Compared to other contenders, the Minnesota Lynx have had a very quiet offseason. The New York Liberty added Natasha Cloud, the Las Vegas Aces essentially swapped Kelsey Plum for Jewell Loyd, the Indiana Fever added DeWanna Bonner, Natasha Howard, and Sophie Cunningham, and the Phoenix Mercury traded for Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally.
All those teams have made moves to either shake things up or improve their chances to compete for a title. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Lynx have stayed pat. They still have the same key players that led the team to a Game 5 in last year’s finals.
The Lynx promises to be very good once again, especially if Napheesa Collier can play as well as she did in Unrivaled, but there is still a trade the Lynx can make to significantly improve the roster.
The Lynx should try to add Marina Mabrey to the roster
Marina Mabrey and the Connecticut Sun are not in a great situation right now. Mabrey came to the Sun during the 2024 season because she wanted to play for a contender. By now, the Sun are far from that. They lost all of their key players, leaving Mabrey on a team that has no other choice but to rebuild. She is undesirably not thrilled about the situation.
The Sun had previously denied Mabrey’s trade request but recently decided to trade Natasha Cloud to the New York Liberty. After letting go of one of their best players currently on the roster, the Lynx should be able to convince them to also let go of Mabrey for the right price.
Mabrey would be a great fit with the Lynx. Minnesota built its success on strong defense and great 3-point shooting last season, posting the second-best defensive rating in the league and leading the WNBA in 3-point percentage. Mabrey would be able to easily fit into that system. She is a tough defender on the perimeter, a good 3-point shooter, and a talented scorer.
A wing rotation of Kayla McBride, Bridget Carleton, and Marina Mabrey would be lethal on both ends of the floor. Plus, Mabrey would give the Lynx a more proven option to rely on than Diamond Miller.
When the Golden State Valkyries selected Cecilia Zandalasini in the expansion draft, the Lynx lost one of their two-way veterans off the bench. Miller has shown great potential but has not shot the three well so far in her career and is still very inexperienced. The Lynx would surely prefer to have a more veteran option available at the highest level and as injury insurance in case Carleton or McBride have to miss some time.
Mabrey is the kind of player who can help a good team be even better and may be just what the Lynx need to give them an edge over the other contenders. The 28-year-old will be a free agent after this season, but that should not keep the Lynx from trading for her. After all, they want to win now.