PHILADELPHIA \u2014 The whistles blew, and Connecticut Sun guard Marina Mabrey walked away smirking. After colliding with Washington Mystics center Shakira Austin during a game for the WNBA offseason league Unrivaled, Mabrey put her right index finger up to her head to motion that she was living rent-free in Austin\u2019s head.<\/p>\n
The moment came after Austin checked Mabrey\u2019s shoulder as she tried to create space, triggering the whistle and a brief stoppage of play.<\/p>\n
Unrivaled play-by-play broadcaster Brendan Glasheen commented, \u201cSomeone get the jar,\u201d a reference to Mabrey\u2019s newly created \u201ccrash out jar,\u201d a self-imposed accountability tool she introduced in January for moments when emotion overtakes control and frustration spills over. <\/p>\n
For those unfamiliar, a \u201ccrash out\u201d is a modern colloquialism for moments when emotion overwhelms regulation and impulses run wild.<\/p>\n
So what is this \u201ccrash out jar\u201d and how did Mabrey come to the conclusion that she needed to begin this practice? And could the concept of the jar be something that takes her career to new heights after years of playing slightly below an All-Star level?<\/p>\n
Mabrey\u2019s a combo guard who can score at all three levels, shoot a high volume of threes and can play the point guard through the small forward positions due to her size and strength. For her career, she\u2019s averaged<\/a> 12.5 points while averaging 5.5 attempts from three-point range.<\/p>\n Mabrey is known for her relentless competitiveness, which has often come to her detriment. According to WNBA data site Across the Timeline,<\/a> Mabrey has averaged a bit under three technicals a season.<\/p>\n Mabrey, 29, was drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks in 2019 and has been traded from the Sparks to the Dallas Wings, from the Wings to the Chicago Sky and then from the Chicago Sky to the Connecticut Sun. Frustrated by the prospect of a rebuild, Mabrey requested to be traded<\/a> from Connecticut prior to the 2025 WNBA regular season after the roster turnover that ended the Sun\u2019s run as a perennial playoff contender.<\/p>\n Amid the multiple trades and the trade request, Mabrey\u2019s competitive nature is something that her peers around the WNBA respect. Unrivaled\u2019s founder and New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart was asked on her new podcast Game Recognize Game with Stewie & Myles who the best trash talker is in the WNBA. While Stewart had to shout out now-retired legend Diana Taurasi, she sees Mabrey as the league\u2019s current best trash talker.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s just like a firecracker,\u201d Stewart said<\/a>. \u201cShe\u2019s from [New] Jersey and she\u2019s competitive and she just says whatever comes to her mind whenever she wants. I love her competitive nature. She\u2019s here at Unrivaled and I walk by her and I\u2019m like, \u2018No crashouts today, please. Don\u2019t crash out here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The lore behind Mabrey\u2019s \u201ccrash out jar\u201d began when she hopped on her YouTube channel to make an announcement during a video that was posted on January 23. She began talking to the camera while wearing a business casual tan suit jacket. She was holding a notebook and a pen. She meant business.<\/p>\n Mabrey spoke about how she wanted to do a reflection series that explained her behavior following games. \u201cIt will be fun,\u201d she said. \u201cHear my side.\u201d<\/p>\n A few days prior Mabrey had just gotten into a public scuffle with Courtney Williams, someone Mabrey had played with previously on the Sky. During a January 19 Unrivaled game, Mabrey attempted to drive on the baseline, but Williams played well-positioned defense to prevent her from getting to the rim.<\/p>\n The two made contact and then the whistle blew as Mabrey went to grab Williams. The players began talking at each other while their teams clustered together to try to separate the two players. Mabrey shouted multiple expletives at Williams. Double technicals were administered. Yet another Mabrey crash out.<\/p>\n Mabrey explained what happened here and why she was going to introduce the \u201ccrash out jar.\u201d She noted that she often gets upset when defenders try to stop her.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly that\u2019s part of my growth,\u201d she said. \u201cI need to calm down. And I was supposed to practice saying \u2018good D\u2019 after someone plays good [defense] and stops me. But that has been so hard to say. So instead I just hugged [Williams]. I gave her a hug instead. Congratulations, you did great. But for real, I have seriously been trying to stop. I\u2019m doing breathing before the game, I\u2019m praying into my water [bottle].\u201d<\/p>\n Mabrey also resorted to self-talk to regulate her emotions. None of those methods had led her down any considerable improvement. Enter: the jar.<\/p>\n She whipped out a plastic jar with a bright blue top that was labeled in her handwriting \u201ccrash out jar.\u201d Each outburst would cost her money. Curse words were a dollar each, a scuffle could be as much as $40 and something like an insult to someone else would cost her $5.<\/p>\n When Mabrey went over her crash outs from that January 19 game, she\u2019d often say: \u201cthat was insane Marina.\u201d This is how she reflects.<\/p>\n But the push to introduce the jar didn\u2019t come from Mabrey alone. She said the idea was suggested by Brittainy Rivers, the sister-in-law of Sun teammate Saniya Rivers, who pulled her aside after a game and encouraged her to reflect on how she expresses her emotions.