Because of the WNBA's hard salary cap, midseason trades of consequence like Wednesday's deal sending Marina Mabrey from the Chicago Sky to the Connecticut Sun are rare.
To find an in-season trade as significant as this one, which sees the WNBA's second-best team add a player (Mabrey) averaging 14.0 PPG, 4.9 RPG and 4.5 APG, we probably have to go back to 2016. Back then, the Minnesota Lynx added Sylvia Fowles en route to their fifth Finals appearance in the previous six years.
Because the Sky are one of several teams with enough cap space to facilitate taking on more salary than they send back in a trade, it's possible this won't be the last deal we see before the Aug. 20 deadline, which falls five days after the league's schedule resumes after the Olympics. Still, in terms of impact on the WNBA title race, Connecticut getting Mabrey for two reserves (Rachel Banham and Moriah Jefferson, the latter currently sidelined after ankle surgery) and draft compensation will be tough to top.
Let's grade the trade and break down the implications for both teams and the WNBA title race.
July 17: Sun get Mabrey from Sky for Jefferson and Banham, first-round pick
Sun get: Guard Marina Mabrey, 2025 second-round pick
Sky get: Guards Rachel Banham and Moriah Jefferson, 2025 first-round pick, the right to swap first-round picks in 2026
Connecticut Sun: A
Throughout the Sun's six-season run as one of the league's best teams -- behind a frontcourt led by DeWanna Bonner, Brionna Jones and Alyssa Thomas (as well as now-departed MVP Jonquel Jones) -- Connecticut's shooting and guard play have been weaknesses.
Despite how well the Sun have played this season, going 18-6 to sit second in the WNBA standings heading into the Olympic break, those issues remain. Connecticut ranks 10th in 3-pointers made and attempted per game, and ninth in 3-point percentage (31%).
Certainly, guard play was at the forefront Tuesday night, when the short-handed New York Liberty beat the Sun 82-74 behind 30 points and six 3-pointers from Sabrina Ionescu. The loss dropped the Sun to 0-3 this season against New York, and Richard Cohen of HerHoopStats.com noted that Connecticut is 2-13 against the Liberty and defending champion Las Vegas Aces over the past two seasons (including the playoffs), and 46-10 against all other teams.
To get over the top after losing twice in the WNBA Finals in five years, and three other times in the semifinals, the Sun needed more potent perimeter punch. Enter Mabrey, whose 2.3 makes from 3-point range per game rank seventh in the WNBA, and are more than any Connecticut player has averaged since Katie Douglas in 2006, per Stathead.com.
Although Mabrey has shot more like this season's 35% accuracy on 3s than last year's 39% over the course of her career (36%), that's still a big upgrade on the current Sun roster. Banham and Tyasha Harris (35%) were the lone Connecticut players shooting better than 31% on at least 10 3-point attempts this season.
Compared to Banham, who set a WNBA record by making eight 3-pointers off the bench Sunday in the Sun's blowout win over the Phoenix Mercury, Mabrey is a much more complete player. She's got enough playmaking ability to play point next to perimeter stopper DiJonai Carrington and enough size to play next to Harris in Connecticut's most dangerous offensive backcourts. I also wonder if we'll see coach Stephanie White experiment with playing all three guards together at times against second units.
Although Carrington and Harris have both enjoyed breakthrough seasons as full-time starters after backing up the Sun's former backcourt duo of Natisha Hiedeman and Tiffany Hayes last season, the rest of Connecticut's guard rotation has been lacking. Banham averaged just 12.9 MPG while shooting 38% on 2s, Jefferson played just 61 total minutes before ankle surgery and veteran Tiffany Mitchell is shooting an effective field goal percentage of 38%, second lowest among players with at least 100 shot attempts this year.
Replacing the minutes Banham, Mitchell and Veronica Burton have been playing with Mabrey makes the Sun that much more dangerous heading into the playoffs. It doesn't entirely close the gap with a full-strength Liberty team, but there's a potential path where Connecticut could get to the Finals as the No. 2 seed without facing either New York or Las Vegas. At that point, the Sun would have a puncher's chance at the first title in franchise history.
Yet there's more to like about this trade from Connecticut's perspective. First, sending out $234,050 in salary for Mabrey (making $208,000, per HerHoopStats.com salary data) gives the Sun $46,00-plus in cap space. That would allow Connecticut to offer a free agent more than the prorated veteran's minimum to finish the season.
Per league sources, several teams are in pursuit of veteran forward Gabby Williams, who will be an unrestricted free agent when she finishes representing France in the Olympics. The Sun can now pay Williams, who played collegiately at nearby UConn, more than any other contending team, barring another trade.
Looking ahead to next season, adding Mabrey could also be a hedge against Carrington's restricted free agency. Mabrey would be a more viable replacement for Carrington in the starting five than either Banham or Jefferson, both of whom are under contract through 2025.
Given Connecticut will likely be picking ninth or worse, giving up a 2025 first-round pick isn't much of a price to pay for those upgrades. The Sun are taking more of a risk in 2026, when Chicago can now swap the Phoenix Mercury's first-round pick (acquired in the Kahleah Copper trade) for Connecticut's. The Sun must re-sign Bonner, Jones and Thomas after this season -- all unrestricted free agents, although Thomas could be designated the team's core player -- in addition to dealing with Carrington's restricted free agency.
It's possible Connecticut could slip out of the ranks of contenders if some of those stars head elsewhere. However, that's a risk worth taking given the opportunity for the Sun to finally push this core over the top now.
Chicago: B-
Less than a year and a half ago, the Sky gave up two first-round picks and a swap to get Mabrey in a four-team sign-and-trade deal with the Dallas Wings. This return shows how regrettable that trade, made by former coach and GM James Wade after he built the first and only championship team in franchise history, was from a value standpoint.
We're strictly grading this trade now, and it was never realistic for Chicago to get that much back for Mabrey -- particularly after she requested a trade, according to Annie Costabile of the Sun-Times. Still, I wonder if the Sky let Connecticut off a little easy to take back so much salary for reserves through 2025 in addition to giving up the best player in the trade. In particular, Jefferson's contract now looks like an overpay, although Chicago might be able to rehab her value once she's back on the court.
Mabrey's spacing will certainly be missed in Chicago, which is somehow finding just enough room for Chennedy Carter to operate off the dribble despite ranking last in the league in 3s made and attempted. Remarkably, Mabrey had made more 3s this season (56) than all of her teammates combined (53).
If the Sky indeed drop off, the sneaky winners of this trade are the Atlanta Dream, currently three games behind Chicago in the race for the eighth playoff spot but hoping to surge with Rhyne Howard back healthy and Jordin Canada set to return after the Olympic break.
Missing the playoffs this year no longer looks as potentially painful for the Sky as it did coming into the season. Back then, Chicago could have sent a lottery pick to Dallas via a swap for what we expected might be a pick later in the first round. Because the injury-plagued Wings are currently a league-worst 5-19, it's likely they'll be in the lottery themselves, meaning in a worst-case scenario the Sky would only be swapping their pick down a couple of spots.
The good news for the Sky is they've found three long-term players this season in Carter, the breakout star who will be a restricted free agent next offseason, and rookies Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese. Chicago has Cardoso and Reese on their value rookie contracts and ample cap space to surround them with talent.
This trade gives the Sky a pair of picks in the 2025 draft, plus two shots in 2026 at landing a lottery pick by virtue of the ability to swap Phoenix's first-rounder for Connecticut's. Long-term, things are looking up in Chicago.