The Mystics are in uncertain territory without their franchise players, but have reasons for hope and draft picks going forward.
Welcome to a new era of Washington Mystics basketball. After five of the best years in franchise history, Washington will move on without Elena Delle Donne for the foreseeable future. She decided to take a break from the game rather than play for the Mystics or any of the teams willing to trade for her. EDD’s departure followed Natasha Cloud’s jump to the Phoenix Mercury in free agency. The era of good feelings after the 2019 championship has seemingly officially ended.
Current state of the roster
While the Mystics will not be in full rebuild mode, they will be transitioning to a younger team with a focus on the future. At age 27, Ariel Atkins remains the team’s biggest star coming into the season. But Shakira Austin appears to be the future face of the franchise at just 23 years old. Brittany Sykes will take the reigns at point guard after her best season. At age 30, she might not be a part of the Mystics’ long-term vision. But she has two years left on her contract and could be a trade candidate if things go sideways during the season. In addition to those three players, only the newly signed Karlie Samuelson and Stefanie Dolson have money on the books for 2025.
Queen Egbo has a rookie option that the team could pick up before this season. Myisha Hines-Allen and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, two mainstays from the 2019 Championship season, are expiring contracts and the rest of the roster is filled out with training camp contracts. You can read abou those signings below.
Mystics General Manager Mike Thibault may (reasonably) be betting that Atkins and Austin can become a power duo in the absence of the departed all-stars. If that happens, the Mystics may end up in the middle of the pack again as they find their footing, but could resist the idea of fully rebuilding. If things continue to go downhill for the Mystics, trading Atkins and Sykes (or even Austin) for draft picks before the 2025 season becomes more of a reality.
Future considerations
There’s no urgency to trade up in the 2024 draft at the moment for two reasons. In terms of draft capital, the Mystics are in good shape. They own their first-round pick in each of the next three drafts as well as Atlanta’s 2025 first-round pick acquired in a trade during last season’s draft. Secondly, the quality of the 2024 draft remains murky. Potential superstars Caitlin Clark of Iowa and Cameron Brink of Stanford have yet to announce that they will go pro. Projected top-three pick Paige Bueckers announced that she will return to UConn for another season.
If those three return to college, the Mystics might feel pressure to trade off players for future picks this offseason in an attempt to be bad enough to secure one of those potential game-changers. Clark and Brink will be picked well ahead of Washington’s sixth overall pick in 2024 and no WNBA GM would trade out of drafting Clark (and to a lesser extent Brink). If Clark and Brink declare, the 2025 draft may lack star power outside of Bueckers with future drafts seemingly loaded with star underclassmen such as Juju Watkins and Kiki Rice. It’s impossible to time a rebuild. But Washington’s apparent timeline of fully transitioning to a rebuild after the 2025 season could be optimal.