<\/p>\n Brittainy, the COO <\/a>of \u201cOwn Your Energy,\u201d a personal development company created by Saniya\u2019s sister Nanna Rivers, reminded Mabrey that it\u2019s a better use of her time to reflect after her crashouts rather than to self-sabotage. And that if Mabrey is honest about her struggles, the story shifts. Mabrey\u2019s self-awareness becomes the story rather than the crash outs themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cI was kind of just reminded, like, people go to their everyday job and go absolutely nuts,\u201d Mabrey said prior to her game in Philadelphia on January 30. \u201cGo home and act like nothing happened. The only thing is that there\u2019s not a camera on them when they are working. So she just reminded me that, like everyone does, and just to remind people that I am authentic and that I do reflect. I don\u2019t want to do some of the things I do. I am normal. I\u2019m a human.\u201d<\/p>\n At the start of her new practice, Mabrey didn\u2019t know who or what would be the recipient of her outbursts. She pondered that maybe she could donate the money to a charity, use it for her own therapy sessions, give the money to a fan or even her younger sister Dara who plays professionally in Greece.<\/p>\n While the \u201ccrash out jar\u201d made sense on paper, Mabrey found that adjusting to her new practice of holding herself accountable was quite difficult. Instead, it led to overthinking and the lessening of her notorious competitive edge, an intangible.<\/p>\n There was less money in the jar, but she wasn\u2019t having her best statistical games on the court. On January 26, she shot 8-for-20 from the field and scored 21 points. On each miss of a three or even blowing a bunny at the rim, she dropped an F-bomb. On that day, each one cost her $5.<\/p>\n According to her latest YouTube reflection<\/a> video that was released on January 29, she learned that maybe it wasn\u2019t about preventing crash outs entirely but rather having a more measured way of reacting. Her reactions fuel her game. She couldn\u2019t just turn a light switch off and be crash out free. It doesn\u2019t work that way.<\/p>\n Her mindset is now different. Instead of using up so much energy to prevent her natural emotions from taking their course, she worked on reining herself in. Feel the emotions but don\u2019t ruminate in them, and don\u2019t engage in them for longer than she has to.<\/p>\n Going into Unrivaled\u2019s highly-anticipated debut in Philadelphia, Mabrey knew she had to step up. She wasn\u2019t in the right headspace. She kept going onto the social media app Threads to look at what random people were saying about her. It got into her head.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know why I was even reading it at first,\u201d she said postgame. \u201cSome athletes always say, \u2018I don\u2019t really care. Oh, whatever.\u2019 Sometimes that shit gets me, so I\u2019m not gonna sit here and act like it doesn\u2019t. Like any other human, I don\u2019t want people talking bad about me. So when they do, sometimes I like, get upset and get in my head.\u201d<\/p>\n With the help of some self-talk and reflection, Mabrey did get over it for that moment and ended up having the greatest scoring game of her professional career. She put up 47 points on 18-of-28 shooting. She made over 64 percent of her shots and hit ten threes, breaking multiple Unrivaled records.<\/p>\n Amid her shooting prowess, three-level scoring, and emotional outbursts, Mabrey is just another person who has multiple layers to her personality. She\u2019s hyper-competitive and as a result loses her self-control. But that\u2019s not only who she is. She\u2019s much more amicable off the court and cares about her teammates.<\/p>\n Following her 47-point explosion that made the 21,490 crowd at Xfinity Mobile Arena erupt, Mabrey gave credit where credit was due to her opponent in Austin who in addition to shoving Mabrey in the third quarter, scored a quiet 31 points that evening.<\/p>\n Mabrey made it a point during her postgame press conference and even on the broadcast to explain how it was her teammates who allowed her to break out. Temi F\u00e1gb\u00e9nl\u00e9 set excellent screens, Skylar Diggins directed traffic, Rachel Banham hit timely threes and Rebecca Allen ran the floor and defended larger than her size. Mabrey wanted to win for her Connecticut teammate Aaliyah Edwards who couldn\u2019t play in Philadelphia due to a right arm injury.<\/p>\n While the \u201ccrash out jar\u201d highlights a side of Mabrey that isn\u2019t universally beloved across the WNBA, its value lies in her openness about growth.<\/p>\n The \u201ccrash out jar\u201d has become a motif, something that Mabrey\u2019s fans and the general women\u2019s basketball community can associate her with. It\u2019s become a part of her brand. It has since become a running joke on social media<\/a> and on television.<\/p>\n During her postgame television interview, Mabrey finally decided where the money from the crash out jar will go. She explained that she\u2019d follow in the footsteps of Paige Bueckers<\/a>, donating all the proceeds of the jar to a cause that directly helps communities that are dealing with ICE on the ground in Minnesota.<\/p>\n Could this willingness to not take herself so seriously while stressing accountability be a part of how Mabrey writes the next chapter of her pro career? It could be. Her almost 50-point romp in Philadelphia was a preview of what she could become.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is kind of the first step for me, just being able to see a 47-point game in my career,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve never done that, so just letting that fuel me and not limiting the light that I can shine.\u201d<\/p>\n Through reflection and self-awareness, Mabrey has stopped trying to contain what makes her great. The only lid she needs is for her jar.<\/p>\n