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UConn women’s basketball rookies settling in to first WNBA training camp opportunities
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- UConn women’s basketball rookies settling in to first WNBA training camp opportunities
Aubrey Griffin’s first opportunity to step onto a WNBA court was a long time coming.
Almost nothing about the former UConn women’s basketball forward’s career has happened on the timeline she expected. Griffin, who signed with the Huskies as a top-25 recruit in the Class of 2019, spent six seasons in college after suffering two major injuries. First, there was a back injury that required surgery and kept her out for all of the 2021-22 season; then an ACL tear midway through 2023-24 that sidelined her until Jan. 2025.
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The Minnesota Lynx took a chance on Griffin in the 2025 WNBA Draft , selecting the 6-foot-2 forward with the final pick in the third round. She was never fully healthy during her final college season, averaging just 11.3 minutes on the court in 16 game appearances, and Griffin didn’t even get the chance to compete in training camp last season because of lingering issues with her left knee. She had arthroscopic knee surgery last April and spent most of the last year rehabbing.
When 2026 training camp opened on Sunday, Griffin’s rookie campaign with the Lynx finally began.
“Just being here at training camp to learn from everyone else has been an experience so far,” Griffin told reporters in Minnesota. “I feel good. I’ve been doing rehab for like six months now, so it’s like I’m just ready to be out there. I’m ready to play and just give it all I have.”
Griffin underwent surgery in Minnesota and spent last season around the Lynx watching practices and attending film sessions alongside the players on the active roster. Having that baseline understanding of the team’s system and culture is a huge advantage in allowing Griffin to adjust quickly during training camp compared to other young players.
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“(I saw) just what it takes,” Griffin said. “Watching from the sideline, I think when you’re out, you see a different perspective of the game. I was allowed to learn from the vets and everyone that was here in the past year, just the plays and how they do things here in Minnesota. I’m just happy I get to actually be on the floor.”
It will be a significant challenge for Griffin to make the Lynx’s final roster with 21 players competing for 12 spots. Under the new WNBA collective bargaining agreement, Minnesota can also sign up to two development players — players with less than three years of experience who can appear in up to 12 games and do not count against a team’s salary cap.
“For her to actually be in practice and go through drills, it’s the first time she’s been able to do that, so we were excited for her to be healthy enough to experience this,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said Sunday . “We drafted her for a reason, and getting a chance to actually see her — number 1, see her so happy, I think that was the first thing she expressed — so we’ll see how it goes.”
Where former UConn women’s basketball stars are competing in WNBA training camp
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Serah Williams settling in with Portland Fire
Outside of superstar guard Azzi Fudd , who was drafted No. 1 overall by the Dallas Wings , Williams has the best chance of any UConn rookie to make a WNBA roster in 2026. Williams was initially selected No. 33 by the Connecticut Sun in the third round, but she was traded less than an hour later to the Portland Fire .
“You cannot have too many UConn players on your team, ever,” Fire general manager Vanja Cernivec said on draft night. “She’s a player we think has a lot of potential, and with our coaching staff and in our system, we think we can develop her into a really, really good player and pillar on our team. Defensively, we all know she’s a monster … but we’re very confident we can develop her offensive game.
The Fire are one of two expansion teams joining the league this year, and keeping Williams makes sense given their roster construction. Of the 17 players competing in training camp, only three are Williams’ size (6-4) or bigger, and the group is overwhelmingly inexperienced. Just three players have been in the league more than five seasons, and five are rookies.
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Williams told media in Portland after the second day of training camp that she’s embracing the experience of helping establish a first-year franchise.
“Everything’s so new, so that relieves some pressure a little bit,” Williams said. “Everyone’s super helpful. I don’t feel like there’s tension in the environment at all or pressure. I’m just relaxed and being able to be myself. Especially as a rookie, all I can do is enjoy the experience. I’m living my dream right now, so just have fun with it.”
Caroline Ducharme survives first cut with Valkyries
The Golden State Valkyries made the first cut of the 2026 WNBA season on Tuesday, waiving former Texas Tech guard Bailey Maupin from their training camp roster. The process of whittling down to just 12 players for the final roster is brutal, but it’s a positive sign that former UConn guard Caroline Ducharme , who signed a training camp contract the same day as Maupin, has shown enough in the early days to stick around for at least a while longer.
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Ducharme’s signing was a surprise after she saw limited playing time her redshirt senior season with the Huskies. The 6-foot-2 guard’s college career was derailed by injuries after a strong start to her freshman season. She suffered her first head injury at UConn in February 2022, then missed 13 games with a concussion in 2022-23. Neck spasms kept her out for all but the first four games of 2023-24, and she wasn’t able to return to the court until late February 2025. She averaged 7.4 minutes over 25 game appearances in 2025-26.
After all the adversity, Fudd said during her introductory press conference in Dallas that she teared up when Ducharme called her to tell her she’d been invited to Golden State’s camp. Fudd and Ducharme both signed with UConn in the 2021 class and have been friends since middle school.
“She told me I couldn’t cry since she was gonna cry, but I had tears in my eyes,” Fudd said. “I’m super proud of her … Having gone through what we’ve gone through, seeing the behind-the-scenes of everything she battles through and how incredible of a person she is, she deserves this more than anyone.”
It’s rare to make a WNBA roster as an undrafted player, but Ducharme has the benefit of several fellow UConn alumni guiding her at Valkyries camp. Former teammate Kaitlyn Chen was Golden State’s third-round draft pick in 2025 and played in 24 games with the team last season. The Valkyries also re-signed veteran guard Tiffany Hayes and picked up All-Star Gabby Williams and three-time WNBA champion Kiah Stokes in free agency.
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“Honestly, I want them to be themselves,” Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said of the players competing for roster spots during camp. “We picked the players that fit our style, so with that comes the competitiveness, the high IQ and the selflessness … We studied the film and everything to bring in players like that, so giving them the power of ‘just be you’ is a powerful statement, because then they know they’re good enough to be here and we chose them for a reason.”
