For the second time this season, the Upshot League is sending a player to the WNBA.
The Dallas Wings announced on Friday, Aug. 14, that they had signed Christyn Williams to a developmental contract. Williams, who played her college ball at UConn, joins Indiana Fever forward Michelle Onyiah as players to make the jump from the Upshot to the WNBA.
Williams played at UConn from 2018 through 2022 and starred alongside Paige Bueckers in the backcourt for her final two seasons with the Huskies, going to the Final Four in both of those seasons. She also played one year with Azzi Fudd, and Williams will now reunite with both former Huskies teammates in Dallas.
Before going to college at UConn, the Arkansas native was the consensus National Player of the Year in high school, earning the nod from Gatorade, the WBCA, the committees that give out the Naismith and Morgan Wootten awards, and USA TODAY. Williams was also the MVP of the 2018 McDonald’s All-American game.
At UConn, the 5-foot-11 guard played on three teams that went to Final Fours and she was a three-time All-Conference selection. In 2022, she won the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award — given out annually to the nation’s top shooting guard — and was voted Most Outstanding Player at the Big East Tournament. In a double-overtime win in the Elite Eight over NC State, she helped lead UConn with 21 points.
Williams has since bounced in and out of the WNBA over the past few years. She was selected 14th overall by the Washington Mystics in the 2022 draft, but suffered a season-ending knee injury in training camp that required surgery. In September 2023, Williams signed with the Phoenix Mercury but never appeared in a game. She spent the 2025 training camp with the Minnesota Lynx and then later in 2025 signed with the Wings and appeared in four games, averaging 4.3 points and 1.1 rebounds per game.
During the offseason, Williams played professionally in Israel, averaging 14.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game across 11 contests.
At the launch of the Upshot League earlier this year, Williams joined the Greensboro Groove in North Carolina’s Triad region. In 14 games with the Groove this season, Williams has averaged 9.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game while shooting 33% from 3-point land. She scored a season-high 21 points in a win over the Charlotte Crown on May 25.
This opportunity for Williams is what the Upshot League was designed for: to provide players like her and Onyiah, who often get squeezed out of opportunities in the WNBA because of small roster sizes, a chance to keep playing and developing without having to go overseas during the summer. Leading the Upshot League is Donna Orender, who previously served as the president of the WNBA from 2005 to 2010. Before its season started, Orender said she viewed the Upshot as a “natural addition to the overall basketball ecosystem.”
Unlike the NBA with the G-League, the WNBA doesn’t have its own developmental league. The hope is the Upshot can provide players with a similar opportunity. This season, the league has teams based in Charlotte and Greensboro, North Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; and Jacksonville, Florida. Two more teams in Nashville, Tennessee and Baltimore, Maryland will be added next year.
For Dallas, this developmental spot opened when it suspended the contract of Costanza Verona on Aug. 8 as she reported to the Italian national team ahead of the FIBA World Cup.
The Wings are 20-14 so far this season in Jose Fernandez’s first season as head coach. They’re seventh in the standings and on track to make the playoffs. Dallas faces the Indiana Fever on Friday night.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dallas Wings sign former UConn guard from Upshot League to play in WNBA