Locked On Women’s Basketball: How are the Mystics preparing for the future?

The first sent veteran guard Brittney Sykes to the Seattle Storm in exchange for former Mystic and three-time WNBA champion Alysha Clark, as well as guard Zia Cooke and Seattle’s first-round pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft. Washington later cut Cooke as well as guard Sika Koné.

“The short answer is, it impacts the team in pretty much every way. She was their leading scorer, she was their top perimeter defender, she set the tone as one of only a few veterans on a really young team,” Hatfield said. “The Mystics lose part of their identity this season, not their entire identity, but a key piece that they have to kind of rebuild without her now.”

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The second sent forward Aaliyah Edwards to the Connecticut Sun just hours before the trade deadline. The Mystics received Jacy Sheldon and the right to swap late first-round picks in the 2026 WNBA Draft.

“Sheldon is a guard, the Mystics don’t have much guard depth at all, especially after losing Sykes, so in the short term, Sheldon kind of balances the roster out a little bit better than Edwards did,” Hatfield said. “Edwards was being crowded out at the four, partly just because Kiki Iriafen, Shakira Austin, all those guys are really good, and they just had a lot of forwards to play.”

The two also discussed Hatfield’s impression of the team’s strategy going into future expansion drafts and how they can use their cap space through the remainder of the 2025 season.

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Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the group that owns the Washington Mystics, holds a minority stake in The Next. The Next’s editorial operations are entirely independent of Monumental and all other business partners.