The last significant domino of the 2025 WNBA offseason has fallen.

The Phoenix Mercury are acquiring two-time WNBA All-Star Satou Sabally from the Dallas Wings in a three-team deal that also involves the Indiana Fever, according to ESPN.

The agreement will send Sabally, center Kalani Brown and guard Sevgi Uzun to the Mercury. The Wings are receiving guard Tyasha Harris (who Phoenix acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Connecticut Sun) and the rights to forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan from the Mercury as well as forward NaLyssa Smith and the No. 8 pick in the 2025 Draft from the Indiana Fever. Indiana is receiving forward Sophie Cunningham and the No. 19 pick from the Mercury.

After a week full of action that saw six multi-time All-Stars get moved, Sabally’s destination remained one of the offseason’s pressing questions. The 2023 All-WNBA first-team forward spent her entire five-season career with the Wings after the franchise selected her with the No. 2 pick in the 2020 Draft. But she said in early January she communicated with Dallas her desire to play for another team going forward.

“I’ve already communicated with Dallas how grateful I am because they’ve made this a home for me for the last (five) years,” Sabally said.

She added that she was excited for free agency and to understand different players and teams around the league. Still, because Dallas issued the core designation to Sabally, she had to be moved via a sign-and-trade.

Phoenix remade its entire roster this offseason, with All-Star Kahleah Copper as the only notable returnee from the 2024 team that finished seventh in the standings and was swept out of the first round of the playoffs. The Mercury will now pair Sabally with perennial All-WNBA candidate Alyssa Thomas in the frontcourt as they confront the end of the Brittney Griner era and the potential retirement of Diana Taurasi.

Sabally missed the majority of last season after sustaining a shoulder injury in February while playing with the German national team. She averaged 17.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.

Dallas is in a period of organizational transition, having brought in a new coach, Chris Koclanes, and general manager, Curt Miller, this offseason. Koclanes, a first-year head coach, joins the franchise after 1 1/2 seasons as an assistant coach at USC and eight seasons as a WNBA assistant, all under Miller. With the departure of Sabally, the franchise seems likely to build around the No. 1 pick in April’s draft as well as star guard Arike Ogunbowale.

What this means for Phoenix

Although the team will have to work to fill out its depth around the new big three of Copper, Sabally and Thomas, that trio is among the best in the league. Big picture: the Mercury turned Natasha Cloud, Rebecca Allen and Cunningham — plus their 2025 first- and second-round picks — into two all-WNBA players. That is a massive win for Phoenix, even if the roster is top-heavy.

The decision to extend Cunningham on Sept. 14, 2024, less than a week before the end of the regular season, proved fortuitous, as Cunningham was the necessary piece to get the Fever involved in this latest three-team trade. Brown and Uzun are barely rotation players, and Brown is one of two WNBA veterans whose salary carries into 2026, but eating that money is a small price to pay for Phoenix.

WNBA super teams rarely win it all in year one, but rest assured, if the Mercury stay together, they are a super team. And they have cap space to keep adding. —

What this means for Dallas

The Wings were staring down the barrel of a gun with Sabally’s trade request, and there weren’t a lot of obvious destinations for their former star forward. The return haul seems underwhelming. Two of the three are rotation players, but neither is on a rookie contract nor projects to be a star. The No. 8 pick is a late first-round selection and is the lone pick Dallas received in the agreement.

The Wings still hold the No. 1 pick in April’s draft, where UConn star Paige Bueckers is the presumed selection if she elects to turn pro. But a foundation player is leaving the franchise and Dallas didn’t immediately recoup any asset that would project to match. —

What this means for Indiana

The writing was on the wall for the end of NaLyssa Smith’s tenure when the Fever benched her for the final game of the season. Although Christie Sides is out as coach and Stephanie White is in, every discussion of Indiana’s core since has included Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell, without much thought given to Smith. The Fever also just signed Natasha Howard to presumably start at power forward, replacing Smith in the first five.

As a result, Indiana turned Smith and the No. 8 pick in this draft into Cunningham and No. 19. Cunningham is an obvious fit, a combo forward who is a career 36.2 percent 3-point shooter and can defend multiple positions. She gives the Fever more depth on the wing, albeit at the cost of moving 11 spots down in the draft. —

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Phoenix Suns, Indiana Fever, Dallas Wings, WNBA

2025 The Athletic Media Company