The Mystics will likely have one lottery pick for the 2025 WNBA Draft. And the 2026 WNBA free agency period will still be the most important thing to prepare for.
Thanks for your responses to this week’s SB Nation Reacts survey, Washington Mystics fans. Let’s go over the one question we asked.
The Mystics are 9-22, 10th in the WNBA standings for the 2024 season, after a three win streak. Before that streak, Washington was 12th. Regardless of where the Mystics were, I was still going to ask the same question. Is it better to see them tank, or prioritize playing their younger and bench players for 2025? Or is it better to win now and make a run for the playoffs, which still aren’t mathematically out of reach?
Out of over 150 responses, the results were clear from the fans. Eighty percent voted that it was preferable to see Washington tank the rest of the season so they would have as many lottery balls as possible for the 2025 Draft where UConn guard Paige Bueckers is widely regarded to be the top pick. If Bueckers were to play for Washington, she would be a franchise player, and make Washington one of the most marketable teams in the league again since Elena Delle Donne was traded to Washington in 2017 until this past season.
Let’s say that the Mystics don’t care about your opinions folks! pic.twitter.com/s62M1tMwHh
— BF_Mystics (@BF_mystics) August 30, 2024
There are still reasons to compete. Washington has two 2025 first round picks, their own and the selection that was the Atlanta Dream’s. Atlanta is currently 9th and could realistically be a lottery team as well. And given how much time is left in the regular season, it isn’t likely that both the Mystics AND Dream will make the playoffs.
Also, we have to give the Mystics credit for righting the ship in the standings since their 0-12 start. They have gone 9-10 since then, which is at the rate of a playoff team. And most of their key players, in particular, guard Brittney Sykes, is back after missing most of the first half of the season due to injury.
Playing competitively now also has another long term benefit: it can be a selling point to superstars in the 2026 offseason when a new CBA is expected to take effect. And with two new teams coming into the WNBA by 2026, the talent distribution will be a bit more spread out.
Either way, while getting Bueckers would be a great start toward building the next Mystics team to win a WNBA championship, the new CBA and expansion teams will likely make it more difficult for teams to start their rebuild through getting a top draft pick. Future championship teams could very well be built from shrewd trades and attracting stars because of the system currently in place.
And that’s exactly how the Mystics’ 2019 WNBA championship team got constructed.