– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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KINGSTON, RHODE ISLAND — Owning the second-best record in the league more than halfway through a season, a campaign that immediately followed one that saw them come two wins away from a league championship appearance, are all the reasons needed for the Connecticut Sun needed to stand pat and await the resumption of their season to begin their quest for a title anew.
They were also the same reasons the front office felt the need to shake things up also.
The jolt sent through the Sun and the rest of the WNBA passed through the system back on July 17, when the Sun traded for Chicago Sky guard Marina Mabrey while giving up Rachel Banham and Moriah Jefferson. The deal also allowed the teams the right to swap first-round picks in 2026, and the Sun also acquired Chicago’s 2025 second-round pick.
“We are extremely excited to welcome Marina Mabrey to the Connecticut Sun. She is a player that we feel will give us the extra edge to compete for a championship this year,” Sun general manager Darius Taylor said in a statement. “She brings a competitive spirit and scorer’s mentality along with an ability to make big plays. I believe Stephanie and her staff will be able to utilize Marina in many ways as we start the second half of our season and continue our quest for our first title.”
The arrival of Mabrey, who’s averaging 14.0 points per game this season and is a career 35.8 percent three-point shooter, came at a time when the Sun, who started a league-best 13-1 on the season, sputtered into the Olympic break with a 5-5 record in their last 10 games. Their last game before the break, an 82-74 defeat to the New York Liberty inside Barclays Center, spelled out clearly why the trade all but had to happen.
Connecticut went 2-of-18 from three-point range in the game, that compared to the Liberty knocking down 11 of their 27 long balls. Despite that disparity, the Sun went into the fourth quarter on the road against a team that’s now 21-2 on the season in a deadlock, the squads tied at 63 apiece. Yet despite New York playing without 40 percent of their starting lineup — Breanna Stewart (rest) and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (right knee) — and a third starter, former Sun player and one-time WNBA Most Valuable Player Jonquel Jones, scoring just eight points on 3-of-12 shooting, Connecticut was not able to take advantage as it saw the Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu score 30 points while making six threes — triple the number of three-pointers the Sun made as a team.
The Sun are 18-6, but that defeat in the Big Apple moved them to 0-3 on the season against the Liberty. According to HerHoopStats.com, Connecticut is 2-13 combined against the Liberty and the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces over the past two seasons (including the postseason) but 46-10 against the rest of the league during that span.
A deeper dive into the stats shines a brighter light on the Sun’s need for Mabrey’s marksmanship from the outside. Connecticut ranks second-to-last in the WNBA in percentage of points coming from threes (20.8), with only Mabrey’s former team, the Chicago Sky, ranking lower. The Sun are ninth in the league in threes made per game (1.6), and the three teams that rank below them in that category — Sky, Atlanta Dream and Dallas Wings — own a combined record of 23-50.
Combining Mabrey’s prowess from beyond the arc with the playmaking ability of point forward (and now Olympic gold medalist) Alyssa Thomas, second in the WNBA in assists (7.6) and only ranking behind the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark in that category, as well as the all-around skill of DeWanna Bonner on the wing, gives the Sun an extra dimension that they probably needed to truly contend with the Liberty and Aces, as well as other contenders, to vie for the WNBA championship.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Connecticut Sun practices that took place on Wednesday August 7 and Thursday August 8, with photos taken by New England-based photographers Amy Abramson-Denhoff and Joseph Denhoff. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 21 pictures in total.
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