Satou Sabally excited about new beginnings in Phoenix

The Mercury officially acquired Sabally on Sunday when the team finalized a four-team trade with Sabally’s previous team, the Dallas Wings, as well as with the Connecticut Sun and the Indiana Fever. In the trade, the Mercury also acquired forward Alyssa Thomas, center Kalani Brown and guard Sevgi Uzun. In the process, they traded away guards Natasha Cloud and Sophie Cunningham, wing Rebecca Allen (who was subsequently traded from Connecticut to Chicago), the reserved rights to forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan and the No. 12 and No. 19 picks in the 2025 WNBA Draft.

“This has been a two-year pursuit,” U’Ren said in Tuesday’s introductory press conference. “It’s something we’ve had our eye on and our hopes up for. I don’t know where to begin in terms of the excitement.”

Sabally was one of Phoenix’s targets last free agency period. However, as a then-restricted free agent, Sabally elected to re-sign with the Wings. This year, she made her intentions of finding a new home public. On Jan. 13, Sabally was extended a Core qualifying offer by the Wings in preparation for a sign-and-trade deal, that resulted in a $215,000 protected one-year contract.

At 6-foot-4, Sabally brings size, mobility, scoring, rebounding and length to the Mercury. However, she sat most of last season while recovering from shoulder surgery. She did not play a single game before the Olympic break. She did compete with the German National Team in Paris, though, and was second among all players in the Olympics with 18.8 points per game, which she averaged in Germany’s four matchups.

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After the Olympics, she played in the Wings’ final 15 games. In that stretch, she averaged 17.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists, which was tied for the most on the team during that same period. It’s also the most assists she’s averaged in her career. Her 45.2% hit rate on 3-pointers was also a career-high along with her 5.6 long-range attempts per game.

“A lot of people were like, ‘Oh, you don’t have to play after the Olympics, like you already did your big one, and just focus on your recovery,’” Sabally told the media Tuesday. “But I really wanted to play. I love playing basketball. I love being on the court, and I think just for my own development and mental to push through some things, it was the best way for me.”

One of the more intangible values Sabally brings to Phoenix is versatility. The forward’s nickname is the “Unicorn,” and she’s capable of playing multiple positions on the floor at a high level. She joins a roster with a versatile wing in Kahleah Copper, who is listed as a guard and a forward, and fellow newcomer Alyssa Thomas, a 6-foot-2 forward who is a triple-double machine and was second in the league in assists in 2024.

“You can put me anywhere, and I want to be put everywhere,” Sabally said. “I want that challenge, and I want to show that I can rebound and dribble up the floor, but I can also pass and score. So really, whatever is needed. I think I’m automatically like a really offensively driven player, but it doesn’t only have to [be in the] form of points. … I think [Thomas and I will] do a lot of things together. Kah’s just so detrimental with her threes and the drives to the floor, so setting her up as well. It’s just something really positionless.”

Phoenix was not the only team to go after the two-time All-Star and 2023 Most Improved Player. Sabally also took meetings with the New York Liberty, the reigning WNBA champions and the team that is home to both Sabally’s younger sister Nyara Sabally and former college teammate Sabrina Ionescu.

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Ultimately, a conversation with Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts helped push the elder Sabally toward choosing Phoenix, despite some playful jeering from Nyara.

“I could already tell last year he really knows me,” Sabally said. “He knows how I play, he knows how to set me up, and he knows how to make me better, and that is something I’m looking for. I want to be better every single day. I put in so much work. Obviously, New York is a great organization too, but I just felt like here. My heart and my gut kept telling me, ‘Phoenix, Phoenix, Phoenix. It’s Phoenix.’

“… Obviously, my sister is still my sister, and we had conversations on FaceTime. I received a little middle finger. But in the end of it all, she’s super supportive, and she has also advocated for me along the way.”

Even after getting four new players in this trade, the Mercury still had room to sign guard Sami Whitcomb to a $125,000 unprotected contract. With four players currently signed to training camp contracts — which don’t count against the salary cap unless those players make the regular season roster — Phoenix still has seven open roster spots and just over $575,000 in cap space to add more depth, which U’Ren stated is his next goal.

The 2025 Phoenix Mercury are guaranteed to look different than it has for the last 11 years with the departure of center Brittney Griner, who’s been one of the faces of the franchise since being selected first overall in 2013. Guard Diana Taurasi, the team’s only other No. 1 overall pick to play in Phoenix, has yet to announce whether she’ll return for her 21st season or retire, which would bring her legendary WNBA career to a close.

Either way, the Mercury have found a new face in Sabally, at least for the time being. And she’s not afraid of the pressure of following in Griner’s and Taurasi’s footsteps.

“It just drives me really. I’m excited about it,”  Sabally said. “This is something that, when you go into a place where there’s a culture and a winning culture set, and I can identify with that, that I’m just able to really be my fullest self and can work on myself without feeling weird about wanting so many hours in the gym. No, this is just expected, and I love it. I will indulge in it.” 

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