Kaila Charles Is CT Sun ‘Player To Watch’ In Second Half Of WNBA Season

Kaila Charles has made a positive impression early in her WNBA career.

The Ringer’s Jordan Ligons named the Connecticut Sun guard the team’s “player to watch” in the second half of the 2020 WNBA season Thursday. Charles, Connecticut’s top pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft, has been instrumental to the Sun’s turnaround from a doomed-looking team to one firmly in contention for a place in the WNBA playoffs.

“The Sun’s unexpected 0-5 start this season had everyone a little shook,” Ligons wrote. “The team’s blockbuster trade for DeWanna Bonner in February made it seem like Connecticut was trying to get back to its winning ways, but it wasn’t enough early on. The question soon became: Who else is going to step up? And that person has been rookie Kaila Charles.

“Charles has brought the defensive intensity that the team needed, and she earned a starting job because of it. Charles told The Next earlier this month that her confidence is growing because of her teammates’ positive comments about her tenacity during practice. … Charles is now tasked with guarding top players around the league, and so far it’s working. The Sun have gone 3-1 in her four starts, and in one of those much-needed wins, she held Betnijah Laney to just three points. Sun head coach and general manager Curt Miller loves Charles’s motor and said recently: ‘She’s one hell of a player.’

Could it be the Sun have their own version of Boston Celtics star Marcus Smart? Judging from comments from Charles’ coach and teammates, that might be the case.