For most of the season, the Washington Mystics have been marginal overachievers. They’re certainly better than some people thought—I won’t name-drop the people who mocked them to finish last in the league; you know who you are—but they were missing any kind of statement win to suggest that they’re actually good.
On Tuesday, they took down the league-leading Minnesota Lynx to make that statement. Napheesa Collier was out with a lower back injury, but Mystics star and leading-scorer Brittney Sykes was out too. It was about as even of a playing field as you can get, and the Mystics claimed Minnesota’s second loss of the season.
Even after losing a one-point thriller against the Atlanta Dream, Washington is just one game under .500, despite being one of the least experienced teams in the league. For a while, optimism was being delivered exclusively in the form of projections towards the future. The Mystics, however, are more than a distant long-term project: They’re playing winning basketball right now.
It’s Soni’s world
Mystics fans have made a hobby out of debating which one of their game-changing rookies should be promoted for Rookie of the Year candidacy. It feels like Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron are taking turns making history on a game-by-game basis, and luckily for the team itself, choosing between the two players isn’t something they have to do.
In Sunday’s game against the Dallas Wings, Sonia Citron recorded a career-high 27 points, 11 rebounds and her first career game-winning 3. She also became the first player since A’ja Wilson in 2018 to score in double-digits in each of their first 14 career games—something only nine players have accomplished in the league’s history.
Paige Bueckers has slowly eclipsed both Mystics rookies in the current Rookie of the Year campaign, but Citron and Iriafen are hitting marks that have been historically reserved for future greatness. Some WNBA franchises struggle to hit on two first round picks across five years or more. For the Mystics to hit on two in one draft is almost unheard of, and Georgia Amoore won’t even debut until next season. Every week, the future looks brighter in Washington.
The good, the bad and the confusing
A few weeks ago, I noted that aside from Kiki Iriafen, the Mystics had been enduring inconsistency at the forward spot. Shakira Austin and Aaliyah Edwards were both coming back from injuries, and Stefanie Dolson was taking a step back to let the younger bigs shine. Some of those inconsistencies have been resolved. Some have become more concerning.
Shakira Austin is currently playing the best basketball of her professional career, evidenced by the Eastern Conference Player of the Week award she just took home. Austin put up 28 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks in a one-point loss to the Dream. She followed that up with 21 points and seven rebounds on Sunday against the Wings. She’s been vocal about stacking together good days, and it seems like she’s finally hit a groove that she’s been searching for for quite some time. On Tuesday night, Austin took it to a Collier-less Lynx squad, ending with 19 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and a game-tying putback layup with 32 seconds remaining.
Stefanie Dolson’s situation hasn’t necessarily changed, but perhaps gotten a bit more official. Her usage withered as she took a back seat to Iriafen, but with Austin fully back from injury, Dolson has been stripped of her starting role and most of her minutes (a change that I’m sure she generously welcomed in the interest of the team). She failed to break 10 minutes in either of last weeks games. She remains a potential name to be moved before the trade deadline, as her role in DC isn’t much more than a veteran voice at the moment. The Mystics are certainly fine embracing her as a rotational piece and leader, but it may be in her own interest to go somewhere where she could have a bigger impact on the game.
Aaliyah Edwards situation is, by far, the most concerning development in Washington. After starting half of her games last season, she still has yet to be on the court for an opening tip this year. Her minutes aren’t faring much better than Dolson’s. In the last four contests, Edwards recorded 12, five, 11, and 11 minutes played. That’s not inherently a sign of a sophomore slump, but a reflection of her lingering injury combined with the quick development of Iriafen. However, fans had high hopes for Edwards after her Unrivaled successes. There hasn’t been much, if any, progress towards her becoming a legitimate perimeter threat. She still hasn’t made a 3-pointer in her WNBA career, and isn’t finishing particularly well on drives. Edwards doesn’t need to become a wing to succeed in the W, but she’s not as physically gifted as Iriafen in the post. Without growing her game, she may perpetually sit behind the rookie on the depth chart.
Don’t forget the “other” rookie
The Mystics have a lot of rookies who are deserving of a lot of praise, but there’s one who deserves a bit more celebration than he’s getting: Sydney Johnson. Of the league’s seven first-year head coaches, only the Dream’s Karl Smesko has accumulated more wins than Johnson. Not to take away any of his shine, Smesko also inherited a much, much more experienced roster than Johnson.
Johnson’s made it clear that above all, he has his player’s back. In return, DC’s players have shown that they have his. After getting a dramatic technical foul for some unkind words directed at the refs against Dallas on Sunday, Mystics fans rose to their biggest standing ovation of the season. Johnson brings a visible intensity and a passion that the Mystics lacked under both Thibault regimes. On his sideline emotions, Johnson has shared:
It’s an easy group to try and fight for. I don’t want to get technicals — I don’t want to make this about me, but I have a roll to play in terms of, like, joining them. I tell them every day I’m having the time of my life.
He’s not yet in a stratosphere that’s going to be rewarded with Coach of the Year votes, but Johnson’s earned the trust of his fanbase—something that every coach wants, whether they’d admit it or not. If the Mystics return to the postseason, even as a low seed, Johnson deserves just as many flowers as Citron and Iriafen.
