Report: Phoenix Mercury acquire Satou Sabally in 3-team trade
The Mercury reportedly acquired Satou Sabally in a trade with the Dallas Wings and Indiana Fever on Friday.
PHOENIX — The Phoenix Mercury acquired free agent forward Satou Sabally in a three-team trade trade with the Dallas Wings and Indiana Fever, according to ESPN’s Alexa Philippou and Kendra Andrews.
In addition to Sabally, the Mercury also received Kalani Brown and Sevgi Uzun from Dallas.
Dallas will receive Ty Harris (via Phoenix), NaLyssa Smith (via Indiana), the reserved rights to Kiki Herbert Harrigan and the No. 8 pick from Indiana.
The Fever will receive Sophie Cunningham and the No. 19 pick.
Sabally, 26, averaged 17.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists in 15 games last season. She did not play prior to the Olympics due to a shoulder injury that saw her miss the first part of the season.
Even though she entered the offseason as an unrestricted free agent, Dallas used the core designation on her, meaning Dallas had exclusive negotiating rights and the only way she could leave the Wings was via a trade. The trade will not become official until Feb. 1.
The forward out of Oregon is a two-time WNBA All-Star and was named as the league’s Most Improved Player in 2023.
Sabally was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft and played her first five seasons in Dallas. She averaged 15.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists over 97 games with the Wings.
Sabally joins a Mercury team that reportedly will trade Natasha Cloud, Bec Allen and the No. 12 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft to the Connecticut Sun in exchange for Alyssa Thomas and Harris.
Also, on Tuesday, Brittney Griner left the Mercury after 11 seasons and signed a one-year deal with the Atlanta Dream.
Sophie Cunningham heads to Indiana
Cunningham had spent her entire WNBA career in the Valley after she signed a one-year extension on Sept. 14.
The six-year pro initially came off the bench to start the 2024 season (after starting every game she appeared in during 2023) but went on to start 21 games on an injury-depleted Mercury team that saw its starters miss 40 games due to injury.
Cunningham also dealt with her own injury and played most of the season with a “dead” collarbone. She had surgery on Oct. 1.
“I have a dead collarbone, so I’ve been kind of dealing with that all year,” Cunningham said during her exit interview on Sept. 26. “Kind of half the year, I guess, and so I’m ready to get surgery on this thing, ASAP.
“I joked around a lot of people didn’t even know about it but I was kind of turning into a lefty. I don’t think I’ve got any practice reps since the beginning of our season with my right hand so shooting-wise they won’t even let me shoot or do anything right-handed at practice or anything like that.
“A lot of people are like, ‘We want you to shoot more. We want you to … ’ And I’m like, ‘I can’t,’ so for me, I learned perseverance. I learned to focus on other areas of the game because I was injured.”
The Missouri native shot at least 40% from three in 23 games during the 2024 season, the second most in the league behind Washington Mystics center Stefanie Dolson (24 games).
In total, she shot 37.7% from beyond the arc in 2024, which was seventh amongst players who attempted at least 150 threes.