The Washington Mystics haven’t been a relevant WNBA team in six seasons. Heck, aside from a first place conference finish in 2010, they haven’t really been at all. The Mystics are the league’s only team to never reach the Finals, and Mike Thibault is their 10th coach in 19 seasons. The franchise has struggled to find its way.
Elena Delle Donne trade makes the Washington Mystics a sudden WNBA title contender
The Sparks and Lynx have more than each other to worry about.
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
But there’s light at the end of the tunnel. In just a few days, the Mystics turned themselves into the league’s next super team.
Washington secured 2015 MVP Elena Delle Donne in a late-January blockbuster trade, then signed all-star scoring guard and 2016 WNBA champion Kristi Toliver a few days later. They’ll play alongside one of the best young stretch forwards in the league in Emma Meesseman, 2016 Most Improved Player runner-up Tayler Hill, and defensive specialist Tierra Ruffin-Pratt.
After missing the playoffs last season, the Mystics suddenly have a roster to contend with the defending champion Los Angeles Sparks and title mainstays Minnesota Lynx.
Why Delle Donne chose the Mystics
Unhappy with a constantly changing staff and never really in title contention, Delle Donne wanted out of Chicago. Her move sent shockwaves throughout the league that have only been felt once before, as she joins Tina Charles as the only WNBA MVPs to be traded.
In her four-year career, she’s averaged 21 points on 38 percent three-point shooting, seven rebounds, two assists, and two blocks. The Olympian has been among the league’s best talents since her rookie year.
Washington was her ideal fit because it’s just a short trip from her home in Delaware, bringing her closer to home and her sister, Lizzie, who is blind and suffers from cerebral palsy. Delle Donne is also recently engaged, and she and her fiancé were looking for a place to eventually start a family.
The Mystics proved the beneficiary of Delle Donne’s move, and the team swapped all-star center Stefanie Dolson, Kahleah Copper, and a first-round pick for the star forward.
This could be one of the best offenses in league history
Losing Dolson, who averaged nine points and five rebounds per game, hurts. But what Washington will miss with Dolson’s interior presence, it more than makes up for with its new pair of sharpshooting bigs.
Meesseman and Delle Donne ranked first and third, respectively, in three-point shooting percentage last season at 45 and 43 percent. The pair also ranked in the top 15 in overall field-goal percentage and can play with their backs to the basket with polished low-post moves. They’re a matchup nightmare no matter their opposition. The Mystics now have the bodies to compete with equally versatile bigs like the Sparks’ Nneka Ogwumike and Candace Parker.
Adding Toliver gives Washington the league’s fourth-best three-point shooter and a reliable ball-handler, who averaged four assists per game on a championship roster. She isn’t a true point guard, but with a point-forward in Delle Donne sharing the floor with her, she won’t need to be. Thibault wanted to model this team after the Golden State Warriors, according to the Washington Post. With three of the four best three-point shooters in the league last year now on the team, you can see why.
While this offense will rely heavily on the deep-ball, its core players can also slash to the rim. Hill and Delle Donne ranked third and sixth in the league in free throw attempts per game. Hill knocked them down at an 83 percent rate, and Delle Donne sunk 93.5 percent of them, the league’s second-best rate.
The defense might take some time, but it should be OK
Figuring out how to stop a traditional big like Minnesota’s 6’5 center Sylvia Fowles won’t be easy with Dolson gone, but Thibault doesn’t seem worried.
“I’ve awakened in the middle of the night several times in the last week with offensive ideas in my head and how to fit pieces together,” said Thibault during a conference call, according to the Washington Post. “We’ll work on the defensive part later.”
Team defense will take time to formulate, but Washington has its designated stopper. Locking down opposing wings has been the duty of Ruffin-Pratt, an undrafted rookie whose individual numbers don’t illustrate her worth. She’s contained Lynx MVP Maya Moore, former Indiana Fever MVP Tamika Catchings, and will anchor this group defensively. The Mystics announced they’d re-signed her on Friday, a crucial retention if Washington wants to achieve its dreams.
There’s still more work to be done
The rest of the roster has yet to fill out with free agency not ending until late February. Washington may look to find a true point guard if it isn’t confident in up-and-down rookie guard Natasha Cloud. Leilani Mitchell is an unrestricted free agent who proved to be a spark plug in her 10 games with the team following the Olympic break last season. The Mystics also own the Seattle Storm’s No. 6 pick in April’s draft after a series of trades.
Regardless of how they fill out their roster, the Mystics have become a championship contender in a top-heavy league run by superteams. Last year, the Sparks and Lynx were five games ahead of the next-best team in a short 34-game season, and on an obvious collision course to meet in the finals. They captured everyone’s attention with a tight five-game series that ended with a thrilling Game 5.
But thanks to the Mystics loading up, the Sparks and Lynx have more than just each other to worry about this year.
