Earlier this month Connecticut Sun guard Marina Mabrey requested a trade from the team. The news wasn't exactly a surprise for two key reasons: the Sun's entire 2024 starting roster left the team during free agency, and Mabrey has requested trades before (if approved, this would have been her third trade since 2020 — she was traded from the Sparks to the Wings in 2020, to the Sky in 2023, and to the Sun in 2024).
What did surprise some is the Sun's refusal to grant the trade, which seemed to indicate the team hadn't found anyone who would be willing to take on Mabrey, which could be due to her $200,000 contract, her trade-related history, or both.
But instead of acknowledging the reality on the ground, Mabrey's agent Marcus Crenshaw made a bold claim: the Sun's refusal to allow Mabrey out of the three-year contract she happily signed a season ago is anti-woman. "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 told ESPN.
"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," he continued. "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."
But on the other side of things, the Sun's front office isn't exactly helping themselves. Sun president Jennifer Rizzotti told ESPN the front office's decision has to do with the fact that it "wasn't in our best interest to move her because of the value that we gave up to get her, but also that we place on her." In other words... Mabrey is one of the highest-paid athletes in the league, and it seems like other teams aren't willing to take on that cost for what would likely be a one-year investment.
In a statement that raised even more eyebrows, Rizzotti separately explained via Eric Jackson of Sportico, "We knew at the time that she had already forced her way out of two teams, so it was a bit risky for us to trade for her, but we felt like it was worth it."
Let's break it down.
How Marcus Crenshaw's statement weakens women's empowerment
Crenshaw's intentions were likely good: he wanted to support his client, who is clearly unhappy with where she's at for entirely understandable reasons. In addition to losing Coach Stephanie White and the team's starting roster, the Sun also made headlines last season after the team was forced to share a practice gym with a toddler's birthday party as they were preparing for the championships.
But couching his argument in terms of women's empowerment is disingenuous at best and, frankly, feels a little grimy. Mabrey, a true hooper, wanted to go to the Sun at the time of her trade from the Sky because she wanted to win. She signed one of the best contracts in the league and committed to three years with the team. With 2025 free agency looming, there was always the chance the Sun would lose the team's starters if they didn't win the championship, and that was something that was known well before the beginning of last season.
Crenshaw also didn't appear concerned about the woman who would take Mabrey's spot if the trade had gone through — and ostensibly would be in the same disempowered position Mabrey is in now, as he put it. That's probably because Mabrey is his client and therefore his top concern, but women's empowerment is for all women, not just the ones who are paying you.
Bottom line: the front office might not have made the best decision they could have for Mabrey, but their decision to deny a demand from a player under contract in no way infringes on women's empowerment.
The Sun threw Marina Mabrey under the bus
Despite the debatable veracity of Crenshaw's statement, the fact remains that the Sun's front office has also behaved pretty terribly toward a player who is apparently still going to be on the team's roster this season — and who is quickly becoming a fan favorite at Unrivaled in Miami, where she's been the star of a series of cooking TikToks that have endeared her to the larger WNBA community as a whole.
Even if Mabrey was the first to go public with her trade request, insisting that she had "already forced her way out of two teams" isn't a good look for a president who is clearly struggling to keep players on their team. It would have been better for the Sun to simply say they couldn't find a deal that worked for them without making the situation personal (and likely prompting Crenshaw's defense in the first place).
Rizzotti's comment could also have a long-lasting impact on the Sun's ability to bring in big-name players in the future, beginning with next year's free agency (which will see most of the league available). With rumors that the Sun could move to Boston popping up throughout the 2024 season, this argument with Mabrey could be the final straw that breaks the back of the team's future.