HOUSTON — In a scene that conjured ghosts of basketball dynasties past, the Houston Comets' "Big Three" of Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson stood together on the court at Toyota Center on Tuesday night.
Above them, banners commemorating the Comets' four WNBA championships hung in the rafters, relics of an iconic franchise that will soon be revived.
On Monday, March 30,the Houston Rockets announcedthat a group led by owner Tilman Fertitta ispurchasing the Connecticut Sunfrom the Mohegan Tribe and relocating the team to Houston, to begin play in the 2027 WNBA season. The deal is pending approval by the WNBA Board of Governors and expected to be finalized in the coming weeks.
The Houston Comets were one of the original WNBA franchises and won the league's first four championships from 1997-2000, but ceased operations after the 2008 season due to financial struggles. The city has been without a WNBA team ever since.
"I think the city has been hungry for this, you know?" Swoopes told USA TODAY. "Every day when I'm just talking basketball I hear people ask the question, 'When are the Comets coming back?' And now, I can say next year. So I'm just super thrilled. I'm excited for the city and I'm excited for the players that will be a part of the Comets but also the players who never played here will get a chance to come and see what the city of Houston has to offer."
The announcement of the Comets' return was serendipitous timing for Cooper, Swoopes and Thompson, who had already planned to attend Tuesday night's NBA game between the Rockets and Knicks as part of the Rockets' "Legends Night" celebration.
When they arrived, the three Comets superstars could barely take 10 steps without being stopped by fans, ushers and team employees who wanted to take selfies or talk about the impending return of a beloved WNBA franchise, the loss of which many people still mourn. Cooper wore a jewel-encrusted necklace bearing her former Comets jersey number, 14.
"When you think about everything that the WNBA represents and everything that the Houston Comets represented for the W, it's great to know that now we have the team back at home, back in Houston and now the city of Houston gets the chance to rally around a WNBA team again," Cooper told USA TODAY. "We have a home. We have a home for our trophies, we have a home for our legends."
The Comets will play home games at the Rockets' arena, Toyota Center – where a new locker room will be added for the WNBA team – and share the Rockets' $75 million practice facility, which opened in fall 2024.
Thompson, who works as an NBA scout for the Portland Trail Blazers and regularly attends Rockets games at Toyota Center, remembers Comets fans being incredibly devoted and said she can't wait to see that energy in the building again.
"The new team, they're going to experience something that I don't think any of them have experienced in their career before in how Houston Comets fans show up," Thompson said.
WNBA's Most Valuable Player award winners over the years
The Houston Comets were the WNBA's first dynasty
The Comets became the WNBA's first dynasty by winning four consecutive championships. In 1998, they won their second title after finishing with a 27-3 record, which still stands today as the best single-season win percentage in WNBA history. The Comets dedicated their third championship in 1999 to teammate Kim Perrot, who died from cancer that year and whose jersey still hangs at Toyota Center.
"I know 'Three for 10' was definitely our most difficult championship but I really liked our second championship when there was an influx of ABL players and nobody believed that we could do it again," Cooper said. "That back-to-back championship was, I thought, super difficult and we got a chance to share it with our point guard Kim Perrot."
Fertitta began working to bring the WNBA back to Houston in late 2024. The Rockets, in a bid spearheaded by the team's president of business operations Gretchen Sheirr, submitted a proposal to the WNBA when the league was looking to expand to 18 teams.
But the WNBA passed over Houston and on June 30, 2025 awarded expansion teams to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia. In a press conference the same day, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said, "Houston would be up next, for sure."
Cleveland and Detroit joined Portland as cities that formerly had WNBA franchises and were given expansion teams.
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"I was in my feelings," Swoopes said. "Honestly, I was like, 'OK, when? When is Houston going to get a team back?'"
Controversy over the Connecticut Sun's sale to Houston
The Comets' return is not without controversy. Fertitta agreed to purchase the Sun for $300 million, a source with knowledge of the deal told USA TODAY, which despite being a WNBA record falls short of two separate offers valued at $325 million from Boston Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca and Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry last summer.
Pagliuca would have moved the team to Boston while Lasry's offer would have kept the team in Connecticut but moved it from Uncasville to Hartford. The WNBA shot down both offers, arguing that only the league had power to approve relocation and that other cities which went through the official expansion process had priority for expansion over Boston and Hartford.
The league's subsequent decision to allow the team's sale and relocation to Houston drew ire from Connecticut state officials and Sun fans.
"I can just empathize with loss in general," Thompson said. "It's never good for anyone and there are going to be feelings that come along with that, and they're not very positive. But we welcome all of the Sun fans to Houston and we're gonna do a really good job of taking care of the franchise that was once theirs."
The sale ends a 23-year tenure in Connecticut for the Sun, which was established as expansion team Orlando Miracle in 1999 and relocated to Connecticut in 2003.
Swoopes has positive memories of playing in Connecticut at Mohegan Sun Arena and said that while she feels for the Sun fanbase, she is excited to see the Comets' return coincide with a period of historic growth for the WNBA, which saw record attendance numbers in the 2025 season and just ratified a new collective bargaining agreement.
"I also see what it shows which is the growth of the game, the growth of the league," Swoopes said. "I think we're in a great position with the Rockets and the Fertittas to be able to fulfill the things that the players are going to need and want with this new CBA."
A new era of Houston Comets basketball
The Sun's performance during the 2026 WNBA season will determine where the Comets will pick in the 2027 draft ahead of their inaugural season. Asked which players they'd like to see in a Comets uniform, Cooper and Swoopes both said USC star guard JuJu Watkins, who will be eligible for the WNBA draft in 2027.
"JuJu Watkins, let's go!" Cooper said. "We both come from Watt. We both went to USC. She still has to win a championship there, but I would love to get JuJu right here to win the fifth Houston Comets championship."
Rockets coach Ime Udoka showed up to his pregame media availability on Tuesday wearing a white WNBA HOU hoodie. Udoka's older sister, Mfon Udoka, played 25 games for the Comets during the 2003 season.
"Just excited to have the team coming back," Ime Udoka said. "(They have) a history of winning and it's great to have a WNBA (team) in the market regardless. It's extra special to me; my sister played with that franchise for a few years and to have them coming back to Houston is obviously a great thing and so I want to give them a little bit of love."
Cooper, Swoopes, Thompson and former Comets head coach Van Chancellor had multiple conversations with Fertitta and Sheirr throughout the WNBA bid process to offer support. Although none of the former Comets players have been offered formal roles with the new version of the team, all said they will remain connected to the organization and provide help whenever possible.
Cooper said she's excited for the Comets to connect with fans who supported the original team as well as those who weren't around during the first run.
"I think the new version of the Comets will feed into that same legacy," she said. "I think this new generation is going to get a chance to see just how special women's basketball in the W is. When you start looking at stars like A'ja Wilson or Caitlin Clark, Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, Kelsey Plum, Cameron Brink – when you start looking at these stars that come to this city and perform in front of you, now you're going to know what it took to win not one championship but four in a row."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Houston Comets legends react to WNBA team's revival
HOUSTON — In a scene that conjured ghosts of basketball dynasties past, the Houston Comets' "Big Three" of ...
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