Retired WNBA icon Sylvia Fowles is returning to the court, with ESPN reporting on Wednesday that the former Minnesota Lynx star center will join the staff of the Portland Fire, becoming an assistant coach for the 2026 expansion team.
After reportedly fielding multiple offers of WNBA coaching opportunities, the 40-year-old will back up recently announced Portland Fire head coach Alex Sarama during the team's debut season, with the opportunity to help mold a fresh league roster and create culture from day one serving as a deciding factor in Fowles choosing the expansion franchise.
The 2025 Naismith Hall of Fame inductee's resume underlines her ability to make an impact from the sideline, as the beloved WNBA alum packs both championship experience and a defensive mindset to aid a team still forming its identity.
In a 14-year playing career split between the Chicago Sky and Minnesota, the 2017 WNBA MVP won two league titles, earning Finals MVP honors alongside each of those Lynx championships.
A four-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, Fowles exited her pro career as the league's all-time rebounds leader with 4,007 boards — a stat that held until current Connecticut Sun center Tina Charles passed the Hall of Famer in September 2024.
The eight-time All-Star also shined on the international stage, as Fowles snagged four Olympic gold medals during her time with Team USA.
With the 2025 WNBA Playoffs in full swing, many big-name players are shifting their focus to the winter, joining the 2026 roster for offseason leagues like 3×3 upstart Unrivaled and 5×5 Athletes Unlimited.
Connecticut Sun rookie Aneesah Morrow officially signed with AU Pro Basketball this week, joining WNBA veteran teammate Tina Charles, Las Vegas Aces standout and 2023 AU champion NaLyssa Smith, as well as fellow pro first-years in guards Kaitlyn Chen (Golden State Valkyries) and Te-Hina PaoPao (Atlanta Dream) on the AU court.
The 2026 Athletes Unlimited Basketball season also boasts several returning stars among its 40-player league roster, including Chicago Sky guard Kia Nurse, Washington Mystics forward Alysha Clark, Seattle Storm guard Lexie Brown, and New York Liberty forward Isabelle Harrison.
Tipping off its fifth season in February 2026, the month-long Nashville-based competition features rotating teams and individual leaderboards, offering an alternative to both overseas play and Unrivaled's 3×3 team format.
"It's player-driven," Charles said in her own AU Basketball signing announcement earlier this month. "I think that's really neat, you know, something that I've never been a part of, nor have I seen on men's or women's side."
How to watch the 2026 Athletes Unlimited Basketball season
The upcoming 2026 season of AU Pro Basketball runs from February 5th through March 2nd, with all 24 games airing live across several different broadcasters.
The 2025 WNBA season ended on a high note for Connecticut Sun star Tina Charles on Wednesday night, as the veteran center took home this year's Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award, an annual honor recognizing the WNBA player "who best exemplifies the characteristics of a leader in the community where they work or live."
Known for her career-long consistency on the court — where Charles leads the WNBA in all-time rebounds and sits second only to retired legend Diana Taurasi in career points — the 36-year-old standout is also deeply active with her nonprofit organization, the Hopey's Heart Foundation.
Founded in memory of Charles's late aunt Maureen "Hopey" Vaz in 2013, the family-run organization works to provide life-saving Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) to schools and rec centers. Hopey's Heart celebrated their 500th AED distribution this year.
Due to these efforts — as well as her other team- and community-based initiative work — the WNBA chose to recognize Charles for "her extraordinary commitment to service, social justice, and creating lasting impact in the communities she serves."
Notably, this isn't Charles's first time earning the Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award, with the WNBA star first receiving the honor for personally funding the building of a school for hundreds of children in Mali in 2012.
"Through my mother at a young age, I learned the importance of being a servant unto others, and receiving the Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award is truly special for me — especially for Hopey's Heart Foundation to receive this honor through its work in raising awareness for sudden cardiac arrest," Charles said in her acceptance speech on Wednesday night.
Along with her award, the WNBA is donating $10,000 to Charles's foundation alongside $20,000 from Connecticut's Yale New Haven Health.
While the last-place Connecticut Sun aren't exactly making a strong 2025 postseason run, they are playing spoiler, securing their fourth season victory in a 95-64 blowout win over a hungry No. 9 Golden State side on Sunday.
Eight-time All-Star Tina Charles — the WNBA's all-time top rebounder and second-best career scorer — led the game with 24 points, as the 36-year-old veteran continues to showcase her value.
"This season hasn't been the same as it always has for the Sun, but [fan] loyalty has really fueled us and we know that they're going to show up for us," said Connecticut guard Marina Mabrey after the win.
