UNCASVILLE — At the end of the Connecticut Sun‘s practice Friday, French rookie Leila Lacan found herself reluctantly pulled into the middle of a dance circle by teammate Haley Peters.

Lacan met most of her new teammates barely 24 hours earlier, but she grinned as she mirrored Peters in a quick groove while the rest of the roster clapped along. The 21-year-old guard is experiencing a whirlwind transition arriving midseason to begin her WNBA career, but her contagious energy is already apparent in the gym.

“It’s the best league in the world,” Lacan said after her first official practice with the Sun. “I’m just happy to have the chance to be part of it, and I can’t wait to play with my new teammates and see what we can do.”

Lacan landed in Connecticut on Wednesday, just three days after France ended its EuroBasket tournament run with a loss to Italy in the bronze medal game. She went through the Sun’s physicals and medical testing Thursday, and by Friday she was on the court for the first time with her new team. Lacan has been to the U.S. just one other time in her life, when she visited New York City as a child more than a decade ago.

The Sun drafted Lacan with the No. 10 pick in the first round of the 2024 WNBA Draft, but the team maintained her rights while she remained overseas last season. The rookie has crossed paths with Connecticut coach Rachid Meziane several times during her four years playing professionally in the French Ligue Feminine (LFB) and on the FIBA stage when Meziane was leading Belgium’s national team, but this will be the first time they aren’t on opposing sidelines.

“She’s a playmaker, and I know that she can be a dog on defense,” Meziane said. “She can guard the best opposing players and create, which I think is something we need. I know Saniya (Rivers) can do it, and Jacy (Sheldon) can do it a little bit, but she’s a one-on-one-oriented player, so she can create a lot of things for us. … I’ve coached a lot against her, so I know the kind of player she is and the kind of person she is. She’ll give everything, she’ll fight for every single ball, and that’s what we need.”

Lacan’s arrival comes at a perfect moment for the Sun, who are in desperate need of a spark coming off a brutal four-game road trip last week. Connecticut is in the midst of the longest losing streak in franchise history after dropping its eighth straight, against the Minnesota Lynx on June 29, and it is currently the only team in the league with fewer than five wins, sitting at 2-15.

Star guard Marina Mabrey has missed four games with a left knee injury and won’t be back on the court for at least another week, and there is palpable frustration from veterans like eight-time All-Star Tina Charles that the team has yet to put the pieces together.

But Lacan comes in with a fresh slate, unaffected by the team’s struggles through the early part of the season. She helped lead her club Landes to the 2025 LFB Championship on May 16 and was named the MVP of the finals series before diving into EuroBasket preparation. Meziane said the rookie looks ready to contribute immediately. Though her minutes may be limited at first, she’s expected to play in the Sun’s next game Sunday at Mohegan Sun against the Las Vegas Aces.

“You can see during practice that she’s bringing energy,” Meziane said. “When you have a player who hasn’t lived what we’ve lived since the beginning, it’s like a reset for us. She’ll be a huge asset on the court defensively and offensively, so I’m just curious to see how quickly she can fit with our system in a short time. But when you bring energy and that fighting spirit, it’s easier to integrate into the team.

Lacan hasn’t had a break from basketball in nearly a year dating back to the 2024 Paris Olympics. After helping the French national team to a silver medal at the Games, she immediately transitioned back into the LFB to join Landes after spending the previous two seasons with Angers. She averaged a career-high 14.4 points, 2.8 assists and 2.3 steals during the 2024-25 club season and played 18.7 minutes per game for France in EuroBasket, but Lacan said the excitement of launching her WNBA career is keeping her going through the grind.

“It’s been all these new things, but the enthusiasm and the adrenaline are making me feel good,” Lacan said with a smile. “So my body is okay, and I hope it can stay like this … The rhythm here is way more intense, like back and forth, and in Europe we’re more trying to calm down and put (set plays) on the court, so the rhythm and the physicality are the biggest (adjustments).”