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Things are going to look a lot different in Dallas this year.
After a 2024 season filled with injuries, which resulted in a big dropoff for the Wings a season after making it to the WNBA semifinals, the Dallas roster is undergoing a major shakeup.
Curt Miller, the new general manager for the Wings, hired Chris Koclanes as the Wings’ new head coach – their sixth head coach since 2018. Natasha Howard will be looking for a new home in free agency, and the Wings just waived 2023 first-round pick Stephanie Soares at the start of the new year.
But the biggest loss for Dallas – even more so than losing the high-ceiling Carla Leite in the expansion draft to the Golden State Valkyries – is losing Satou Sabally.
Sabally announced during a media day session in the new three-on-three league Unrivaled that she won’t be returning to Dallas.
The oft-injured star let the team know prior to her media session, and Dallas cored Sabally so that they can work with her to find her a new team instead of getting nothing for her by letting her sign as a free agent.
The big question now is: where will Sabally suit up in 2025?
What makes this exercise interesting is the looming new CBA in 2026. We’ll see a lot of big deals next year, as players will want to maximize their earning value with their contracts. That means for 2025, you’ll see a lot of one-year deals for players looking to position themselves for big contracts under the new CBA.
For Sabally, she’s cored, so her contract of $249,244 is locked in for the upcoming season. But wherever she lands, she’ll be operating under just that – a one-year deal with the ability to hit the open market again after the 2025 season.
So let’s keep that in mind as we look at the top three landing spots for Sabally.
1. New York Liberty
The reigning champs make a ton of sense for Sabally. Her sister, Nyara, is on the roster, and we saw how present Satou Sabally was during the WNBA Finals and the championship parade in support of her. What’s more, her college teammate, Sabrina Ionescu, is on the Liberty, and she recently spoke out about helping Satou Sabally navigate the free agent waters.
Via Unrivaled, Sabrina Ionescu spoke to a group of reporters in person and on zoom about #WNBA free agency recruitment and specifically her pitch to recruit former college teammate Satou Sabally to New York. This is what she had to say about her pitch:
— Jackie Powell (@classicjpow.bsky.social) 2025-01-16T20:10:34.822Z
With Satou Sabally on board, that would allow the Liberty to run out a grouping of Ionescu, Leonie Fiebich, Satou Sabally, Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones.
It would automatically make the Liberty the favorites again, but there is the question of how it would impact their depth.
Courtney Vandersloot has already said that she will do what’s best for her family during free agency, and after she lost her starting spot to Fiebich, it seems unlikely that she’ll be back. Kayla Thornton, a huge defensive stopper for the Liberty, was selected by the Valkyries during the expansion draft, leaving a key insurance piece missing off of the bench. That leaves Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, but any deal for Sabally certainly has to include Laney-Hamilton to get the salary to work.
For the Liberty, it would put the opposing defense in the position to try to stop five players who are able to operate inside out, as Sabally, Jones and Stewart are all bigs who can stretch the floor. It also allows them to easily switch defensively.
The question for New York is if it is willing to risk the enormous upside that the unicorn brings – we saw her live up to the upside as an All-WNBA First Team member in 2023 – versus the long injury history that Sabally has. Over her five-year career, she’s played in just 97 games – including 15 last season as she recovered from offseason shoulder surgery.
2. Indiana Fever
Eleven games in 19 days. The Fever struggled early last season, but with that interesting scheduling decision, can you blame them? But in the second half of the season, there was no team that was hotter than the Fever, as Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston were able to lift the Fever to the playoffs.
With Stephanie White now at the helm after leaving Connecticut for Indiana, the Fever are officially past the rebuild that gave them the last two No. 1 picks (Boston and Clark, respectively). What better way to go from just making the playoffs to being an actual contender than trading for Sabally?
Clark is the No. 1 option on the Fever. We know this. The offense runs through her, and as the season went on, she and Boston got comfortable in the short game, executing the two-person pick-and-roll and pick-and-dive game perfectly. Adding Sabally as a No. 3 option – or No. 4 option depending on the opponent with Kelsey Mitchell – gives the Fever an embarrassment of riches.
While the Liberty would be able to feature three bigs to stretch the floor, Sabally would allow Boston to work in the paint while being able to switch defensively with her and operate inside or out, giving Clark another option to pass to when she’s driving to the hoop if the defense collapses on her. Lexie Hull in the corner, Mitchell on the wing, and Sabally filling the gap?
Yes, please.
Would the Wings like Betnijah Laney-Hamilton? Yes, they would. But would the Wings LOVE NaLyssa Smith? Oh yeah, they definitely would. You could argue that Smith would be the best player that the Wings could get back in a Sabally deal. And if a deal between the two teams were to happen, Smith would likely be included with, say, Kristy Wallace’s expiring contract.
Smith is a restricted free agent heading into 2026, so the Wings would be able to match any offer for her after the season. Smith would allow Dallas to retain two bigs – along with Kalani Brown – at a below-market value to help its cap situation heading into the new CBA. With Paige Bueckers on her way to pair with Arike Ogunbowale – it’s a win-win situation for both franchises.
3. Golden State Valkyries
So you want to make a statement to the league, Golden State? Why not acquire a face-of-the-franchise player? We don’t know who the team will take in the WNBA Draft (they should have the No. 1 pick and I will forever die on this hill), but the Valkyries’ roster post-expansion draft has taken shape.
But the one thing Golden State is missing is a star. Sabally is that star. Golden State has said multiple times that it will be aggressive in free agency, and while this would be a trade, it gives the team a shot to back that up.
The Valkyries have the most cap space of any team entering the season, which means they could easily take on the core contract of Sabally.
Golden State would give Sabally a chance to be a true No. 1 option on a team as she looks to cash in big in 2026. It’s not a prove-it year, per se, since we saw that in 2023, but given the injury history with Sabally, it would be a prove-it-again year.
Sabally would slide into the four-spot nicely beside Temi Fagbenle, allowing Fagbenle to operate in the paint and Sabally outside of it – similarly to the outlined situation with Aliyah Boston above.
It would also position Golden State as a sought-after destination ahead of the big free agency year of 2026 – when it will be competing with the Toronto Tempo and the unnamed Portland franchise as the new kids on the block.
Since Golden State will have the No. 5 pick in the draft, look for that to be the key piece that would be dealt to Dallas in a deal for Sabally. It would be enticing for the Wings to be able to pair one of Olivia Miles, Sonia Citron, Aneesah Morrow, Kiki Iriafen, or Azzi Fudd with Bueckers to usher in a new era in Dallas.
The demand has been there in Golden State, with more than 20,000 season ticket deposits being made, and the best way to keep that momentum going is with a true star.
It’s a win-win for both teams, as well as Sabally.
