Marta Suarez’s rookie season has been defined less by what happens on the court and more by how many rosters she has cycled through trying to find one. The Phoenix Mercury waived the forward this week, marking the third time this year a franchise has parted ways with her. The move prompted her former teammate Sami Whitcomb to speak up on her behalf.

“I mean, she’s in the gym first every morning,” Whitcomb said, as per Phoenix beat reporter Aya Abdeen. “She just loves basketball. She loves putting in work, she loves showing up, and she’s a pro to me, and her approach to the game and how she handles it, you can give her constructive feedback and she takes it and implements it right away.”

“You can see no matter when she comes in the game, and no matter what the score is, she is competing and enjoying that. Like you can’t really coach that. You just have to have that, or you don’t. I love that about her. I love that she’s not disturbed by foul calls or whatever it is. To me that’s gonna lead to a really great career.”

Suarez’s path to this point has been unusually turbulent for a rookie. She was selected 16th overall in the second round of the 2026 WNBA Draft by the Seattle Storm, then traded immediately on draft night, along with a 2028 second-round pick, to the Golden State Valkyries in exchange for Flau’jae Johnson. Golden State waived her on May 2, before the regular season began. Phoenix picked her up days later, signing her to a player development contract on May 6.

Earlier this month, she was waived from her developmental contract. On July 9, Suarez signed a 7-day contract with the Mercury yet again. It gave Mercury a perfect player to add depth to its roster in the event of Natasha Mack’s injury.

That deal has now also ended, with Phoenix waiving Suarez this week. She appeared in 10 games with the Mercury across her time there. This was a stretch too brief to fully capture what she offers on the floor, according to those who have coached and played alongside her.

Suarez’s numbers don’t tell the full story

Whitcomb’s praise did not arrive in isolation. Valkyries general manager Ohema Nyanin offered a similar assessment of Suarez, according to USA Today.

“Marta is fierce. She’s fearless,” Nyanin said. “She has a very high basketball IQ. Her high character is off the charts.”

The limited playing time Suarez received in Phoenix makes her performance a difficult thing to fully evaluate. With veterans like Alyssa Thomas, Kahleah Copper and DeWanna Bonner ahead of her in the rotation, Suarez averaged just over 9 minutes per game across her 10 appearances, according to ESPN. In that role, she averaged 3.9 points and 1.3 rebounds while shooting 50% from the field.

That small sample line looks even smaller next to what she showed in college. Suarez averaged 11.6 points per game across her collegiate career, according to Sports Reference, while shooting 43.4% from the field and pulling down 6.2 rebounds a game, numbers that point to a more complete two-way game than her brief WNBA minutes have allowed her to show.

Suarez is now a free agent for the third time in her rookie year, waiting for a roster willing to give her the runway her supporters say she has earned.