Connecticut Sun guard Marina Mabrey’s agent ripped the WNBA team Tuesday in a statement after the Sun denied Mabrey’s request to be traded.
“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,” Mabrey’s agent Marcus Crenshaw told ESPN. “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.
Crenshaw continued: “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.”
The comments come in light of a new collective bargaining agreement on the horizon for the WNBA. The current CBA expires after the 2025 season, with the next expected to bring a sizable bump in player salaries due to the recent increased exposure of the league.
That plus the launch of Unrivaled has created a frenetic WNBA offseason of massive player and coach turnover. The Sun have been among the most affected, as Connecticut will head into next season with a new coach and completely different starting five.
Head coach Stephanie White left the team after the season following a two-year stint in Connecticut to rejoin her home-state Indiana Fever, where she was previously a player, assistant coach and head coach. It was the first domino of an aggressive Fever offseason meant to build a contender around young stars Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston.
The Sun then traded star Alyssa Thomas to the Phoenix Mercury, dealt fellow starters DiJonai Carrington and Ty Harris to the Dallas Wings, and lost DeWanna Bonner and Brionna Jones in free agency. Those five started the majority of Sun games last season; Mabrey was often the first player off the bench.
To replace those players, the Sun brought in a crop of additions headlined by forward Tina Charles, who returns to the franchise that drafted her No. 1 overall in 2010 and where she won WNBA MVP in 2012. However, Charles is now 36 years old and has not made a WNBA All-Star team since 2021.
Sun president Jennifer Rizzotti told ESPN that the team’s reasons for denying Mabrey’s trade request were “rooted in positivity” and had to do with, among other things, a belief she will thrive in new head coach Rashid Meziane’s offensive system and put herself in a position to capitalize on the new CBA with her next contract.
The Sun have made six straight runs to the WNBA playoff semifinals and made the WNBA Finals twice in that span, but lost both times.
