2024 WNBA Trade Rankings: Winners and Losers

Because of the WNBA’s strict salary cap, big midseason trades, like Wednesday’s 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 saw the WNBA’s second-best team add a player (Mabrey) averaging 14.0 PPG, 4.9 RPG and 4.5 APG, you 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.

With the Sky being one of several teams with enough cap space to take more salary than they’re returning 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 resumes its schedule after the Olympics. Still, in terms of its impact on the WNBA title race, Connecticut getting Mabrey in exchange for two backups (Rachel Banham and Moriah Jefferson, the latter currently sidelined after ankle surgery) and draft compensation will be hard to top.

Let’s evaluate the trade and analyze the implications for both teams and the WNBA title race.

Sun get: Guard Marina Mabrey, second-round pick in 2025
Sky get: Guards Rachel Banham and Moriah Jefferson, 2025 first-round picks, have the right to swap their 2026 first-round picks

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Highlights of the acquisition of Sun Marina Mabrey

Check out some highlights from guard Marina Mabrey, who the Sun acquired via trade.

Connecticut Sun: A

Throughout the Sun’s six seasons as one of the league’s best teams — behind a forward line led by DeWanna Bonner, Brionna Jones and Alyssa Thomas (as well as now-departed MVP Jonquel Jones) — Connecticut’s shooting and guard play were weaknesses.

Despite the Suns’ quality of play this season, going 18-6 and sitting second in the WNBA standings before the Olympic break, those issues persist. Connecticut ranks 10th in three-pointers made and attempted per game, and ninth in three-point field goal percentage (31 percent).

Guard play was certainly on display Tuesday night, as the shorthanded New York Liberty beat the Sun 82-74 behind 30 points and six three-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 the defending champion Las Vegas Aces over the past two seasons (including the playoffs), and 46-10 against all other teams.

To get back on top after losing twice in the WNBA Finals in five years, and three more times in the semifinals, the Sun needed a more powerful perimeter shot. That’s where Mabrey comes in, with 2.3 three-pointers per game, seventh in the WNBA and more than any Connecticut player since Katie Douglas in 2006, according to Stathead.com.

While Mabrey is shooting closer to 35 percent from three-point range this season than last year’s 39 percent (36 percent), it’s still a significant improvement over the Suns’ current roster. Banham and Tyasha Harris (35 percent) were the only Connecticut players to shoot better than 31 percent on at least 10 three-point attempts this season.

Compared to Banham, who set a WNBA record by making eight three-pointers off the bench Sunday in the Suns’ blowout win over the Phoenix Mercury, Mabrey is a much more complete player. She has enough playmaking ability to play next to stopper DiJonai Carrington and enough size to play next to Harris in Connecticut’s most dangerous offensive line. I also wonder if we’ll see coach Stephanie White experiment with playing all three guards together at times against second-stringers.

While Carrington and Harris both had breakout seasons as full-time starters after backing up former Suns guard duo Natisha Hiedeman and Tiffany Hayes last season, the rest of Connecticut’s guard rotation has been underwhelming. Banham averaged just 12.9 MPG while shooting 38 percent from 2-point range, Jefferson played just 61 total minutes before her ankle surgery and veteran Tiffany Mitchell is shooting a 38 percent effective field goal percentage, the second-lowest among players who have attempted at least 100 shots this year.

Replacing Banham, Mitchell and Veronica Burton’s minutes with Mabrey makes the Sun even more dangerous heading into the playoffs. It doesn’t completely close the gap on a fully-fledged Liberty team, but there is a potential path for Connecticut to reach the Finals as a No. 2 seed without facing New York or Las Vegas. At that point, the Sun would have a shot at the first title in franchise history.

But there’s more to like about this trade from Connecticut’s perspective. First, sending $234,050 in salary for Mabrey (who makes $208,000, according to salary data from HerHoopStats.com) gives the Sun more than $46,000 in cap space. That would allow Connecticut to offer a free agent more than the veteran’s prorated minimum to finish the season.

According to league sources, several teams are in the hunt for veteran forward Gabby Williams, who will be an unrestricted free agent once she finishes representing France in the Olympics. The Sun can now pay Williams, who played college football at nearby UConn, more than any other team in the running, barring another trade.

Looking ahead to next season, the addition of Mabrey could also serve as a hedge against Carrington’s restricted free agency. Mabrey would be a more viable replacement for Carrington in the starting five than Banham or Jefferson, both of whom are under contract through 2025.

Given that Connecticut will likely pick ninth or worse, giving up a first-round pick in 2025 is not a price worth paying for those upgrades. The Suns take on more 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 Suns must re-sign Bonner, Jones and Thomas after this season — all unrestricted free agents, though Thomas could be designated the team’s key player — in addition to dealing with Carrington’s restricted free agency.

It’s possible that Connecticut could fall out of contention if some of these stars go elsewhere. However, it’s a risk worth taking given the opportunity for the Sun to finally nudge that 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 trade to acquire Mabrey in a four-team sign-and-trade with the Dallas Wings. The return shows how unfortunate that trade, made by former coach and general manager James Wade after building the first and only championship team in franchise history, was from a value standpoint.

We’re strictly evaluating this trade now, and it was never realistic for Chicago to get that much in return for Mabrey — especially after she requested a trade, according to Annie Costabile of the Sun-Times. Still, I wonder if the Sky let Connecticut off the hook a little easy by taking on so much reserve salary through 2025 in addition to giving up the best player in the trade. Jefferson’s contract in particular now looks like an overpay, though Chicago might be able to rehabilitate her value once she’s back on the court.

Mabrey’s playmaking will certainly be missed in Chicago, which has struggled to find enough space for Chennedy Carter to dribble despite ranking last in the league in three-pointers made and attempted. Remarkably, Mabrey has made more three-pointers this season (56) than all of her teammates combined (53).

If the Sky do indeed fall, the big winners from this trade are the Atlanta Dream, currently three games behind Chicago in the race for the eighth playoff spot but hoping to gain momentum with the healthy return of Rhyne Howard and the return of Jordin Canada after the Olympic break.

Missing the playoffs this year doesn’t seem as potentially painful for the Sky as it did at the start of the season. Back then, Chicago could have sent a lottery pick to Dallas via a trade for what we thought was a later first-round pick. Given that the injury-plagued Wings are currently the worst in the league (5-19), it’s likely they’ll be in the lottery themselves, meaning that in a worst-case scenario, the Sky would only trade their pick down a few spots.

The good news for the Sky is that they found three long-term players this offseason in Carter, the star who will be a restricted free agent next season, and rookies Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese. Chicago has Cardoso and Reese on valuable rookie deals and enough cap space to surround them with talent.

This trade gives the Sky two picks in the 2025 draft, as well as two chances in 2026 to get a lottery pick thanks to the possibility of swapping Phoenix’s first-round pick for Connecticut’s. In the long run, things are looking up in Chicago.