2024-25 WNBA Offseason Guides: Washington Mystics
2024-25 WNBA Offseason Guides: Washington Mystics
Our series detailing where every WNBA team stands looking towards next year continues with the Washington Mystics.
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also buy Her Hoop Stats gear, such as laptop stickers, mugs, and shirts!
Haven’t subscribed to the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter yet?
Previously published 2024-25 Offseason Guides:
Los Angeles Sparks
Dallas Wings
Chicago Sky
2024 record: 14-26, eliminated from playoff contention on final day of the regular season.
2025 draft picks: Washington's late-season charge, winning eight of their final 12 games wasn't quite enough to squeak into the playoffs. But unfortunately it was enough to significantly damage their lottery odds. They finished with the best two-year combined record among the lottery teams, so will only have a 10.4% chance of the No. 1 pick when the draw is held (assuming the odds format is unchanged from previous years and Golden State aren't introduced into the mix). The Mystics also have an extra 2025 first-rounder, having acquired Atlanta's pick from Dallas in the trade for the 2023 No. 4 pick which became Stephanie Soares. That will probably be the No. 6 overall pick, assuming Golden State are slotted somewhere above that position. Washington don't hold their own second- or third-round picks in 2025 - the second went to Las Vegas in the Amanda Zahui B trade, the third to Seattle for Jade Melbourne - but have picks in both rounds anyway. They added a second-rounder from Connecticut for Queen Egbo, and a third-rounder from Phoenix when they took on Sug Sutton at the deadline to open up cap space for the Mercury.
Free agents: Shatori Walker-Kimbrough (unrestricted free agent), Elena Delle Donne (unrestricted free agent), Julie Vanloo (reserved), Sug Sutton (reserved), Emily Engstler (reserved).
Under contract for 2025: Ariel Atkins, Brittney Sykes, Stefanie Dolson, Karlie Samuelson, Shakira Austin, Aaliyah Edwards, Jade Melbourne, Sika Koné.
2024 performance: 2024 was another messy season for the Washington Mystics, but at least it was different. Rather than constantly hanging on the health of Elena Delle Donne and believing themselves to be contenders if she could just be fit and available at the right time, that issue was dealt with in preseason. The Mystics cored her to ensure they could get value in a trade, never completed a deal despite rumours of interest from multiple other franchises, and then Delle Donne herself announced she'd be stepping away from basketball for at least this season. Coring Delle Donne meant they couldn't core Natasha Cloud, who left for Phoenix. Losing those two players for nothing pushed the Mystics into at least a semi-rebuild, whether they wanted to be there or not.
Washington openly said that they were now looking more towards building for the future, but the core of a good team was still here with veterans Brittney Sykes and Ariel Atkins, young posts Shakira Austin and Aaliyah Edwards, and free agent acquisitions Stefanie Dolson, Karlie Samuelson and Julie Vanloo. The problem was that even with Delle Donne removed from the equation, they couldn't stay healthy. Sykes and Austin both missed over half the season, with Austin's inability to stay on the floor really starting to become a concern. Samuelson missed a significant chunk of the year as well, and Edwards several games. But when Sykes returned after the Olympics and everyone but Austin was available for nearly every game, the squad finally came together and showed what they were capable of. From an overarching franchise perspective they might've been better off continuing to lose and going into the lottery with better odds, but it certainly raised the atmosphere around the team going into the offseason. There's still talent here to win games if they can keep key players on the floor, even if their eyes are largely trained on 2026 and beyond.
Offseason finances: The Mystics have the majority of this season's group already under contract and set to return for 2025. Only Shatori Walker-Kimbrough will become an unrestricted free agent, with everyone else either under contract or reserved and therefore under team control. That's already eight players, even before considering draft picks, free agents, or any of Walker-Kimbrough, Vanloo, Sutton, and Emily Engstler. The $523,340 of cap space is therefore fairly considerable, although if they choose to core Delle Donne again then her core qualifying offer would immediately swallow $249,244 of it until March 7 (even if she doesn't sign it). You may remember that this year they had to wait until that deadline passed to complete the Dolson signing, because until March 7 they didn't have the requisite cap space. If the same scenario repeats itself with Delle Donne, they may once again have to ask any significant free agent additions to wait a while to make the signing official.
However, largely speaking it looks like they've already positioned this roster to work on its development until the 2025-26 offseason where most of the league will be free agents. Barring trades they'll be adding two more high draft picks to the youth of Austin and Edwards, and the focus may well be on building with that core and biding their time, rather than trying to splash the cash this offseason.
Offseason priorities: As mentioned above, the focus is probably going to be on internal development. Even the free agent additions last year were solid vets to fit in around their youth, rather than trying to shoot for the stars with big-name signings (although that might've been as much down to lack of interest from the big names as to Washington's own choice). The strong finish to this season illustrated that there's a good core here, so they might make some enquiries if any of the star names on the free agent lists are allowed to become true unrestricted free agents (rather than being cored by their current teams). Why not take a crack at being a contender in 2025 if the opportunity happens to be there? But more likely they'll be even younger, and hope that better health could lead to more consistent results.
They also have to decide if Eric Thibault is still the head coach they want to take them forward into future years. Between the strong finish to the season and the obvious faith that GM Mike Thibault has in him, it seems likely he’ll be retained for at least another year. But as we’ve just seen with Curt Miller in Los Angeles, even in the midst of a rebuild someone often has to take the blame for the losing. 33-47 over two seasons isn’t enough to guarantee that a head coach gets to stick around.
From a positional perspective this roster could still use a lead ballhandler, with Cloud not really having been replaced since she left for Phoenix. Players like Vanloo, Sykes and even Atkins can bring the ball up and run the offense, but are all better playing predominantly off the ball. If they get particularly lucky, Paige Bueckers could obviously fill that spot; otherwise they'd have to get more creative. Beyond that they may be looking for wings, given that they already have two young posts in Austin and Edwards (and like every other veteran in the league, Sykes and Atkins will be free agents after 2025). But when you're in the talent-acquisition stage of any kind of rebuild, the focus basically needs to be on adding the best young players possible, not on what position they play.
Future assets: The Mystics still have all their own 2026 draft picks, plus an extra second-rounder from the deal that sent Myisha Hines-Allen to Minnesota at this year's trade deadline. They also still hold the reserved rights to Li Meng and Bernadett Határ, both of whom could be useful bench players if they want to try the WNBA again. Washington also still have the draft rights to young European prospects Nastja Claessens and Txell Alarcon, although they probably still need significant development before realistically being able to help a WNBA team.
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
"Paige Bueckers could obviously fill that spot; otherwise they'd have to get more creative." - Richard Cohen regarding the point guard position with the Washington Mystics.
What do you mean by more creative?
There could/should be other point guard possibilities in the upcoming draft, most notably Olivia Miles, whose strength as a guard is her playmaking ability. She's also a fairly tall point guard who rebounds exceptionally well and plays defense.
ET won’t but has to go. Brutally bad coach. So bad at coaching he won late in the year when they needed to keep losing. I hope they luck into Paige but they made it harder than it needed to be!