Monday's WNBA slate will see the Sun shoot for their first winning streak of the 2025 season, with Connecticut taking on a Seattle side they’ve humbled once already:
- No. 5 Seattle Storm vs. No. 13 Connecticut Sun, 7 PM ET (ESPN3): The Storm is hunting consistency after splitting their last 10 games 5-5 — ceding ground in the WNBA standings — while the Sun aims to repeat their July 9th upset victory over Seattle.
- No. 2 New York Liberty vs. No. 12 Dallas Wings, 8 PM ET (ESPN): Injuries could impact Monday's showdown in Texas, as the Wings aim to benefit from a rested Paige Bueckers while the Liberty deal with a knock to star Breanna Stewart.
Higher ranked squads will always look to rebound, but Connecticut's trajectory proves that the underdogs can have their say on any given day.
A young Connecticut Sun team upended the WNBA on Wednesday, as the league's last-place squad defeated the No. 5 Seattle Storm 93-83, earning their third win of the 2025 season.
Veteran center Tina Charles — the WNBA's all-time top rebounder and second all-time scorer — led the Connecticut charge with a 29-point, 11-rebound double-double.
Also helping snap the Sun's 10-game losing streak were starters Jacy Sheldon, Bria Hartley, and Saniya Rivers, who added double-digits points of their own to top the tough, veteran-heavy Storm.
"It was great to see a collective team effort," Charles said after the game. "It wasn't just me. Everyone involved got this win for us."
Elsewhere on Wednesday, No. 7 Indiana failed to hold off the No. 6 Golden State Valkyries, falling 80-61 to the 2025 expansion side despite the return of Fever star Caitlin Clark to the court.
After hanging the No. 14 jersey of retired WNBA champion Allie Quigley in the rafters, the No. 10 Chicago Sky logged an 87-76 win over the No. 12 Dallas Wings, buoyed by Rebecca Allen's season-high 27 points off the bench.
Also stealing Wednesday headlines were the No. 2 Mercury, who chipped away at Minnesota's lead atop the WNBA standings, shrinking it to a three-game buffer with a 79-71 Phoenix victory — only the third Lynx loss this season.
Along with a career-high 29-point performance from forward Alyssa Thomas, the Mercury win also marked DeWanna Bonner's return to play, with the veteran forward putting up seven points and six rebounds off the bench after signing with Phoenix on Tuesday.
"Today, she got thrown into the fire, [she] didn't know everything. But she did the things she could control, which is playing defense and rebounding," said Thomas about Bonner. "It's scary to think we're not even full strength yet."
The WNBA is all shook up, as the league's February 1st free agency signing day radically reshaped rosters from coast to coast.
In the largest offseason trade so far, the Phoenix Mercury and Dallas Wings took the buyer's market by storm while the Connecticut Sun sent starters packing in preparation for a major rebuild. Along with the Indiana Fever, these four teams moved a total of 13 players and 18 assets, making it the most prolific single trade in WNBA history.
Alyssa Thomas (Connecticut) and Satou Sabally (Dallas) headlined the deal, joining Phoenix alongside Dallas's Kalani Brown and Sevgi Uzun.
Connecticut took Phoenix's Natasha Cloud and Rebecca Allen (who's reportedly moving on to Chicago), plus Dallas's Jacy Sheldon and a first-round draft pick.
Indiana picked up Sophie Cunningham (Phoenix), Jaelyn Brown (Dallas), and a second-round draft pick.
To close it out, Dallas's haul included DiJonai Carrington (Connecticut), Ty Harris (Connecticut), and NaLyssa Smith (Indiana) as well as additional player considerations and draft futures.
That blockbuster four-team transaction comes on the heels of last week's history-making trade between the LA Sparks, Las Vegas Aces, and Seattle Storm, which became official over the weekend. The league's first-ever trade involving multiple former No. 1 draft picks sent Las Vegas's Kelsey Plum to the Sparks and Seattle's Jewell Loyd to the Aces, with the Storm grabbing the 2025 WNBA Draft's No. 2 pick.
More WNBA teams flex free agency muscles
Phoenix and Dallas weren't the only teams profiting off of Connecticut's reshuffling, as 2025 postseason hopefuls Indiana and Atlanta jumped into the market.
Sun standout DeWanna Bonner and three-time WNBA champion Natasha Howard (Dallas) both inked one-year deals with the Fever, joining recently re-signed All-Star Kelsey Mitchell in Indiana.
The Atlanta Dream complemented last week's game-changing Brittney Griner pick-up by netting Connecticut forward Brionna Jones.
