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Satou Sabally will not play for the Phoenix Mercury against the Chicago Sky. The WNBA veteran was ruled out due to “personal reasons.”
Her mysterious roster designation comes less than 48 hours after she was benched for poor play.
Is this the end of her tenure with the Mercury? Is there something deeper going on behind the scenes?
Satou Sabally is struggling.
The 27-year-old small forward began her WNBA career with the Dallas Wings in 2020. She was traded in February as part of a four-team deal involving Kalani Brown and Alyssa Thomas.
Sabally got off to a hot start with Phoenix in 2025 with an average of 17.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.3 steals per game and was named as an All-Star. However, those numbers took a big hit over the last six games.
- at Dallas — 20 points, two rebounds, three assists, two steals
- vs. Atlanta — 13 points, one rebounds, one assist, one steal
- at New York — six points, five rebounds, three assists
- at Washington — 15 points, three rebounds, three assists, one steal
- at Indiana — nine points, five rebounds, one assist, three steals
- at Atlanta — nine points, one rebound
Mercury head coach Nate Tibbets decided to bench Satou Sabally against the Dream on Friday after she played just 12 minutes. At no point did he put her back in the game because she didn’t bring the juice.
Phoenix Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts explains why he benched Satou Sabally and why he did not play Kalani Brown before the start of the third quarter.#WNBA pic.twitter.com/jHzQypJGyp
— Desert Wave Media (@DesertWaveCo) August 2, 2025
Things happen. People have off nights.
The saga continues…
What did not initially seem like a big deal has since become a big deal. I assumed Tibbets would put Sabally right back into the starting lineup after the brief reality check.
That is not the case!
The Phoenix Mercury ruled her out prior to its game against the Chicago Sky. It cited “personal reasons.”
First and foremost, I hope Satou Sabally is okay. There could be something more serious going on behind the scenes for which we are not aware.
With that being said, I don’t know why the team would be so vague with its explanation for her absence from the lineup if that was the case. Especially after what went down during its most recent game.
That leads me to believe that Sabally is choosing to sit out. If she just needed time to think, the team could’ve listed her as out due to “rest” like the Wings did with Paige Bueckers last month. To say “personal reasons” and only “personal reasons” makes it seem like there is more to this story.
Hm… This league is never lacking drama!