The Connecticut Sun have been one of the best teams in the WNBA since they relocated from Orlando in 2003. They've made the playoffs and the WNBA Finals, multiple times over the last two decades, but still, their first championship eludes them.
After two years with head coach Stephanie White in which the team made the WNBA semi-finals in consecutive seasons, the organization opted to move on from White this offseason. In a corresponding move, the franchise hired Rachid Meziane, a basketball coach from France with experience coaching at both the professional level and for the Belgian Women's National Team at the 2024 Olympics.
His first offseason as the Sun's leader, however, is not going smoothly. First, he got rid of the entire starting lineup from last year's semi-final team, and then sixth woman Marina Mabrey requested a trade as well. Things took a turn for the worse on Tuesday, however, when the Sun publicly denied Mabrey's request.
Mabrey's agent Marcus Crenshaw was not happy about the latest development:
"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 feels that because Mabrey's previous coach for the Sun parted ways with the organization, she should be able to as well. After all, the team either chose not to re-sign or traded away every other important player from last year's team.
Connecticut Sun have no intention of trading Marina Mabrey
Jennifer Rizzotti, the president of the Sun, responded to the situation by saying that their refusal to trade Mabrey is not because they do not have her best interests at heart, but rather, that the team wants to build around her.
"The reasons that we have for not trading Marina are rooted in positivity. It's rooted in a desire to build around her, have her here, have her be the catalyst for what we want to do offensively."
The Sun are not devoid of talent, as they have the legendary Tina Charles on their roster as well as several other solid players like Natasha Cloud and Diamond DeShields. But they have made a dramatic shift this offseason, and it is not sitting well with Mabrey, who they consider their franchise player.
It will take some time for the organization to clean up this mess, but for now, Mabrey will remain under contract with the Sun.