2024 WNBA Trade Rankings: Winners and Losers

Because of the WNBA’s strict salary cap, midseason trades that carry significant weight like the one Wednesday that sent Marina Mabry from the Chicago Sky to the Connecticut Sun are rare.

To find a midseason deal as significant as this one, which sees the WNBA’s second-best team add Mabry (14.0 points per game, 4.9 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game), we might have to go back to 2016. Back then, the Minnesota Lynx added Sylvia Fowles on their way to their fifth Finals appearance in the previous six years.

Given that the Sky are one of several teams with enough salary cap space to facilitate a larger salary than they send in a trade, this likely won’t be the last deal we see before the Aug. 20 deadline, which falls five days after the league resumes its schedule following the Olympics. However, in terms of impact on the WNBA title race, Connecticut getting Mabry in exchange for two reserves (Rachel Banham and Moriah Jefferson, the latter currently out after ankle surgery) and draft picks would be hard to beat.

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

The sun gets: Marina Mabry, 2025 second-round pick
Sky get: Guards Rachel Banham and Moriah Jefferson, 2025 first-round picks, right to trade first-round picks in 2026

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Highlights of Sun’s Marina Mabry Acquisition

Check out some highlights from goalkeeper Marina Mabry, who was acquired by The Sun in a swap deal.

Connecticut Sun: A

Over the course of six seasons as one of the league’s best teams — behind a forward line led by DeWanna Bonner, Breonna Jones and Alyssa Thomas (plus now-departed Jonquel Jones, last season’s MVP) — Connecticut’s shooting and goaltending have been weaknesses.

Despite the Suns’ good form this season, with 18 wins and 6 losses to rank second in the WNBA standings before the Olympic break, these issues persist. Connecticut ranks 10th in three-point shots made and attempted per game, and ninth in three-point shooting percentage (31%).

The guard certainly was at the forefront Tuesday, when the undermanned New York Liberty beat the Sun 82-74, thanks to 30 points and six 3-pointers from Sabrina Ionescu. The loss dropped the Sun to 0-3 this season against New York, and Richard Cohen of HerHoopStats.com pointed out that Connecticut is 2-13 against the Liberty and the defending champion Las Vegas Aces over the past two seasons (including playoff games), and 46-10 against all other teams.

To overcome that defeat after losing twice in the WNBA Finals in five years, and three more times in the semifinals, the Suns needed more shooting power from the perimeter. That’s where Mabry comes in, ranking seventh in the WNBA with 2.3 shots from three-point range per game, more than any Connecticut player has averaged since Katie Douglas in 2006, according to Stathead.com.

Although Mabry is shooting 35 percent from three-point range this season compared to 39 percent last year and her career average (36 percent), that’s still a big improvement over the Suns’ current roster. Banham and Tisha Harris (35 percent) were the only Connecticut players to shoot above 31 percent on at least 10 three-point attempts this season.

Compared to Banham, who set an NBA record with eight 3-pointers off the bench Sunday in the Suns’ thumping win over the Phoenix Mercury, Mabrey is a more complete player. She has the playmaking ability to play alongside Dijonae Carrington, and she has the size to play alongside Harris on Connecticut’s most dangerous offensive line. I also wonder if we’ll see coach Stephanie White experiment with a three-guard combination at times against the second unit.

While Carrington and Harris enjoyed impressive seasons as full-time starters after backing up former Suns defensive duo Natisha Hedman and Tiffany Hayes last season, the rest of Connecticut’s guard lineup was lacking. Banham averaged 12.9 minutes per game while shooting 38 percent, Jefferson played just 61 minutes before ankle surgery, and veteran Tiffany Mitchell had an effective shooting percentage of 38 percent, the second-lowest among players who have made at least 100 shots this year.

Replacing the minutes played by Banham, Mitchell and Veronica Burton with Mabry makes the Suns more dangerous heading into the playoffs. It doesn’t quite close the gap to a full-strength Liberty team, but there’s a potential path where Connecticut could reach the finals as the No. 2 seed without facing New York or Las Vegas. At that point, the Suns would have a great chance to win their first title in team history.

But there’s more to like about this deal from Connecticut’s perspective. First, sending Maybrey $234,050 in salary (he makes $208,000, according to salary data at 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 estimated minimum to finish the season.

Several teams are reportedly interested in signing veteran forward Gabby Williams, who will become an unrestricted free agent when she represents France at the Olympics. The Sun could now pay Williams, who played college at the nearby University of Connecticut, more than any other competing team, barring another deal.

Looking ahead to next season, adding 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 lineup than Banham or Jefferson, both of whom are under contract through 2025.

With Connecticut likely to pick ninth or worse, giving up a 2025 first-round pick isn’t a big price to pay for these upgrades. The Suns take on more risk in 2026, when Chicago can now trade the Phoenix Mercury’s first-round pick (acquired in the Kahleigh Cooper deal) to Connecticut. The Suns must re-sign Bonner, Jones and Thomas after this season — all unrestricted free agents, though Thomas could be positioned as a starter on the team — in addition to dealing with Carrington’s restricted free agency.

Connecticut could fall out of the running if some of these stars head elsewhere, but that’s a risk worth taking given the chance the Sun finally has to push this 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 Mabry in a trade with the Dallas Wings. The return shows how regrettable the deal, made by former coach and general manager James Wade after he built the club’s first championship team in history, was from a value perspective.

We’re evaluating this deal strictly now, and it was never realistic for Chicago to get that much money for Mabry — especially after she asked for a trade, according to Annie Costabile of the Sun-Times . However, I wonder if the Sky allowed Connecticut to take that much salary back for reserves through 2025 in addition to giving up its best player in the deal. In particular, Jefferson’s contract now seems like overkill, though Chicago may be able to rehabilitate its value once she’s back on the court.

Chicago will certainly miss Mabry’s space, who somehow finds enough room for Chennedy Carter to dribble despite ranking last in the league in three-point attempts. Remarkably, Mabry has made more three-point attempts this season (56) than all of her teammates combined (53).

If the Sky do indeed back off, the hidden winners from this deal are the Atlanta Dream, who are currently three games behind Chicago in the race for eighth place in the playoffs, but hope to advance with Ryan Howard back in form and Jordyn Canada back after the Olympic break.

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

The good news for the Sky is that they have found three long-term players this season in Carter, a rising star who will become a restricted free agent in the upcoming transfer window, and new signings Camila Cardoso and Angel Reyes. Chicago has Cardoso and Reyes on their contracts as high-value rookies and enough salary cap space to surround them with talent.

The deal gives the Sky a pair of picks in the 2025 draft, plus two chances in 2026 to acquire a lottery pick by virtue of the ability to swap Phoenix’s first-round pick for a Connecticut pick. In the long run, things look better for Chicago.