When Marina Mabrey got the call, she was sleeping. It took a second for her to realize it was the commissioner on the line, but when she heard Cathy Engelbart say the words she’d been waiting to hear for eight seasons, she had to take a moment to really take it in.
For the first time in her career, Mabrey is a WNBA All-Star, and she’s accomplished the feat while making history as the first player to achieve the accolade with the Toronto Tempo.
Part of celebrating meant rushing to tell her dad — the only family member home at the time — before planning for the house where she and 10 family members would stay in Chicago for All-Star weekend, when they’d really be able to celebrate all that went into making this achievement possible.
“It’s hard to just kind of sit and celebrate. So, just taking a moment of gratitude and just a second to myself to really take it in,” Mabrey said. “I think right after and during All-Star break, I feel like I can get a chance to kind of really soak it in.”
The star guard has come a long way in just 12 months from what she classified as the “worst season of her career.” With 21.1 points per game, she’s topped last year by seven points and her previous season-high in 2023 by six points.
Add that to her record-tying 53-point game and her consistently phenomenal three-point shooting, and she’s reaching a level few others in the league can match.
In the span of six days — on June 19 and June 25 —she’s tied the 3-point record on two occasions with nine from behind the arc each night.
There are a lot of factors that have contributed to this breakout season for the 29-year-old, but perhaps the biggest is the new environment surrounding her. In Toronto, she’s no longer secondary. Mabrey is the option the rest of the Tempo is looking to elevate.
“My teammates, they embrace me, and they sacrifice so much for me. They’re always giving up shots to get a better shot, to give it to me. Or they’ll give up a layup to give me a 3-pointer. So I always have to acknowledge them and show them love, because I say, ‘I got the award, but it’s really our whole team that got the award, because we were able to highlight a player.’”
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On Wednesday, Mabrey was in a Coca-Cola Coliseum hallway surrounded by media before the Golden State Valkyries game. It was the first time she’d spoken with reporters after her All-Star selection, but before she could even get a word out about it, the small hallway was overtaken with cheers from her teammates passing by.
“They’ve been doing this every time they see me,” Toronto’s first-ever All-Star said with a laugh.
The amount of excitement and energy buzzing around this team after the news speaks to how this accolade has impacted more than just Mabrey.
In the Tempo’s inaugural season, it was always the plan to bet on Mabrey and Brittney Sykes. From the minute they each signed million-dollar contracts, the goal was to build around these two forces.
The Tempo brass had thrown their money into the pile, and it paid off.
“This is what expansion teams allow players to really show what their true ability is,” Sandy Brondello said. “I think we’re adding to what she can be, and excited to see what the ceiling is as we move forward.”
Brondello chose to coach in Toronto because she wanted to try her hand at building a team from scratch. She wanted the challenge of collecting various pieces, especially those that had been overlooked on previous rosters, and trying to put them together. But even with two championships to her name, there is only so much the coach can do if her best players don’t buy in.
“I always say to the great players when they come in, if they buy into playing in the right way, their success will come,” Brondello said.
“Sometimes, you just need to be in a system that maybe you got a little longer leash. And, we’ve put her in the right spots here, but Marina’s done all of it, just like Slim here, too. They’re playing in the right way, and they’re taking the opportunities that are put in front of them.”
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All-Star is an opportunity Mabrey’s been eyeing long before she entered the league. It’s something she started thinking about in high school. When she’d take the court in her secondary school gym, she didn’t just dream about making it to the WNBA; she thought of what it would take to be the best of the best.
“I had no idea how hard it was, but it’s okay, it was cute,” she said of those early aspirations.
“This league is so hard, and it’s every other day, every day you’re playing, you’re practicing, they’re challenging you, they’re holding you accountable, you’re moving teams, you got different teammates, you have to figure out how to work with people, and so on and so on, while your body’s tired. And I just think that it’s easy to lose that vision and that belief in yourself, but I don’t think I ever lost it.”
Now, coming off a three-game losing streak and heading into their first of their cross-Canada weekends in Montreal, her team needs that unwavering belief in themselves that she’s fostered her entire career. Mabrey hopes this award can act as a catalyst as an injured team eyeing a playoff spot looks ahead to the second half of the season.
“I just think it’s like a confidence booster, like we all bought in and we won games, like you’re not going to have an All-Star if you don’t have any wins on the team, so like we were able to figure out how to win games.”