Other teams have also kept their names in the mix, with Chicago officially bringing back two-time WNBA champion Courtney Vandersloot, who spent 12 seasons with the Sky before her title-winning stint with the Liberty.
The Sky are also reportedly courting Sparks free agent Kia Nurse after sending guard Lindsay Allen and the rights to forward Nikolina Milic to the Sun in exchange for Australia Opals star Rebecca Allen.
In another key free agency signing, Connecticut is bringing eight-time All-Star Tina Charles back after drafting the 36-year-old first overall in 2010.
With the free agency floodgates fully open and a highly anticipated new CBA prompting a wave of one-year deals, even more big-name signings are likely ahead of April's WNBA Draft.
As the WNBA playoffs approach, teams are relying on top individual talent to ascend the league standings, with star players truly rising to the top in weekend play.
Chicago falls as Angel Reese takes flight
Despite two weekend losses from the eighth-place Sky, Chicago rookie Angel Reese notched two new WNBA records. First on Friday, she became the first player to post back-to-back 20-rebound games before upping her streak to three with 22 boards on Sunday.
Reese also had 11 points in Sunday’s buzzer-beating loss to the fourth-place Aces, claiming her 22nd double-double to tie Tina Charles’s 2010 record for most double-doubles in a rookie season.
Napheesa Collier can't stop scoring
Over in Minnesota, a monster weekend from star Napheesa Collier clinched her third-place Lynx a trip to the playoffs. Collier drained a combined 58 points between Friday's victory over the Aces and Sunday's win against the Fever — the first time Minnesota took down Indiana this season.
Also at the top of the table, the second-place Sun punched their playoff ticket by handing the league-leading Liberty their fifth loss of the season on Saturday, avoiding a season sweep and snapping New York's eight-game winning streak in the process.
Sparks sink to bottom of the WNBA standings
The Sparks hit a new low as two very different losses saw LA sink to last place in the standings. On Friday, the 10th-place Mystics nearly silenced the Sparks' offense, taking the game 80-74 with rookie Rickea Jackson the only LA player to score in the double-digits.
Then on Sunday, Jackson, Odyssey Sims, and Dearica Hamby combined for 72 of LA’s 110 points against Dallas — but it wasn’t enough to top the Wings as Arike Ogunbowale and Natasha Howard contributed 63 of their own in Dallas's 113-110 win.
The win boosted Dallas to 11th-place, while the Mystics held fast to their positioning after last night’s team effort lifted Washington over now-fifth-place Seattle 74-72.
No. 4 UConn women’s basketball had a special visitor at practice this week, as three-time Olympic gold medalist and 2012 WNBA MVP Tina Charles made a surprise appearance.
The team shared a video Saturday showcasing Charles’ practice session with the Huskies. Charles even played one-on-one against starting forward Aaliyah Edwards.
Tina Charles vs. Aaliyah Edwards pic.twitter.com/eblIULUEpO
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) January 14, 2023
At one point on Friday, associate head coach Chris Dailey told Charles to run, junior guard Nika Muhl said.
While she participated like one of the team, though, Lou Lopez Sénéchal, said the WNBA veteran also gave players valuable feedback.
“It’s really cool for us, having a vet like that that’s been here and has been in the league for many years and just learn from her,” Lopez Sénéchal told ESPN.
“You always think like, yes, they’re vets, she’s been in the WNBA for 13 years, that’s a long time. You expect them to be so good,” Mühl added. “But seeing that on the court, the way she plays, the way she reads the game, you can’t move her. She’s literally like a rock in the paint — it’s amazing. It’s just so cool to see that experience and so amazing for [the alumni] to keep coming back.”
In addition to Charles, former NBA star and Hall of Famer Ray Allen also made an appearance at practice.
Ray Allen is here at UConn practice too. Quite the star-studded affair in Storrs. pic.twitter.com/Wz7sMRrooO
— Lila Bromberg (@lilabbromberg) January 14, 2023
Charles is a free agent this offseason after finishing the 2022 season with the Seattle Storm. During her time at UConn from 2006 until 2010, Charles was a two-time national champion and won multiple Player of the Year awards in 2010. She was drafted No. 1 overall by the Connecticut Sun in 2010.
WNBA star Tina Charles started a charity in 2013 to increase awareness and preparedness for sudden cardiac arrest, a cause that has come to the forefront after the on-field collapse of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin on Monday.
The 2012 WNBA MVP founded Hopey’s Heart Foundation to honor her aunt, Maureen “Hopey” Vaz, who died of multiple organ failure in March 2013. The organization provides AED donations and CPR training to schools and community centers.
Hopey’s Heart Foundation has donated 447 AEDs to date, per its website.
