Satou Sabally made a shocking decision this offseason, leaving the Dallas Wings, where she played for four years, for the Phoenix Mercury. As the 2025 WNBA season comes near, Sabally has been ramping up her preparation for her debut with the Mercury, calling in the help of women’s basketball legend Lisa Leslie.
Sabally, who is playing for the Phantom BC in the Unrivaled league, took layup lessons from Leslie while they were in the Miami facility where Unrivaled teams are training and playing. The Phantom BC posted the training on their social media accounts, garnering different reactions from fans.
“Iron sharpens iron. Satou put in work with the legendary Lisa Leslie, added some new moves to the bag… and yeah, her game just got even scarier. 👑🏀👻,” the team captioned.
Trending
In one of the comments, one fan criticised Sabally’s training with Leslie, saying that, as a pro player, she should be done with practicing fundamentals such as layups, and that it should be reserved for the youth-level players, unlike Sabally.
“Incredible that you have to help PRO players with LAYUPS. Not 3rd graders just learning basketball… not 7th grade youth players… not high schoolers… not college freshmen… but PRO PLAYERS - needing extra coaching for LAYUPS. You’d think they’d kinda be past that, making it to the highest level in womens basketball. Something doesnt seem right about that. A layup is literally the first thing they teach you to do at your first youth camp:clinic, practice, etc…,” the fan said.
Sabally took offense about the remark, providing a blistering response to the Instagram user as she admitted that it pissed her off.
“@jumpshooter25 and you still start warming up with basics every day. You think bc we’re pros we don’t keep practicing ? 😂 Do a Mikan Drill and come again. There are infinite forms of layups and you DEF should put in the work. Comments like this piss me off,” she said.
Sabally has been one of the best players in Unrivaled this season, playing all 14 games where she averaged 15.3 points, and 5.6 rebounds in just 14 minutes of action for Phantom.
However, the team only won four games, losing their chance to appear in the playoffs.
Lisa Leslie expresses excitement about Satou Sabally’s future after offseason move
Despite the critics, Lisa Leslie has been supportive of Satou Sabally. The WNBA legend has also remarked about Sabally’s latest career move, expressing her excitement for next season.
"Popcorn ready," she said in a comment on ESPN W’s post announcing Sabally’s departure from the Wings.
Sabally missed the most of last season due to a shoulder injury. However, when she was on the floor, Sabally was effective whenever she plays, averaging 17.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game.
The Wings missed the playoffs last season with a 9-31 record.
