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Alexa Philippou
The Connecticut Sun denied guard Marina Mabrey’s request to be traded, a move that she asked for earlier this month.
Mabrey arrived in Connecticut last summer after requesting a trade from the Chicago Sky prior to the All-Star break. She averaged 14.4 points and 4.1 assists in 2024, mostly operating as the first player off the bench for the Sun, who pushed the Minnesota Lynx to five games in the WNBA semifinals.
Mabrey’s agent, Marcus Crenshaw of The FAM agency, fired back at the franchise’s decision in a statement provided to ESPN on Tuesday.
“In this current age of women’s empowerment and support of the players, the CT Sun threatening to force Marina Mabrey to play for them after her trade request is mind-boggling,” Crenshaw said. “Why would anyone try to force someone to play on their team when they don’t want to be there? It’s counterproductive in a ton of ways and everyone we have spoken to is perplexed about how they are handling Marina, after trading away Hall of Fame caliber players.
“The coach parted ways. No free agents returned and they are doing all they can to try and force Marina to stay when she clearly doesn’t want to be there. It’s interesting.”
Sun president Jennifer Rizzotti told ESPN that the organization decided it “wasn’t in our best interest to move her because of the value that we gave up to get her, but also that we place on her.”
The Sun sent their 2025 first-round pick, a 2026 pick swap, as well as guards Rachel Banham and Moriah Jefferson to Chicago to acquire Mabrey.
“The reasons that we have for not trading Marina are rooted in positivity,” Rizzotti told ESPN. “It’s rooted in a desire to build around her, have her here, have her be the catalyst for what we want to do offensively, taking advantage of her versatility, knowing that the style that [coach] Rashid [Meziane] plays with will suit her game, and knowing that we can put her in an individual situation to be really successful as this current CBA closes and a new one opens.”
The Sun, who are coming off a sixth consecutive semifinal appearance, have experienced massive roster turnover this offseason. Free agent Alyssa Thomas was cored and later traded to the Phoenix Mercury. Fellow All-Star free agents DeWanna Bonner and Brionna Jones signed with the Indiana Fever and Atlanta Dream, respectively. Connecticut also traded young guards DiJonai Carrington, a restricted free agent, and Ty Harris to the Dallas Wings.
The Sun are the first team in WNBA history — and in NBA history, since starters were first tracked in 1970-71 — to lose all five starters from their final playoff game in the ensuing offseason.
The team also had to replace coach Stephanie White after she departed for the Indiana Fever. The Sun hired Meziane, the former Belgian national team head coach.
Mabrey, who had previous stints with the Los Angeles Sparks and Wings prior to getting traded to the Sky, has yet to publicly express why she would like to move on from the organization.
“I think there’s probably a lot of professional athletes that are on teams that they don’t necessarily prefer to be on,” Rizzotti said. “I don’t think that this would be an isolated situation. … I think Marina is as competitive as they come. It’s one of the reasons that we wanted her here … it might also be seen as counterproductive for us to give in to every single trade request, right? So I think sometimes you get put in a no-win situation, and I think we’re trying to be as fair as we can to a lot of different constituents.”
In the past few weeks, the Sun have reshaped their roster by bringing in Tina Charles, Diamond DeShields, Natasha Cloud, Jacy Sheldon and Lindsay Allen via trades or free agency and signing 2024 draft pick Leïla Lacan to her rookie-scale contract.
The Sun looked to achieve a balance of veterans and rookies on their roster to “stay competitive while also building for the future,” general manager Morgan Tuck told ESPN, “so we’re not having as much turnover going into next season or in the seasons in the future.”
The vast majority of WNBA free agents are signing one-year deals this offseason, as a new collective bargaining agreement with expected salary bumps is set to come into effect in 2026.
