Washington picked up a win… but is it also worth giving up lottery balls in the process?
The Washington Mystics beat the Los Angeles Sparks Friday night, 80-74. The win was Washington’s first since July 10.
Tonight’s matchup pitted the 6-22 Sparks against the 6-22 Mystics — the two worst teams in the league. Call it the “Paige Bueckers Bowl,” as the Sparks and Mystics are two of the three teams in contention for the first pick in next year’s draft (the Dallas Wings are the third). Bueckers, the prodigy out of UConn, is the consensus number one overall pick in next year’s draft, and the Mystics own two of the four lottery picks; Washington cannot afford to throw away this crack at a generational prospect.
Takeaways from the game
- The highlight of the game was Shakira Austin’s fourth quarter statement block against Dearica Hamby, which the Mystics converted to two points on the offensive end.
- It was the Brittney Sykes show tonight. Sykes got to the basket at will and went 12-for-20 en route to 28 points.
- It’s been 101 days since the Mystics opened the season against the New York Liberty, which means it’s been 101 days that I’ve believed this Mystics squad is better than their record reflects. Sure, each player is fairly limited and excels in exactly one aspect of the game, but (likely) finishing the season with single-digit wins? That feels like an underperformance to me.
- Building off my point about each Mystics player excelling at exactly one skill: this roster is assembled like a Voltron of Napheesa Collier. If you combined everyone, you’d end up with one Collier.
- Paige Bueckers was in attendance tonight to watch her (most likely) future team. Whether it’s the Sparks or the Mystics remains to be seen.
- Rickea Jackson decisively won the rookie frontcourt battle against Aaliyah Ewdwards, finishing with 17 points to Edwards’ 6.
The Mystics’ next game is in Seattle against the Storm on Monday night.