As the dust settles on the WNBA regular season, the Dallas Wings enter the postseason with their first 20+ win season, first above .500 season, and first opportunity to host a playoff series since the organization relocated to Texas in 2016. Central to the leap from the Wings has been the blossoming of forward Satou Sabally.
“Coming into the season, I was energetic, I felt good, I came over (from Turkey) on a high,” Sabally said. “I wanted to get in 100% and ready to go play from the first game on, and I think that’s what I did.”
Sabally, the 2nd overall pick in 2020, set career highs across the board; points per game, rebounds, steals, minutes, all while having the most efficient season of her young career. She’s grown tremendously as a defender, her mid-range game has popped, her shooting has improved, and her all-around consistency has pushed her promising to producing as a star.
SA HOOPIN’ 🔥 pic.twitter.com/nZJm2nlun7
— Dallas Wings (@DallasWings) September 6, 2023
She’s found a new level of confidence and comfort through her mindset and a refined approach outside the WNBA season.
“Anyone who’s played with her knows the potential she’s had,” says former Oregon teammate and Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu.
“I knew she was going to be this type of player…it’s really nice to just see her healthy and happy, I think that’s most important on a human level. Finally being able to see what she looks like when she’s super healthy and has some experience under her belt, and she’s just able to dominate at this level. Knowing she’s still really early in her career, I know she’s going to accomplish great things.”
Sabally was a first time All-Star starter this season, a likely lock for All-WNBA, one of the leading candidates for Most Improved Player, and cementing herself as one of the bright young players in the league at 25.
The only option for Most Improved Player.
Satou Sabally. pic.twitter.com/ujXZ0y0bEl
— Take Flight ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️ (@takeflightdw) September 8, 2023
Health is undoubtedly a sizable factor in Sabally’s career year; she’d never played 20 games in a WNBA season prior to this year. A knee injury cut her 2022 season short and limited her in Dallas’ first round series with the Connecticut Sun. A significant aspect of improving her availability and game to game consistency was a shift in mindset and preparation.
Nagging injuries had hampered her since college, and she hadn’t taken a break since she was drafted in 2020. The continual cycle of W season into a near immediate overseas campaign, before cycling back to training camp in the states in early spring again is incredibly taxing. There is no “off-season” for the majority of women’s basketball players.
“It was just lingering injuries that would lead to other things, to compensation… I was at the point where I just didn’t want to play basketball right now (after the 2022 season),” Sabally said. “I associated it with injuries and pain. That’s when I knew, ok this is not what it is.”
Instead of going right overseas to play for her Turkish club, Fenerbahce, she took a break to rest. She stayed in Dallas for part of the winter, ramping back up her workouts and finding joy again in the process. Finding and nailing down the consistency that had been difficult to stabilize early on in her career was her primary goal and focus. She worked on her strength, honed her core, and put a larger emphasis on activation and recovery, all of which parlayed into more consistent on-court results.
The ability to drive, pass, shoot, and score in a variety of ways had always been present for Satou; making her versatility a consistent weapon with improved efficiency at the pro level became reality.
“By going into the game with that thought, I was consistent in itself,” Sabally said. “That energy drive and that will to win is something that carried me, and it didn’t matter if I didn’t make my shots, I still wanted to win. So I still play defense hard enough to make myself feel good after the game and be able to say, Okay I gave my all, so I was consistent today.”
Prior to the season starting, new Head Coach Latricia Trammell told Sabally she could find her rest on the offensive side of the ball; they needed her to be active and aggressive defensively. Early on, it became abundantly clear that she didn’t need to take plays off on either side of the ball given the form she came into Dallas with.
“It (her effort) just exudes into other people,” says Wings guard Veronica Burton.
“Seeing someone like Sa go as hard and playing as hard as she does on a nightly basis, it makes you want to go just as hard as her and match that intensity. To come off an injury, oftentimes people can struggle to find their rhythm again… from last year to this year, to be able to see her almost take over this league, being an All-Star, and a leader on this team, if that’s not improved, I don’t know what it is.”
YOU HEARD THE 🦄 pic.twitter.com/axESfMmmsq
— Dallas Wings (@DallasWings) September 2, 2023
It’s not that rest and recovery hadn’t been part of Sabally’s routine before, but the focus and commitment to it changed. Instead of 20 minutes in the Normatec (air compression therapy to boost blood flow in the legs) semi-regularly, she carves out 40 minutes after each game. She’s built and established a morning routine, finding comfort in the continuity.
“It’s the daily push,” Sabally said. “You sit in the morning on the side of your bed and ‘Oh, my body is too sore to do this right now’ and then you hop in the shower, warm your body up and tell yourself ‘Hey, you want to do this, you’re gonna do this’ and you find yourself in the weight room and you’re already in your routine. You find comfort in what you do every single day. That’s something I rely on, and if I don’t have that, I feel uneasy.”
When she feels that discomfort, she knows it’s time to reset the routine and get back in a rhythm. It’s a temporary mindset, she says, but it requires a great deal of energy and full focus, something you have to prioritize. Alongside that constant work to be great, Sabally has also worked to better establish balance and set boundaries on her workload.
She feels her inability to set those boundaries for herself in the past contributed to her injuries. The constant grind of trying to get back to 100% while not being there and wanting to improve still, things that just are not fully capable of happening symbiotically, is tolling.
“I’ve clearly overstepped my line in the past, and I found that line, and now I know to establish my boundaries and the boundaries that my body tells me,” Sabally said. “That comes with experience. Two years ago, I wasn’t able to say no. Now, I am.”
An off day isn’t still fully an off day; if her body isn’t feeling up to a workout, she’s hitting the pool, she’s getting a massage, she’s doing yoga or Pilates. Anything and everything that helps her maintain balance is in rotation.
She made it clear before the season that she has to main goals; to be consistent and to win championships, the latter being how she defines success.
How does she measure that?
“I guess that’s the problem of athletes and determined people,” retorts Sabally behind a laugh.
She listens to those closest to her that know her best that she knows aren’t “bullshitting around.” She takes it in and appreciates it, she tries to accept the words of affirmation,
“But, I’m not done yet,” says Sabally.
“Even if I hear that I made the All-Star team, okay, I made it, but I’m not done yet. So I think once the season ends, hopefully with a championship, then I’ll actually be able to sit down and reflect and have that moment of actually being proud.”
A championship is a lofty goal, but isn’t out of reach for the only team in the W to beat all of the top three teams in the league. She got a taste of that championship mindset and culture in Turkey when Fenerbahce won both the Turkish League and EuroLeague Championship.
With the playoffs just on the horizon, starting on Wednesday this week, the Wings look to take a significant step as a young core, looking to win a playoff series and potentially put on a special run.
“I want to win,” Sabally said. “I’m a winner, I have that instilled in me, but I also want to be a messenger for the game. I love basketball, and basketball has given me so much. It has opened doors. I was able to graduate from Oregon off a scholarship, I got to experience America, some type of financial freedom has come with loving this game and what it has done for me.”
