It was rock bottom.
 
There would be more disappointments. From June 8 to July 6, the team lost 10 games in a row, including two blowouts by 37 points or more. They played with no fight or chemistry, which was reflected in the score. 

Still, they didn’t quit. Charles and the other veterans proved to be the anchors the team needed to build chemistry, establish positive daily habits, and improve. They kept working. Slowly, the work began to show.

Tina Charles releases a midrange jumper. Photo: Stephen Joyner, Jr.

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Improving
 
Led by veterans Charles, Marina Mabrey and Bria Hartley, and the young players falling in line, the Sun have begun to steady themselves. They won four of their last five games, with two wins each over the Chicago Sky and Washington Mystics. 

Charles has been central to the surge. After a gritty 21-point, 6-rebound performance in a 67–56 win over Washington on August 21, she appeared in the postgame presser draped in ice packs—on both knees and a shoulder—yet still smiling. Two days later, she followed up with a 23-point, 10-rebound double-double against Chicago.
 
Her fire hasn’t dimmed. After scoring a big basket against the Mystics, Charles celebrated by waving her arms as if the team secured a playoff spot. 

“I get a lot of pleasure seeing these young guys being able to go out and impact the game—just seeing their progression, seeing them turn corners,” Charles said. ”That’s what it’s about, being in this vet’s seat. If I’m needed, I know I will be called upon.” 
 
When asked about what it means to have played at UConn, Charles stated, “At an early stage in your career, when you’re at UConn, Coach Auriemma challenges you to play like professionals, to walk like a professional, talk like a professional.”  

I get a lot of pleasure seeing these young guys being able to go out and impact the game—just seeing their progression, seeing them turn corners.

Aaliyah Edwards and Olivia Nelson-Ododa are ecstatic after a win. Photo: Stephen Joyner Jr.

Future Hall of Famer  
 
Every day, Charles demonstrates what a professional is. She’s now sharing the blueprint. 
 
The Sun may be playing for pride—not a playoff spot, but Charles is still carving her legacy. She’s the second leading scorer in the WNBA and its all-time leading rebounder.  
 
A future Hall of Famer, Charles is the quiet star who keeps producing. 

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Anthony Price is an entrepreneur, author and publisher of CT Hoops Magazine. Around the Sun is a weekly column about the Connecticut Sun.