Despite not making the playoffs, the Mystics showed resilience and have key young contributors who could be part of a contending roster in the not too distant future.
The Washington Mystics were 14-26 in the 2024 WNBA season, missing the playoffs in the very last game of the season. A little over a week has passed since the season ended, and now I finally have some time to debrief and look at the year that was.
Let’s first take a look at four key things the Mystics can be proud of in their 2024 season.
The Mystics never gave up after an 0-12 start and a poor stretch after the Olympic break
Most teams that begin the season losing as many games as the Mystics have at the beginning of the season would have likely thrown in the towel. And this was also the case after the Mystics lost each of their first three games after the long Olympic break.
There is a benefit to that in the form of more draft lottery balls, but it also can hurt the morale of the current team. I never sensed that the Mystics would just give up. Veterans like Ariel Atkins, Stefanie Dolson and Brittney Sykes weren’t going to just willingly see their team go to the lottery. And I’d agree with Julie Vanloo’s sentiment that this Mystics team is one of the most resilient out there.
And finally, let’s give head coach Eric Thibault credit as well. Though some Mystics fans insinuate that he is the head coach simply because his father is the General Manager, Thibault was able to get them very close to a playoff berth despite that 0-12 start. That 14-14 finish shouldn’t go unnoticed.
The young talent they have could be part of a new core, if the Mystics can keep them after 2025
Though the 2026 WNBA free agency period and expansion draft will cause a lot of player movement, I still believe most teams won’t experience too much turnover, especially if they have been contending or at least building a solid foundation. The Mystics are doing the latter.
Aaliyah Edwards is one Mystics player who will be under contract for 2026, where she averaged 7.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game while averaging 49 percent of her shots.
Edwards is often compared (sometimes unfairly) to Angel Reese, the player who was drafted one spot after her. But while Reese had better stats and a WNBA record for consecutive double doubles, Reese’s field goal percentage was under 40 percent. That’s normal for a guard, but Edwards and Reese are power forwards. I know Mystics fans will be wondering about whether the team should have drafted Reese instead, but Edwards has been the more efficient player and can still be the better player long term.
Edwards is far from the only young player who made strides in 2024. Emily Engstler and Jade Melbourne are still not 25 years old yet, and both averaged 6.2 points and 5.4 points respectively, playing significant minutes when veterans like Sykes or Karlie Samuelson were injured. Sina Kone was traded to Washington midseason where she averaged 8.6 points per game in 10 appearances. Kone is just 21 years old and is still not as old as the average WNBA rookie.
If Washington can keep all four of Edwards, Engstler, Melboune and Kone in 2026, they will have a solid core group of contributors for what I hope is the next Mystics championship team.
The Mystics were one of the WNBA’s best three point shooting teams in 2024
Washington made 389 threes out of 1,064 attempts, making 36.6 percent of their long range shots. They made the second most threes and did so with the second highest rate. Furthermore, they made 24.4 percent more threes in 2024 than in 2023 when they made just 310 shots from deep, good for 5th in the league.
I hate the cliche about a team “finding its identity.” That’s because every team has an identity — some teams just don’t like the one they have, which is why those teams mention that cliche. That said, the Mystics have embraced their identity as a team that can make it rain from the three point line.
The Mystics show that they can sell tickets, even in a rebuilding season
Washington sold out all of their games at the Entertainment and Sports Arena and Capital One Arena in the 2024 season. Season tickets are hard to get, if not sold out. And with the WNBA growing in popularity this season, it is a good thing to see that the Mystics are able to get paying fans into the stands, even if they weren’t at their best this past season as they look to move on from the Elena Delle Donne era.
Later this week, I will go over some of the things that set the Mystics back in 2024. For now, share your thoughts in the comments about the positives.