Brittney Griner reached 6,000 career points on May 30, becoming the 18th player in WNBA history to do it as the Connecticut Sun beat the Los Angeles Sparks 84-81 at PeoplesBank Arena. She did it with a 4-foot turnaround jumper, then later left the game after taking a hit to the left eye.
That made the night feel like two stories at once for the 35-year-old center: a rare scoring milestone, and a reminder that her return from a rib injury was still unfolding in real time. Griner entered the game with 5,999 career points and was back in the Sun lineup for the first time since the team's opener, giving Connecticut a boost in a season where every win matters. The Sun improved to 2-8.
Griner moved into 16th on the WNBA's all-time scoring list with nine points after passing Seimone Augustus and Lauren Jackson. Her milestone came with the kind of timing only sports can deliver. With 10.4 seconds left in the first half, Erica Wheeler hit her in the left eye. The foul was upgraded to a Flagrant 1. Griner came back to shoot the free throws and made both.
She did not return for the second half, though she stayed on the Sun bench. That was the sharpest break in a game the Sun still managed to finish with a win, and it left the team to sort out both the result and their center's condition after a brief but jarring exit.
Griner joined Connecticut on a one-year, $1.19 million contract in 2025 after spending the first 11 seasons of her career with the Phoenix Mercury and playing for the Atlanta Dream last year. She was the No. 1 pick in the 2013 WNBA Draft, has won a championship and two Defensive Player of the Year awards, and still has another mark in sight: she is 15 blocks from tying Margo Dydek's WNBA career record of 877. The next scheduled stop is Tuesday against the Atlanta Dream, and Connecticut coach Rachid Meziane said he hopes Griner can go. It's the last team she played for, he said, and he expects her to do everything she can to suit up.
