Brittney Griner did something Monday night that nobody in WNBA history has done before. She swatted her way past Margo Dydek for the league’s all-time blocks record, and she did it in a Connecticut Sun uniform halfway through a season that’s been rough for her new team.
The moment came in the second quarter against the Chicago Sky. Griner got a hand on Kamilla Cardoso’s shot and that was it. Career block number 878. Dydek had held the record at 877 since retiring in 2008. Griner now stands alone at the top.
She finished the night with four blocks in 22 minutes of playing time, adding 14 points and eight rebounds for good measure. The Sun won 92-63, which was nice. But the story was Griner’s climb up that ladder.
How Griner got here
This is Griner’s 13th season in the WNBA and her first with Connecticut after spending her entire career in Phoenix. She’s not the same dominant force she was five years ago. Nobody stays at that peak forever. But she’s still a problem for opposing offenses and a legitimate scoring threat on the other end.
The record required patience. She came into Monday with 874 blocks. Four more and the top spot was hers. She got the fourth one early enough that the crowd at Mohegan Sun Arena had plenty of time to appreciate what they’d just seen.
What this means for the Sun
Connecticut came into this game with a 2-15 record. That’s brutal any way you slice it. The win over Chicago pushed them to 3-15, which still has them dead last in the Eastern Conference. They’re behind both the Sky and the Toronto Tempo at the moment.
But here’s something that’s been working: the Sun shot 51 percent from the floor Monday and grabbed 49 rebounds. Chicago shot 23 percent and managed only 28 boards. That’s a gap that wins games even when your record says you shouldn’t be winning many.
Five Sun players hit double figures. Charlisse Leger-Walker put up 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Leila Lacan had 12 points and three steals. Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Aaliyah Edwards each dropped 11.
What’s next
The Sun stay home for their next game. They host the Washington Mystics on June 26 at 7:30 p.m. ET. Griner will take the floor as the WNBA’s all-time leader in blocks, which is a sentence nobody could write before Monday night.
For a team that’s had a miserable start to the season, having the league’s best shot blocker in the building isn’t a bad place to build from.
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