“I see it as the more AEDs out there we can help combat sudden cardiac arrest,” Charles said in 2014. “The more AEDs out there the better chance people will have.”
When Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest during the Bills’ Monday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals, medical personnel rushed onto the field, where they performed CPR and used an AED to help the 24-year-old. He remains in critical condition Wednesday at a Cincinnati hospital.
CPR helps blood to pump through the body, and an AED (which stands for automated external defibrillator) sends an electrical shock to the heart to restore its rhythm.
Fewer than 40 percent of people who experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital receive CPR from someone nearby, and fewer than 12 percent have an automated external defibrillator (AED) applied before emergency responders arrive, per the American Heart Association.
When a person has cardiac arrest in a public place, the chance of survival drops to about 10 percent, but the odds are better when CPR is performed and an AED is used. Nine in 10 cardiac arrest victims who receive a shock from an AED in the first minute survive, per the American Heart Association.
“During the past several decades, mortality has decreased, in part because of community-based emergency rescue programs using defibrillators and CPR,” cardiologist Sandeep Jauhar told the Washington Post. “People should definitely be trained in how to use an AED. There should be one available and ready for use in public venues. People should also learn how to administer CPR. It can be the difference between life and death.”
Charles, who played for the Phoenix Mercury and the Seattle Storm in 2022 and enters offseason as free agent, describes playing basketball as her career but promoting CPR and AED readiness as her mission.
“Scoring points is my job,” she told ESPN in 2014. “It’s what I’m supposed to do. But with an AED, you’re able to save a life. This is just something from my heart, and any accolades I receive about my work in the community mean more to me than the MVP award I won.”
Jewell Loyd made her feelings about Tina Charles clear after the Seattle Storm took Game 1 from Las Vegas in the WNBA semifinals on Aug. 28.
“Don’t forget about Tina Charles. Whatever happened early on, she’s with us and we know her capabilities. She’s a Hall of Famer,” Loyd told ESPN’s Holly Rowe in a postgame interview after Charles grabbed a franchise-record 18 rebounds and added 13 points in the upset win.
Though she played only 24 games for the Storm this season, forgetting about Charles is nearly impossible for anyone in the basketball world.
She’s made headlines on and off the court, and now that she’s an unrestricted free agent, there are sure to be many more. Let’s revisit Charles’ past to get a better sense of what might be in her future.
Background
Charles has long been heralded for her basketball skills. The center gained widespread recognition while playing for Christ the King High School in Queens, N.Y. — the same school Sue Bird and Chamique Holdsclaw attended years prior. There, she became a McDonald’s All-American and was tabbed as New York’s Miss Basketball.
Charles averaged 26.5 points, 14.8 rebounds and 5.2 blocks during her senior season before suiting up for UConn.
With the Huskies, Charles won national championships in 2009 and 2010 while playing with other future WNBA stars Maya Moore, Renee Montgomery and Tiffany Hayes. During her senior season, Charles broke Rebecca Lobo’s record to become UConn’s all-time leading rebounder.
Early WNBA years
After her success at UConn, the Connecticut Sun selected Charles first overall in the 2010 WNBA Draft. She was named Rookie of the Year and then league MVP two years later after averaging 18 points, 10.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.4 blocks per game in 2012.
The Sun traded Charles before the 2014 season in an effort to secure draft picks, ultimately using their No. 4 pick on current player Alyssa Thomas. Charles then spent six seasons with the Liberty. While playing for her hometown team, the center was named to five All-Star teams and became the franchise’s all-time leading rebounder in 2019.
Before the 2020 season, Charles expressed her interest in leaving New York for Washington, and the Liberty ultimately traded Charles to the Mystics in a three-team deal on April 15.
“It was her choice,” Mystics head coach and general manager Mike Thibault told reporters at the time. “She took her time to think about it and informed New York a few weeks ago that she would like to be traded. And ever since that time, us and New York have been negotiating on the deal.”
She sat out the 2020 bubble season due to COVID-19 concerns related to her extrinsic asthma before posting 23.4 points (the best scoring average of her career) and 9.6 rebounds per game in 2021 — her lone season with Washington.
Washington Mystics
Mystics fans who hoped to see Charles and Elena Delle Donne play together never got their wish, as Delle Donne was plagued with injuries in 2021 and the two appeared in just one game together. Charles decided to look elsewhere in free agency and ended up signing a one-year, $108,000 deal with the Mercury.
Prior to the signing, Charles had enjoyed WNBA success at an individual level with eight All-Star appearances and nine All-WNBA First and Second Team selections, but not at a team level. In her 11 seasons, Charles had yet to win a title and had not made a semifinals appearance since 2015, when the Liberty lost to the Fever.
