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The Washington Mystics have been sellers before the trade deadline, and they’ve made some big moves that will have an impact on their team going forward. The first thing they did was trade Brittney Sykes to the Seattle Storm for Alysha Clark. Sykes was an All-Star for the first time this season and was a big reason for the Mystics’ surprising success in the first half of the year.
Two days later, they traded Aaliyah Edwards to the Connecticut Sun for Jacy Sheldon. This felt like a move that was bound to happen, as the Mystics made it known a month ago that they were listening to trade offers for the forward.
This Mystics team does not look the same, and players already are seeing the effects, with one of them being Shakira Austin, who shared her thoughts on social media.
“Well there goes my healed journey…. they got my bookie and my rook. They kept me together man wow s— hurts,” Austin wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
It’s obvious that the Mystics are focused on building around their young talent, and they were able to get some assets in the trades. Austin has been playing well this season, as well as Kiki Iriafen, which led the Mystics to make the decision to trade Edwards.
The Mystics get a young guard in return with Sheldon, who has played in 28 games this season, averaging 7.5 points, 2.0 assists, 1.9 rebounds, and 1.0 steals. She’s recording a career-high in points per game, steals per game, field goal percentage, and 3-point percentage.
As far as Clark, she is a 3-time WNBA champion and brings a veteran presence to the Mystics that they may have lost with Sykes. Clark’s role with the Storm was not what she was expecting it to be after she signed with the team, and this could be a fresh start for her.
