The Connecticut Sun knew that Marina Mabrey match their roster on paper. When they acquired the guard in a commerce with the Chicago Sky again in July, they have been excited to land an offensive risk who may facilitate, house the flooring and supply a much-needed dose of three-point taking pictures.
But what they may not know was how effectively she would match their roster in actual life. Mabrey is a fiery, passionate spark plug with a wholesome appreciation for trash discuss, and she or he was becoming a member of a gaggle that already had a number of gamers who met that description. (Including some whom Mabrey had a bit of history with.) There was additionally an actual probability the sharpshooter would want to come back off the bench on her new crew.
“Any time a trade is made, you wonder how it's going to fit personnel-wise, personality-wise,” says Sun basic supervisor Darius Taylor.
But including fireplace to extra fireplace has labored for the Sun. Now in the WNBA semifinals, Connecticut acquired an enormous enhance from Mabrey, whose offensive ability set has proved instrumental. She has averaged 19.8 factors and three.5 assists per sport in the postseason: No one on the crew has posted the next utilization charge in the playoffs. After coming off the bench down the stretch in the common season, Mabrey has these days stepped right into a beginning function following an ankle damage to Sun level guard Tyasha Harris. She has thrived.
Currently tied at 1–1 in a best-of-five sequence towards the Minnesota Lynx, the Sun have discovered their midseason acquisition to be an ideal match.
“She’s flourished,” Taylor says. “She came in and we tried some different lineups, and she accepted whatever role the coaches gave her… Her grittiness, her toughness, she fits our model.”
It’s considerably uncommon to see huge midseason trades in the WNBA. In a small league with a tough wage cap and restricted roster spots—the place main participant motion was constrained even in free company till the previous couple of years—there may be little established custom of main gamers shifting in-season. “A lot of times, we have this trade deadline, and nothing ever really happens,” Taylor says. But this one appeared like a no brainer for the second-year govt. Mabrey had requested a possibility to maneuver on from Chicago, which had gone by way of a regime change since she joined the crew final yr, and Connecticut was in critical want of a top quality shooter. The Sun have been amongst the finest groups in the WNBA, however that standing relied closely on their defensive identification, and so they knew they needed to bolster their offense for an actual probability at a long-awaited championship.
And so this felt like a deal they needed to make. The Sun landed Mabrey in change for guards Rachel Banham and Moriah Jefferson. (Connecticut additionally included its 2025 first-round choose and the means to swap picks in ’26; Chicago despatched a ’25 second-round choose.) ESPN declared Mabrey the greatest WNBA title to be traded midseason in at least eight years. The three-player deal got here as one thing of a shock to the roster, which historically grows tight knit whereas taking part in in the not-quite-cosmopolitan city of Uncasville, Conn. But the shock of dropping some beloved teammates rapidly gave technique to pleasure.
“We’re a really close group, because we don't have anything to do around here but to be close and play basketball,” says Sun ahead DeWanna Bonner. “So it was kind of bittersweet… But it was also, Hell yeah, let’s go. She’s one of the great scorers in this league. And we needed that.”
They did. Connecticut had little in the approach of three-point threats: The crew ranked second to final in the league this yr for pictures taken from past the arc. That massively improved with the addition of Mabrey. Her 2.5 threes per sport put her in the prime 10 in the WNBA. (She’s lengthy been often known as a participant who can shoot her crew each out and in of a sport.) That presence has been sufficient to meaningfully change how opposing defenses scheme for the Sun.
“Someone to be a tough shot maker, to stretch the floor for us, to be somebody we can give the ball to at the end of the shot clock,” says Connecticut coach Stephanie White. “It's something that we were missing.”
It was troublesome to make the preliminary name to make use of Mabrey off the bench. “No competitor wants that, right?” White says. “But to embrace this role coming in two-thirds of the way through the season and be a go-to… She’s got a toughness about her.” Mabrey adjusted her sport accordingly. She in the end scored extra in restricted minutes in Connecticut than she did whereas beginning in Chicago. The veterans on this roster advised her they wished to see her change into extra environment friendly. And so she merely did. Weeks later, when the alternative for a beginning function arose in the playoffs, she was prepared.
“When you step onto a team that's been really close to a championship a few times, there's a level of discipline and mental lock-in,” says 28-year-old Mabrey. “It wasn’t easy at all, and it’s still not easy, I still have to change my mindset… I’ve learned a lot.”
That has meant stepping up her protection. “We were on her to play hard on defense,” stated Connecticut ahead Alyssa Thomas. “And then she goes out there and does it.” It has meant being positive to not get in the approach of the two-man sport Thomas has established over the years with Bonner. It has meant studying that she discovered it deeply annoying to be described as a job participant whereas she was coming off the bench. (“That’s not true at all,” says Mabrey, rolling her eyes a bit. “My teammates do a really good job of keeping the floor balanced, and everybody having a balanced attack, so I think at times it can seem like I'm kind of taking a backseat. But no.”) And it has meant studying that she has discovered her technique to a roster that may very well be ideally suited to her.
Mabrey dropped at the Sun a taking pictures means they have been lacking—and an angle they already had.
“There's a competitive mentality, there's a take-no-prisoners kind of mindset, a no-fear mindset,” White says. “And Marina certainly has that.”
