Marina Mabrey of the Toronto Tempo, left, celebrates during the second half of a WNBA game against the Los Angeles Sparks at Coca-Cola Coliseum on June 25, in Toronto. In that game, Mabrey tied the WNBA's single-game scoring record with 53 points.Tara Walton/Getty Images
Marina Mabrey wasn’t projected for a big WNBA career.
Despite winning an NCAA title at Notre Dame, the fiery guard didn’t hear her name called in the 2019 WNBA draft until the second round, so a roster spot was far from guaranteed.
But check out Mabrey today – seven seasons and four teams later. The 29-year-old is the cornerstone of Canada’s first WNBA team, has a historic US$2.4-million contract, is one of the league’s leading scorers, and on Tuesday night received her first All-Star nod.
Mabrey played for the Los Angeles Sparks, Dallas Wings, Chicago Sky and Connecticut Sun, before the expansion Toronto Tempo made her one of their first-ever players. She heard conviction from Tempo general manager Monica Wright Rogers and coach Sandy Brondello when they rang up after picking her in April’s expansion draft.
“For a player like me – drafted in the second round – 19th – I was supposed to get cut four years in a row,” said Mabrey, reflecting in a lengthy interview after practice this week.
Toronto Tempo finding fans all across Canada in inaugural season
“I’ve been traded a million times. People couldn’t figure out how to use me the right way, and I couldn’t figure it out really either. I feel like [the Tempo] really have made it their mission to figure it out, to help me.”
Toronto’s franchise player is having her best WNBA season yet, highlighted by her buzz-worthy 53-point performance against the Sparks on June 25, which tied the WNBA’s single-game scoring record, held by Liz Cambage and four-time MVP A’ja Wilson.
Mabrey was 17 of 28 from the field on that memorable night and matched her own WNBA record of nine three-pointers. She’s just outside the top 20 all-time in league history, having hit 503 career triples.
It wasn’t Mabrey’s only monster night of her first season. She also put up 37 against the Sun on June 19.
Mabrey credits Tempo coach Sandy Brondello, right, for a system of accountability and an offence that lets her play to her strengths.Sean D. Elliot/Getty Images
She’s Toronto’s top scorer – averaging 21.1 points – good for fifth among all WNBA players. Mabrey also leads the league in three pointers made (67 total), tied with Rhyne Howard of the Atlanta Dream. Her stellar play earned her the All-Star reserve nod, another first for the new franchise.
“Right place, right time,” said Brondello of Mabrey’s success this year. “I think she’s always been a great shooter, but you’re seeing what she’s capable of doing … she has this high IQ.”
Brondello gets props for putting Mabrey in ideal situations to score and create, and for holding the guard accountable in ways that no other WNBA coach has.
“People have challenged me once or twice here and there, but she’s like – in the best way – relentless,” said Mabrey of the Australian coach who has two WNBA titles.
“While she’s challenging me and holding me accountable, she’s also still giving me a fluorescent green light to be a leader, to be our player, to be our option, that I can really make other people better, make our team better, win, and have this be a long-term thing.”
Mabrey disliked how she played last year with the Sun. So she made some big changes – more weight training and medicine ball work for increased explosiveness, plus boxing workouts for better footwork. She cut way back on her phone and started working with an energy coach.
“I have so much passion and so much energy, but sometimes it’s not put in the right places,” said Mabrey. “So I’m being intentional about where I’m spending it.”
She’s self-aware about her emotional outbursts on court – shoving, finger waving, groaning to refs, and yes, that viral moment when she pushed Caitlin Clark to the ground in June of 2025.
She started a “crashout jar” in January and posted light-heartedly about it on her socials, promising to pay money into it after on-court moments when her frustration spills over.
Mabrey joined elite WNBA company when she put up 53 points on her former team, the Sun, on June 25. She matched the league's single-game scoring record, joining A'ja Wilson and Liz Cambage as the league's top scorers.Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press
Mabrey’s improvement efforts seemed to show in Unrivaled during this past winter, the 3-on-3 league where select WNBA stars now play in the off-season. Starring for the Lunar Owls, Mabrey averaged a league-high 25.3 points per game, a league-best 3.7 three pointers and was second in total scoring (329 points). She had an Unrivaled single game record performance of 47 points with 18 made field goals – 10 from beyond the arc. She was named Unrivaled comeback player of the year.
