Marina Mabrey trade grades: Connecticut Sun grab key shooter from Chicago Sky in rare WNBA in-season deal

The Chicago Sky have traded Marina Mabrey and a 2025 second-round pick to the Connecticut Sun in exchange for Moriah Jefferson , Rachel Banham , a 2025 first-round pick and swap rights for a 2026 first-round pick, the two teams announced on Wednesday .

The swap rights situation is somewhat complicated given that the Minnesota Lynx already own the right to swap first-round picks with the Sky as a result of the Angel Reese trade. Thus, the Sky have actually acquired the right to swap the Phoenix Mercury's 2026 first-round pick, which they got in the Kahleah Copper trade, with the Sun's 2026 first-round pick.

While there are plenty of trades in the WNBA, nearly all of them happen during the offseason. The last time there was a midseason trade of this magnitude was 2015, when the Sky sent Sylvia Fowles , who was holding out at the time, to the Minnesota Lynx as part of a three-team deal and Fowles immediately helped the Lynx win the title.

Now that the move is complete, let's grade it for both teams:

Connecticut Sun receive

• Marina Mabrey
• 2025 second-round pick (via New York)

Mabrey is not the same caliber of player as Fowles, but she fills a major need for the Sun and could have a similar effect on their playoff chances this season.

Heading into the Olympic break, the Sun are in second place at 18-6, largely because of their elite defense. They are second in the league in defensive rating (93.8) and first in opponent turnover percentage (21.3). But while their size and physicality on that side of the ball allows them to overpower most teams in the league, it's not enough against elite opponents.

As impressive as the Sun's record is, they are 2-5 against fellow top-five opponents and 16-1 against everyone else. And those two victories were both against the Lynx -- one by one point in overtime and another in a game Napheesa Collier left early.

They desperately needed some offensive firepower in order to compete with the likes of the New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces , and Mabrey gives them that. A borderline All-Star throughout her career, she is averaging 14 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.5 assists this season, and shooting 34.8% on 6.7 3-point attempts per game.

Though the Sun have the third-best offensive rating in the league (102.5), they rely heavily on forcing turnovers and getting to the free throw line. In the halfcourt, they are scoring 0.895 points per possession, which ranks sixth in the league, and their true shooting percentage (52.8) ranks eighth.

Their biggest issue is a lack of perimeter scoring. Alyssa Thomas will not shoot outside of the paint, and Brionna Jones only does so occasionally. Opponents respond by packing the paint and daring the Sun to make 3s, which they often cannot do. Notably, in their loss Tuesday to the Liberty (who were playing without Breanna Stewart and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton ), the Sun went 2-for-18 from behind the arc.

As a team, the Sun are 10th in 3-point attempts per game (17.7) and tied for eighth in percentage (31.4). Mabrey will instantly become their best shooter, which will help space the floor around Thomas and Jones, and take defensive attention away from DeWanna Bonner .

Mabrey will spend a lot of time away from the ball, especially while she's on the floor with Thomas and Bonner, but her ability to create for herself and others should not be overlooked. It's hard to overstate how much the Sun's offense will benefit from having another playmaker that can attack on second side actions and carry bench lineups.

Swapping Jefferson (who has barely played this season) and Banham for Mabrey is a massive upgrade for the Sun, and there's little risk in the picks they gave up. Their 2025 first will be towards the back-end, and barring a surprise free agency exodus or major injury problems, there's not much likelihood that they have to swap picks in 2026.

The only potential downside of this trade is in the locker room. Mabrey has a contentious history with DiJonai Carrington , whose social media posts indicate she was not pleased with this deal, though possibly because of her closeness to Banham as much as anything with Mabrey. Those sort of on-court beefs between two fiery competitors are usually solved by winning, though, so it shouldn't be much of an issue as long as the Sun keep picking up results.

Grade: A

Chicago Sky receive

• Rachel Banham
• Moriah Jefferson
• 2025 first-round pick (via Connecticut)
• 2026 first-round pick swap (via Connecticut)

Ahead of the 2023 season, former Sky coach and general manager James Wade made the short-sighted decision to acquire Mabrey from the Dallas Wings as part of a four-team trade. In the deal, the Sky gave up a massive haul that included the draft rights to Leonie Fiebich (now an important piece for the Liberty), their 2023 first-round pick ( Lou Lopez Senechal ), 2024 first-round pick ( Jacy Sheldon ), 2024 second-round pick (Esmery Martinez), 2024 third-round pick (Jaz Shelley), swap rights to their 2025 first-round pick (with Dallas) and 2025 second-round pick.

Mabrey, to her credit, has played well for the Sky, but that was simply too much to give up for a player of her caliber, especially considering the team's lack of overall talent. That they were only able to get salary filler, one first-round pick (a late one at that) and a potential pick swap for Mabrey less than two years later indicates how much of an overpay they made.

The organization's new general manager, Jeff Pagliocca, who was hired in October of 2023, has spent the past eight months trying to replenish the team's draft capital. This deal is the latest bit of work on that front. Not only does it recoup a first-round pick, but it makes it more likely the Sky end up in the lottery this season.

Even though the Sky are rebuilding, there was no reason for them to tank heading into the season because the Wings had swap rights for their 2025 first-round pick. Given the two teams' respective situations, it was almost a forgone conclusion that the Wings would finish ahead of the Sky. Now, as a result of their injury crisis, the Wings are stuck in last place and are five games out of the final playoff spot.

If the Wings are going to be in the lottery, it makes sense for the Sky to get there too. If they're both in the lottery, the Sky may still have to swap picks depending on how the ping pong balls shake out, but they would be guaranteed a top-four pick in a highly anticipated draft. Whether the Sky can fall that far after the Olympic break remains to be seen, however. They are currently three games ahead of the ninth-place Atlanta Dream .

As currently constructed, the Sky are not good enough to contend, but also not bad enough to be one of the worst teams in the league. Moving Mabrey helps them reset, not only for the rest of this season, but next season as well. The long-term grade on this trade will depend on what happens over the next few months and whether they're able to secure perimeter players with star potential in the draft, but the calculus makes sense.

Grade: B+