Marina Mabrey brings her championship ambitions to the Connecticut Sun, which shares her ideas

BOSTON — Marina Mabrey always had a little piece of home in Chicago. Her sisters, Dara and Michaela, lived just an hour and a half away in South Bend, Indiana, where all three played college basketball for Notre Dame. So when Mabrey was traded to the Connecticut Sun, she missed her sisters first and foremost.

But there was something else, too, that Mabrey also cared about: the opportunity to win a WNBA championship. That’s ultimately why Mabrey requested the trade, and asked to play for Connecticut, in particular.

Mabrey played for three other teams during her six-year WNBA career — the Sparks, Wings and Sky — but none came close to the Sun.

“To be part of a team like this, so disciplined and with a championship mindset, I haven’t been part of that yet,” she said.

According to Mabrey, this team wants to win a WNBA title this season and they’ve brought in the sharpshooter to help them achieve that goal.

“She’s someone who wants to win,” Alyssa Thomas said. “She gives us a whole different image. “We need three-pointers and she does that. You can’t win a championship being one of the last in the league in that department. I’m excited about what she brings to the table.”

Mabrey learned she had been traded after Chicago’s final game before the Olympic break. She was recovering from her injury after a win over Las Vegas when her phone started ringing. And ringing, and ringing. Eventually, Mabrey answered it and got the news. She called her agent to thank her, then walked out of the Sky locker room one last time.

Chicago wasn’t the right choice for Mabrey, despite Dara and Michaela’s proximity. Once James Wade left, the system he had built and the plan he had presented to Mabrey disappeared. She waited to see how things would play out under Teresa Weatherspoon before deciding Connecticut was a better fit.

It’s also a win-win situation. The Suns need a shooter — they’re ninth in the league in three-point field goal percentage and 10th in made shots — and Mabrey provides that. She’s eighth in the WNBA in three-point field goal percentage, averaging 2.3 per game. In exchange, she gets the opportunity to play on a contending team and with veterans who inspired her own rise through the college and WNBA ranks.

“AT (Alyssa Thomas) and DB (DeWanna Bonner) were two of my favorite players growing up,” Mabrey said. “I watched AT every day when she was at Maryland. So when you get a chance to play with people you look up to, it’s fun. They’re easy to play with and you want to be like them.”

Don’t tell them that.

“Shh,” she joked. “I don’t want them to get big heads.”

Since Mabrey was recruited at the beginning of the Olympic break, she had a month to train and get acquainted with the team. Feeling comfortable is still a work in progress…