Marina Mabrey deserves better from the Connecticut Sun
This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Good morning, Winners. Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with us today.
We're all adults here, right? We can all admit that we've all signed up for something that wasn't what we thought we signed up for at some point in our lives. It happens to the best of us.
That's what's going on with Marina Mabrey right now.
She forced her way to Connecticut last season by demanding a trade out of Chicago. Obviously, she made her way to the Sun to compete for a championship alongside an established core of Alyssa Thomas, DeWanna Bonner and the other talent on that roster.
Well, folks. That established core is gone! Thomas is in Phoenix. Bonner is in Indiana. Dijonai Carrington has made her way to Dallas. Brionna Jones is in Atlanta. Even the team's coach, Stephanie White, is in Indiana with Caitlin Clark and Bonner now.
WINNERS AND LOSERS: The Sun was easily one of the biggest losers in WNBA free agency this year
Mabrey is standing in the Sun front office like Will Smith in the last episode of Fresh Prince. There's nobody left! In the immortal words of Kendrick Lamar, there's no big three — just big me. In this case, the me is Marina.
Connecticut, being the merciless franchise that it is, won't let her leave. She's requested a trade. That request has been denied. Her agent ripped the team, but the organization is steadfast in its denial.
This is the business of sports at its cruelest. We've all had jobs we didn't like at one point or another in our lives. But what's worse than having a job that you don't like is having a job that completely flips the script on you.
Mabrey was that last piece the Sun thought it needed to compete for a championship. Now that the team has torn itself down, there doesn't seem to be much reason to keep her around.
Ultimately, Connecticut will probably use her as a trade piece this season to coax some team that needs a scoring punch into giving up some draft equity for a proven scorer. That's fair, I guess. But it just doesn't feel right.
Have you ever had to watch your friends play outside from the kitchen window while you had to finish your algebra homework? That's what this is.
This is how the business goes, I guess. It is what it is. But, man, this has the potential to get ugly. It's already starting to.
Let's hope it doesn't have to get too much worse before it gets better.
A rare Tiger Woods gaffe
TGL probably isn't the product that many of us expected it to be at this point, but I've never seen Tiger Woods play golf so carefree. Ultimately, that's a good thing. At least, I think so, anyway.
The dude made the funniest mistake on the virtual course Tuesday. Meg Hall explains here:
"On Tuesday, Woods was in a TGL match at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, when he realized he’d made a terrible mistake.
He picked the wrong club.
Tiger thought he had 99 yards until the hole, so he selected a wedge club. But the yardage to go wasn’t 99 yards. It was 199 yards. Of course, his swing came up painfully short, leaving the golfer shocked and his teammates trying to hold it together as they laughed."
He heard 99 yards, guys! Watching it makes it even funnier.
I don't know about y'all, but I'm glad Tiger is having fun.
One thing about Kevin Durant?
The dude can clean a bathroom. Top 5. Wanda Durant wouldn't lie to us.
These NBA moms revealing the special skills outside of basketball that their kids have is the content you need in your life.
KD, the bathroom cleaner. Andre Iguodala, the wrestler. Tyrese Maxey, the thespian! I need to see him in a movie now.
This is such wholesome content. More of this, please.
Quick hits: Ausar Thompson is the best ... A'ja Wilson's victory lap ... and more
— Ausar Thompson claims the title as the best defender in the NBA. Here's more from Bryan Kalbrosky's Q&A with the young star.
— A'ja Wilson's victory lap during All-Star weekend was incredible. Meg Hall has more.
— Here are the 101 best NFL free agents, from Christian D'Andrea.
— Cory Woodroof's 2015 Oscar's re-awards are a must-read for you today.
— JJ Redick. Not a fan of All-Star weekend. Sheesh.
— Anthony Edwards is the face of the league until proven otherwise after this. Bryan Kalbrosky has more.
That's a wrap, folks. Thanks for reading today. Peace.
-Sykes ✌️
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Marina Mabrey deserves better from the Connecticut Sun
