Around the Sun

No Days Off: GM Morgan Tuck Is Rebuilding the Sun, One Hard Decision at a Time

By Anthony Price 

Connecticut vs Indian Fever at TD Garden, Boston. Photo: Anthony Price

---

---

​The Connecticut Sun didn’t just travel to Boston—they brought the floor with them. For the second consecutive year, the team packed up their home court and reassembled it under the bright lights of TD Garden. 
 
This time, they did it for a marquee matchup: Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever were in town—and they didn’t come alone. 

On Tuesday, July 15, a sellout crowd of over 19,000 fans filled the arena—Celtics and Bruins banners danced overhead in their glory—and fans in Clark jerseys roared with every move. Even Celtics star Jaylen Brown showed up. The spotlight was bright, but the outcome was dim for the Sun: an 85-77 loss dropped them to 3-19.
 
Still, for Connecticut’s front office, the game was part of something bigger, a carefully orchestrated push to brand the franchise as New England’s team—with the goal of attracting fans and their money to Uncasville. 

And that’s not all the Sun have been doing in Boston. On July 7, three of the team’s stars—Marina Mabrey, Tina Charles and Saniya Rivers—donned Red Sox shirts and threw the first pitches at a Red Sox game in Fenway Park. And they all managed to get their pitches across home plate. Mission accomplished. Other events hosted by the Sun that week included a Youth Sports Festival and a Block Party outside TD Garden before the game.

They know I was in their shoes.

GM Morgan Tuck at Connecticut Sun's practice facility. Photo: Anthony Price

​Tuck’s Time 
 
The Sun once set the standard for a women’s franchise in New England. Today, they sit at the bottom of the WNBA standings, searching for something more than just wins. 
 
Enter Morgan Tuck. The former UConn legend and 4-time NCAA Champion was named general manager in early December 2024. Just months into the role, Tuck is already facing the steep climb of a rebuild, and doing it with a quiet confidence that suggests she’s in it for the long haul. 
 
Tuck prefers to be anonymous at team practices and games, often juggling two cellphones. When I caught up with her before the game, she stood 6-foot-2, soft spoken, and quick to flash a friendly smile. In her early thirties, she’s navigating a job where empathy and decisiveness don’t always align.
 
For Tuck, the upcoming all-star break is a welcome pause from the frenzied pace of the season. But there’s little rest in the front office.

Morgan Tuck (tan blazer) watches as Caitlin Clark goes to the locker room. Photo: Anthony Price

Caitlin Clark is defended by Saniya Rivers. Photo: Clay Johnson

---

---

​On Sunday morning, the Sun waived Jaelyn Brown and Haley Peters with a one-sentence press release. By Tuesday, the day of the Fever game, they brought Peters back on a 7-day contract. 
 
“I explained it to her [Peters] and she bought into it,” Tuck said. “She knows what it comes with, and she understands the uncertainty.”
 
That’s the business side of the job. Tuck wants to maintain flexibility, which is what the Peters’ deal was about. “We are still going to try some things,” added Tuck.  
 
It’s never easy to waive a player. “Yeah, that’s the part where sometimes I hate that I’m so young,” Tuck said as if apologizing. “I’m the age of most of our players, or right in between most of our players.” 
 
“It’s something I try to approach with a lot of honesty,” she said about waiving players. “They know I was in their shoes,” Tuck said.  “It’s tough at times, but I also think it helps me, too. I’m trying to do what’s best for our players as well as what’s best for our team—that doesn’t always line up,” she acknowledged. 

Morgan Tuck (right) at the Sun-Fever game in Boston. Photo: Anthony Price

With a brand-new team, and only two people returning, we knew that it was going to be trial and error.

The Details 
 
With the Sun’s next game set for July 24th, Tuck has time to recharge and plan. She is someone who agonizes over the minutiae and is aware that her decisions affect the team. 
 
After last season’s five starters left, the franchise started from scratch. With only two players from last season, the team drafted three rookies: Aneesha Morrow (7th), Saniya Rivers (8th), and Rayah Marshall (25th). 
 
Rivers and Aneesha have shown promise on the court, earning playing time. 
Marshall, on the other hand, has been a fixture on the bench.
 
Second-year guard Jacy Sheldon, drafted 5th by the Dallas Wings in 2024, is a key player in the Sun’s rotation.  And French rookie Leila Lacan, who was drafted 10th by the Sun in 2024, made her debut in early July. Her presence has been felt immediately on defense and as a playmaker on offense. 
 
“From where we started, we haven’t made too many changes,“ Tuck said. “With a brand-new team, and only two people returning, we knew that it was going to be trial and error.” 

Error has been part of the process. But so has growth. Tuck elaborated. “We knew this year was going to be a struggle. We knew this year was going to be about totally changing and resetting what we are doing,” she said. “Obviously, we have had a really rough start, but in the last few weeks, I think we are trending in the right direction.” 

Tuck, who was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and attended high school in Bolingbrook, Illinois, is a methodical thinker. “I’m definitely not one who is going to make rash decisions. I like to really see it,” Tuck said. “I like to put the time and effort into it.” 

---

---

Boston Celtics Jaylen Brown (right) at the Connecticut Sun game in Boston. Photo: Anthony Price

Trust the Process 
 
Tuck knows what it’s like to lose—and what it takes to build something better. “I came in 2016, when I got drafted [third overall by the Sun],” she said, “and we were not a playoff team.” The team had a new coaching staff led by head coach Curt Miller. 
 
The team went 14-20 in 2016, missing the playoffs for a fourth straight season. “My rookie year was really rough,” Tuck recalled. “We had our lumps. But it started something that turned into something beautiful. That was extended for a long time.” 
 
Under Miller, the team turned things around and made the playoffs for six consecutive years, from 2017 to 2022, including appearances in the Finals in 2019 and 2022. 
 
Tuck left the Sun after the 2019 season and went on to win a WNBA title with the Seattle Storm in 2020. But her heart never left Connecticut.
 
“My message [to the fans] is just to understand that this year is about resetting and starting over,” said Tuck. “So, we just have to trust the process. Sometimes you must be willing to start over and go through the lumps and bumps so we can get back to where we were.” 
 
The Sun’s record may not show it yet, but the foundation is being poured. Young players are starting to jell. The team is slowly taking shape—not around superstardom, but around belief.

If they win, it will be because they built it from the ground up. And if they do, they won’t just win games. They’ll earn something harder to come by: attention, respect, and a new generation of fans also ready to believe in the process. 

###

---

---

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