The Marina Mabrey dilemma

Alyssa Thomas, DeWanna Bonner, Brioanna Jones, Dijonai Carrington, Ty Harris, Veronica Burton, Tiffany Mitchell, Natasha Cloud (we barely knew ye), Rebecca Allen.

There were different reasons for each of the players above to decline playing for the 2025 Connecticut Sun, and you can even make the case that overall, the Sun and its front office have been quite generous in finding other places around the league for them to go as the Sun switch to rebuilding mode after six straight appearances in the WNBA semifinals.


But, despite her pleas, Marina Mabrey remains.


The obvious reason, of course, is that the Sun couldn’t find good value for Mabrey after giving up a first-round pick midseason last summer for her.


Part of that may be true, Mabrey ruffled some feathers in 2024 with a young Chicago team that was struggling with injuries and largely planning for the future. In that way, Mabrey might not have been a perfect fit for Connecticut, but she was a darn good one, providing Stephanie White with a pure shooter and scorer to complement Bonner and Harris, and allowing Carrington to wreak havoc when the other team had the ball.


Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images
Things nearly had a better ending in 2024, the Sun won Game 1 in Minnesota (who was within one possession of upending the New York Liberty in the finals) in the semifinals and eventually lost in five games before the roster was dismantled. 


Mabrey shot 42.4% from behind the arc with the Sun, which was tops on the team (and would have been fourth in the league) and she did it at a high volume. By comparison, the only other Connecticut player that was close was Bonner, who shot a fairly poor 29.4% on the season (Harris finished at 39.5%, but took about half as many threes).


And without anyone willing to take her at a good price, the 28-year-old might have played too well in Connecticut for her own good.


The big question, of course, is what Mabrey will look like on the 2025 Sun. She has a chance to be the face of the franchise (along with Tina Charles) this season, but obviously that wasn’t enough for her to enthusiastically sign on to the team’s plans back in the winter.


The Sun did not draft anyone last week that can really help her shoulder the scoring load in the near future, but to be fair, there was probably only one player available that fit that description and she will be hanging out with Carrington and Harris in Dallas.


Mabrey had plenty of talent around her last season in Connecticut, but she was still the focal point of many defenses when she was on the floor. Mabrey still was able to thrive at times, scoring 15.9 points per game in the playoffs (although shooting just 36.8% from the field).


The 2025 season, however, could raise things a few levels of difficulty, and it remains to be seen if Mabrey is up to the challenge. The best case scenario for the Sun is that Mabrey is invigorated by the rookies, knows her 2026 destination probably depends a lot on how she handles things and produces in 2025, and is able to be the consistent scorer Connecticut is going to desperately need to be competitive. I don’t think this is as far-fetched as some have made it out to be. Jacy Sheldon and Diamond DeShields will both come in with something to prove, and the Sun should have plenty of positive energy going for it to start the campaign.


But how far will that take them? And if things begin to go badly, does Mabrey push even harder to look for a new destination? That would leave the Sun with a difficult decision, punt completely on Mabrey and let her go for basically nothing, or just let the season play out as it will.


We shall see soon enough.



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