Mohegan — It is not a complicated narrative, particularly for the uncomplicated, on the Connecticut Sun of 2015:

Tank it for Stewie.

That’s the abridged version of the strategy that entails losing as many games as possible to gain a high enough draft choice to secure the services of Breanna Stewart, the whiz kid from UConn, whose senior year is upcoming.

Two words in response to such a blueprint: au contraire.

This season counts.

Every season counts.

This season counts for numerous reasons, not the least of which ought to be intolerance for watching more lousy basketball here. This franchise won 28 games in 2012. It has won a combined 22 in the two years since. Barf.

This season counts for Anne Donovan, the coach, whose three-year contract expires at the end of the season. It’s very likely that if the Sun fail to reach the playoffs, Donovan’s contract wouldn’t be renewed.

And that would be unfair. I know. Pro sports. Who says anything about fair? Except that I believe Donovan deserves a fair chance to reap what she has sown.

This is what I believe about the Sun: They’re going to be good with this base of players sooner or later. Donovan has done a quiet, underappreciated, but nonetheless noteworthy job of restocking the cabinet.

Think of what the Sun had — or hadn’t — at the end of the 2013 season. Whatever remained was either lousy or miserable. Most of them anyway. Now through the draft and some trades, there’s plenty to be excited about: Chiney Ogwumike, Alyssa Thomas, Chelsea Gray, Elizabeth Williams. The trade for Camille Little and Shekinna Stricklen was robbery.

This is why several coaches in and out of the college game at the recent Final Four were in agreement that the chances are good the Sun will be back contending soon. The question: When?

It might not be this summer. You’d need your own wing at the Optimists’ Club to hyperventilate over the current state of affairs. Ogwumike, the reigning Rookie of the Year, is hurt. Katie Douglas retired. Allison Hightower is hurt. (This is a recording). That’s pretty much the three best players. And how long it takes for the youngins to mesh with the veterans is a science less exact than how to properly deflate a football.

But as Bill Parcells once said: “They want you to cook the dinner; at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries." Donovan’s grocery shopping suggests the ingredients are there for a Ballo-level dinner. It just may take the chef more time.

The debate: Does Donovan deserve it? If you have a modicum of sense in doing what’s right, you’d reply affirmatively. It would be difficult to stomach somebody else accepting the hosannas for winning here with a roster Donovan built. (Think Carolyn Peck winning with Lin Dunn’s players at Purdue).

Now I’m not saying Donovan doesn’t have her warts. But in return for getting catapulted into an impossible situation, Donovan deserves at least one bounce her way.

Sun management brought Donovan here to some high expectations. She would take that last step to Everest that former coach Mike Thibault didn’t. What management miscalculated was the backlash from Thibault’s dismissal. It produced a summer of discontent, exile of players and a need to rebuild. The fan base, which seems to blame Donovan for everything outside of Deflategate, has piled on.

Except that getting rid of Donovan would amount to making the same mistake twice. Remember the circumstances around Thibault’s firing. Circa 2008-2009, Thibault and management agreed that the roster would get younger. Rebuild, maybe miss the playoffs and make another run at the finals. That’s what happened. They missed the playoffs in 2009 and 2010, returned in 2011 and made the conference finals in 2012, which ended, sadly, with the thud of a bowling ball falling off the coffee table.

Yet rather than allowing Thibault another year — the final of his contract — they pulled the plug. You know the rest.

I hope Donovan is given more consideration.

I’m not sure if they’ll be any good this season. But there’s youth and talent here. Donovan put it together. Let her make the stew.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius