Mercury acquire Satou Sabally from Wings

Satou Sabally is heading to the Phoenix Mercury as part of a three-team trade, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on Friday night.

What You Need To Know

In exchange for Sabally, the Dallas Wings received Ty Harris and Kiki Herbert Harrigan from the Mercury as well as NaLyssa Smith and the No. 8 overall draft pick from the Indiana Fever

Sabally had told Dallas that she didn’t want to play anymore for the franchise, which drafted her No. 2 overall in 2020

While they lose Sabally, the Wings have the No. 1 pick in the upcoming WNBA draft after winning the lottery

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal hadn’t been announced.

In exchange for Sabally, the Dallas Wings received Ty Harris and Kiki Herbert Harrigan from the Mercury as well as NaLyssa Smith and the No. 8 overall draft pick from the Indiana Fever.

The Fever will acquire Sophie Cunningham and Phoenix’s second-round pick.

The Mercury also will get Kalani Brown and Sevgi Uzun from the Wings.

ESPN first reported the deal.

Sabally had told Dallas that she didn’t want to play anymore for the franchise, which drafted her No. 2 overall in 2020. The Wings had given her the franchise tag, so the only way she could have left was via trade.

The deal can’t be official until Saturday, when free agents are allowed to sign.

Sabally only was able to play in 15 games for Dallas last season as she prepared for the Olympics. She has averaged 15.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists in five seasons.

While they lose Sabally, the Wings have the No. 1 pick in the upcoming WNBA draft after winning the lottery.

The Wings went 9-31 last season and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2020.

Indiana also picked up free agent Natasha Howard on Friday, according to a person familiar with that signing, which also can’t officially go through until Saturday.

It has been an offseason of change for Phoenix. The Mercury lost star center Brittney Griner, who announced her plans to sign with Atlanta. It’s also not clear whether veteran Diana Taurasi will play again or retire.

On Tuesday, the Mercury were finalizing a deal to acquire Alyssa Thomas from the Connecticut Sun, a person familiar with that trade told the AP. Harris was part of that deal to Phoenix.

Harris is coming off a career-best season with Connecticut where she averaged 10.5 points and 3.0 assists while appearing in 39 games. Harris was drafted by the Wings with the No. 7 pick in 2020 and played her first three seasons in Dallas. She averaged 5.2 points and 2.8 rebounds over 88 games with the Wings.