rewrite this content and keep HTML tags
One of my most geriatric millennial traits is a deep, deep love for the television show Scrubs. The show’s timing, premiering in 2001, as I was a high school junior starting to look towards college was akin to the main character of JD entering his medical residency at Sacred Heart. The show became such a fixture in my life that I purchased each season on DVD the moment they became available (ok, THIS is maybe the most geriatric millennial trait). Eventually, as shows often do, the program’s quality began to taper off. Character development stagnated and the storylines that held the show together for so many quality seasons didn’t hold the same fixation for audiences. Eventually, Bill Lawrence, the show creator and lead writer moved on to different projects, and so did many of the lead characters. The show eventually decided to move forward, focusing on a cast of younger characters and starting their career in the medical field.
At this point, I don’t blame you for wondering when we’re going to start bringing up the Washington Mystics and basketball. If you can forgive the self-indulgent trip down early 2000s television memory, what the Mystics franchise is experiencing at this moment seems akin to a favorite TV series that was reliably great for many seasons, slowly fading out of acclaim before turning in an entirely new direction.
This week with the news that Elena Delle Donne formally announced her retirement it became clear that this version of the Mystics, the team that won the 2019 WNBA championship and regular contenders in the time that followed is no more. No player or coach from that title-winning team is still with the franchise.
The major departures from the team began last October when the team announced that the father/son duo of general manager Mike Thibault and head coach Eric Thibault were let go. Both were instrumental in building and coaching the title-winning team but also steered the organization to losing seasons in four out of the last five years.
The offseason also saw players depart as well. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough signed with the Atlanta Dream and Ariel Atkins was part of a trade that landed her in Chicago in exchange for the third overall pick in the 2025 WNBA draft.
The draft pick from Chicago as well as the other two picks Washington has in the first round (five total in the draft) might be the only incoming players they receive this offseason. The WNBA player movement page shows that no players have made it to the DMV area, and it might be a sign of what the franchise plans to do going forward.
Currently, the Mystics have nine players under contract. Assuming they keep all their draft picks and sign them at least through training camp, they would have enough room to cut a few players before the regular season starts. That means the 2025 version of this team is going to look very, very young. The current average of all players under contract is 25.8, and with an influx of players out of college or overseas prospects, that could tip lower at the start of the season.
When it comes to navigating this new direction of the franchise, Washington hired Jamila Wideman as the general manager and Sydney Johnson as the new head coach. To meet the theme of newness, while both individuals have extensive experience in women’s basketball this will be their first professional role in the WNBA.
A new era is here!
Meet the NEW Mystics GM Jamila Wideman and Head Coach Sydney Johnson, as they set the tone for a new chapter. Let the countdown to the szn begin. ⏳ pic.twitter.com/tdeNYafKQ3
— Washington Mystics (@WashMystics) February 12, 2025
The players currently on the roster represent the two directions the franchise has tried to steer the last two seasons, playing for the postseason and rebuilding for future success. The veterans on this young roster are Brittney Sykes, Stefanie Dolson, Sug Sutton, and Karlie Samuelson. The younger vets like Shakira Austin, Aaliyah Edwards, Emily Engstler, and Jade Melbourne. Of the younger group only Austin is on a protected contract but it stands to reason that the rest have a future on this team.
And there is reason to believe in that future. The Mystics closed out the 2024 regular season winning seven of their last eleven games, including against playoff teams like Dallas, Phoenix, and Indiana, good for the third-best winning percentage in the league over that stretch. The team missed out on the postseason by one game to the Atlanta Dream, a pretty remarkable feat for a team that started the season with a 12-game losing streak.
Defense was the calling card for Washington when they were at their best and the remaining players on the roster in 2025 will certainly play a part in that effort going forward. In that end-of-season stretch mentioned above the Mystics were a top-five team in the league in defensive rating, steals, and blocks. Engslter’s 1.6 blocks per game were fifth-best in the league at that time. Austin also contributed 5.7 rebounds and one block in only 15 minutes per game, as rookie Edwards chipped in 5.1 rebounds and nearly a block and steal per contest as well.
The team will have to find a new identity on the offensive end if it hopes to have any success going forward. The leading returning scorer for the team is Sykes, who averaged 12.2 ppg but only played 18 games last season due to injury. Austin was the only player still on the roster to average double figures in scoring but she was limited as well, appearing in only 12 games. Remaining plates like Dolson (46.5 percent) and Samuelson (39.8 percent) can light it up from beyond the three-point line, but scoring at the basket as well as playmaking might have to come from the newcomers that join this roster through the draft.
Much like a show with a new cast coming in, it’s difficult to see where all these new pieces are going to fit. Ideally, the Mystics will be able to draft rookies that can help fill in the gaps both offensively and defensively that were left with all the players that have exited the team recently. And while Scrubs only lasted one more season after its main characters moved on to other projects, Washington hopes this new cast of characters is a blockbuster hit.
Unless otherwise noted, stats are courtesy of WNBA.com