“She has something that you can’t coach, which is fierce competitive nature, and I think that will resonate wholeheartedly with the city, and what she will bring every single day on that court,” said Wright Rogers on the day of the WNBA expansion draft. “Outside of being a long range shot maker and someone that can facilitate for herself, she can also create for others.”
The Sun left Mabrey unprotected for the expansion draft so the Tempo took the native of Belmar, N.J., sixth overall, gave her the core designation to allow the team exclusive negotiation rights and then inked her to a two-year, US$2.4-million max deal.
Toronto was the first to file with the league office on the heels of the transformative new collective bargaining agreement struck between the WNBA and its players, which paved the way for huge salary hikes. So Mabrey will go down in league history as its first player to sign an annual salary exceeding US$1-million. Then the Tempo got Brittney Sykes in free agency and also gave her a two-year max contract, making them the WNBA’s first million-dollar backcourt.
The big salary hike has changed Mabrey’s lifestyle – afforded her some new real estate, a new car and a personal chef for the first time.
Sitting shoulder to shoulder as new Tempo teammates on media day, the two players who had faced one another as rivals growing up in New Jersey smiled about surprising people as million-dollar players. Sykes, nicknamed “Slim” in the WNBA, relished the opportunity to “kick the door open.”
“You see all these mock ups on the internet, on socials like this person is going to get the million, or that person, and then we pop up, and it was like, ‘You’re getting a million?’” recalled Sykes. “Yeah, why not? If you look at our track record, I believe that we were deserving … Toronto took a chance on us, and they saw who we were…we have had that kind of underdog upbringing in the league.”
The two landed together on the cover of Slam, the popular glossy basketball magazine. The duo jumped out to a hot start to this season, each putting up league numbers worthy of all-star consideration. The Tempo rolled out a campaign – including ads for “Chef Mabrey” and “Serving Slim,” urging fans to cast their votes.
But Sykes suffered a plantar fascia injury on June 16 and has been sidelined since. Mabrey, who credits great chemistry with Toronto teammates, has shouldered much of the scoring load. She was recently named Eastern Conference player of the week.
Mabrey, right, and Brittney Sykes are the WNBA's first million-dollar backcourt, as both players make over $1-million, as part of the league's new collective bargaining agreement.Frank Gunn/The Associated Press
“She could hurt you in so many different ways – post you up, get you on your hip, get to the rim, get to the free throw line. She’s dangerous as soon as she crosses half court,” said Jose Fernandez, coach of the Dallas Wings, who just game-planned to face her in Toronto.
“She plays with a huge amount of Moxy…there’s no fear in her every time she shoots it.”
She’s recognized by Tempo fans for her long, dark swishing ponytail, her deep threes, pull-up jumpers and savvy playmaking, plus her coffee reviews on social media, and day-in-the-life posts. The throng of fans who line up for autographs after Mabrey’s pre-game warmups at home games seems to keep growing.
Her college coach at Notre Dame, Muffet McGraw, isn’t surprised by the season Mabrey is having.
“Marina’s always been undervalued … I don’t think she’s appreciated enough for what she does,” said McGraw.
“I loved coaching her, because she was so fiery and competitive. She would not let you not give your best. She held her teammates accountable. She didn’t worry about, ‘Oh she’ll get mad at me if I say this.’ She was like, ‘If it means the difference between winning and losing, I’m gonna say what needs to be said,’ and you need people like that.”
Mabrey learned to dial in, be hard-nosed and get back up no matter what as the middle-born of five Mabrey kids – three girls and two boys, who all played basketball.
Their competitive spirit was forged by playing against each other at the park.
She’ll need every ounce of it helping the injury-plagued Tempo to its goal – to become just the second expansion team in the WNBA history to make the playoffs in its inaugural season.
Tara Walton/Getty Images