Wherever she landed next, Charles wanted it to be a team that could contend in the playoffs. With that criteria in mind, re-signing with the Mystics would have made sense, but neither party seemed interested in the option.
“I just know I need to win a championship before I retire,” Charles told the Washington Post last September. “Obviously, some decisions are going to have to be made, and I have to look into everything. I’m thankful for my year here and just to see how they do things, and [that] will definitely help moving forward.”
During a press conference in early February, Thibault expressed his wish to re-sign both Emma Meesseman (now with the Sky) and Myisha Hines-Allen (still with the Mystics) but never mentioned Charles’ name.
Phoenix Mercury
With the signing of Charles, the Mercury looked to have the makings of a super team after finishing 2021 as runners-up. They retained Diana Taurasi, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Kia Nurse and Brittney Griner and also signed Diamond DeShields, who was an important part of the Sky’s 2021 WNBA championship run.
But things quickly soured in Phoenix.
Griner was wrongfully detained on drug charges in Russia and never made an appearance for the Mercury in 2022, with the fight to get her home ongoing. Nurse also missed the season with a torn ACL.
The Mercury started the season 2-8 and in search of answers for their talented squad. During her tenure in Phoenix, Charles averaged 17.3 points and 7.3 rebounds while starting all 16 of her appearances.
On June 25, the relationship took another turn when Charles and Phoenix decided to go their separate ways via a contract divorce. Mercury GM Jim Pitman said in a statement at the time, “Due to circumstances both in and out of our control, our season has not gone according to our plan, and we will continue to pursue all avenues for improvement.”
Charles was with the Mercury for 18 games overall, but according to coach Vanessa Nygaard, she “chose” not to appear in the other two contests. ESPN reported that Charles had been unhappy with her role in Phoenix’s offense and had regularly expressed her desire to leave the team.
It also appeared that Charles had no love lost for her former coach after the contract divorce.
“I have a small window and there’s a way that I want to play, and with the time I have left playing, there’s a way I want to be coached,” Charles said after her decision to leave the team was made public.
Seattle Storm and beyond
Three days after her contract divorce with the Mercury, Charles signed with the Storm, the team she had reportedly turned down in the offseason for Phoenix. The decision made sense for both parties at the time, as the Storm needed another rebounder and post presence to complement Ezi Magbegor, the team’s lone center. Meanwhile, Charles was still on a quest to win a title, and the Storm were in a good position to contend.
“I want to thrive in the right environment at this point in my career, being 13 years in,” Charles told ESPN last month. “A lot of other players maybe would have had time to settle in and see what the outcome of that was. Me being 33, I just knew what my goal was and it’s also important to know what process you want to go through to attain that goal.”
Charles performed well for the Storm, averaging 12.6 points and 7.4 blocks across 18 games as they made a run to the semifinals. She went quiet in Seattle’s final two games of the series, however, grabbing 14 total rebounds and scoring just two points in Game 4 on Tuesday. She also missed two free throws in the final 10 seconds of Game 3, leaving the door open for Las Vegas’ comeback.
Now that the Storm have been eliminated from playoff contention, coach Noelle Quinn and the organization turn to next season, one that is marked with uncertainty. Bird’s retirement is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, but after Loyd and Mercedes Russell, everyone else on the roster is a free agent. While Magbegor is a restricted free agent, everyone else — including Stewart — is unrestricted.
During exit interviews on Wednesday, Quinn expressed her desire to re-sign Stewart. Quinn also mentioned the importance of signing a point guard to replace the retired Bird and Briann January.
After that, the team will focus on rostering a mix of youth and experience, Quinn said.
So, how does Charles fit into that conversation?
Charles did not show up for her exit interview with media members on Wednesday — she was the only Storm player to not appear — but Quinn said she had a positive conversation with the veteran. She did not specify, however, whether or not the team would seek to re-sign her.
“I told her I appreciated the professionalism she brought,” Quinn said. “Obviously, we didn’t finish the ultimate goal, which is to win a championship, but I thought she conducted herself in a very positive manner throughout.”
If Stewart returns, between her and Loyd, the Storm will already have two key pieces in place for rebuilding a championship roster. Charles has expressed multiple times her desire to win a title before she retires, so from her perspective, the Storm could remain a good fit. Plus, Quinn reacted positively to Charles’ time with the Storm.
There seems to be no ill will between the two parties, so a return is possible, though neither the Storm nor Charles has spoken directly to the topic.
For now, Charles’ future once again remains uncertain.
Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.