The Connecticut Sun made a firm decision to tear things down and start over this offseason. Once all of the dust settled, nearly all of the recognizable faces from the championship contender of the last few seasons were gone: Stephanie White is coaching the Indiana Fever with DeWanna Bonner on the roster, Alyssa Thomas is with the Phoenix Mercury, Bri Jones is in Atlanta with the Dream and DiJonai Carrington is now with the Dallas Wings.
One of the only key pieces left from last year’s team is guard Marina Mabrey, but she has no interest ins ticking around on a team that very likely won’t be a contender this season. Mabrey requested a trade this offseason in hopes that she would be relocated like her teammates were. However, the Sun have denied the request.
After being informed that the Sun don’t want to trade her, Mabrey’s agent, Marcus Crenshaw of The FAM agency, went off on the organization in a statement provided to ESPN per Alexa Philippou.
“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,” Crenshaw said, per Philippou. “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.
“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. It’s interesting.”
If she does stay with the Sun, Mabrey would likely have the chance to be the best player on a team for the first time. She became a key piece of the team last season after a midseason trade from the Chicago Sky. Mabrey was one of the best scorers on the team and helped the Sun push the Minnesota Lynx to five games in the WNBA semifinals.
The Sun gave up a lot to give Mabrey, sending out a package that included their first-round pick in the upcoming draft. It’s understandable why they would want to keep her around, but Mabrey also wants to avoid playing for a rebuilding team.
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