"She’s going to be a great player": Marina Mabrey makes feelings clear on Sun trading for $324,383 rising talent (Exclusive)

Marina Mabrey has been having the best season of her career with the Connecticut Sun this season. While Mabrey has had a great individual season for herself, the Sun sit at the bottom of the league in terms of records this season.

In a shocking trade, the Sun acquired Aaliyah Edwards from the Washington Mystics in exchange for Jacy Sheldon. The trade also allowed the Mystics to swap their first-round picks with the Sun.

Edwards is definitely a valuable addition to the Connecticut Sun roster. In her rookie season, Edwards started 17 games; however, she appears to have lost favor with the first-year coach, Sydney Johnson. This season, in all 21 of her games, Edwards has come off the bench.

For Marina Mabrey, Edwards' addition could be the next big thing for the Sun in the future. In conversation with Sportskeeda's Mark Medina, Mabrey described the $324,383 forward [per Spotrac] as a "great player" and showered the sophomore players' impact on both ends of the floor.

"I think she's great. I think she's a great player," Mabrey said. "She can run the floor. She can screen. She can dive. She's creative around the rim. She's working on her jump shot.

Marina Mabrey had a chance to watch Edwards during the Unrivaled games in Miami closely, and she was left impressed with the latter's hard work.

"It's only her second season, so we'll have her for a little while. She's a great addition, and she's really coming into herself. Watching her at Unrivaled, she worked really hard. I've seen her work ethic. So I know she's going to be a great player in this league for a long time."

Marina Mabrey gets honest about knocking down Caitlin Clark

The altercation between the Connecticut Sun and the Indiana Fever was one of the most talked-about events of the WNBA season. In the third quarter, Caitlin Clark was poked in the eye by Sun's guard Jacy Sheldon (traded to the Mystics).

When the Indiana Fever star tried to get back at Sheldon, Marina Mabrey knocked Clark down to the court. Mabrey was slapped with just a technical foul, which also received massive outrage from fans on social media. After the game, the WNBA upgraded the foul to Flagrant 2.

Marina Mabrey told Mark Medina that the league upgraded the foul on her because of the fans.

"I thought it only got upgraded to a flagrant 2 because the way the fans reacted to it. They gave me a tech for it. I don't care, honestly. I really don't. Obviously, I'm not trying to hurt anybody. I'm not trying to go after certain players for certain sh--.

Mabrey clarified that she was "cool" with Caitlin Clark, citing their performance in last season's playoffs, and said she was just being competitive.

"Me and Caitlin were cool. Me and Caitlin have competed against each other in the playoffs. She threw me into the benches in the quarterfinals. We didn't go after her for it. She's competitive, and I was about to get the ball...So at the end of the day, it was a play on the ball when she did it.

The Sun's guard admitted that she "overreacted" at the moment, but also set the record straight that she didn't hate Caitlin Clark.