Given the WNBA standings, we know the Washington Mystics will have a WNBA Draft Lottery pick. The question is will they have two?
The 2024 WNBA season is still in flux. No single team has been eliminated from the playoffs, but seven playoff spots are clinched. With only one spot open and four teams with five first round 2025 WNBA Draft picks waiting to see what happens, the Washington Mystics will have at least one spot in the lottery because they hold their own pick as well as the Atlanta Dream’s.
Updated standings. No. 8 seed officially the last slot ope. After Sky, Dream, Wings all lose and Mystics win. #wnba pic.twitter.com/bD8lQ4pQdb
— Kareem Copeland (@kareemcopeland) September 4, 2024
Let me be clear: Big picture, the organization would love to have 2 lottery picks. At the same time, the players are very much trying to get that final playoff spot.
Kind of a weird situation. Long-term, a lottery pick is more valuable. In the immediate, no way Atkins, Sykes and… https://t.co/ZdbDiqHz7q— Kareem Copeland (@kareemcopeland) September 4, 2024
From what Kareem Copeland of The Washington Post said in the above X posts, the Mystics’ front office, including General Manager Mike Thibault wouldn’t mind seeing the team have two lottery picks. Most fans would certainly concur. That said, the top players in their primes like Ariel Atkins and Brittney Sykes want the team to remain competitive. It’s the classic hypothetical “Front office vs. the players” narrative.
Like most of you in last week’s SB Nation Reacts survey, I would rather see the Mystics give themselves the best possible opportunity to get the No. 1 draft pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft. The Mystics have won the first selection only twice in franchise history despite their mostly crappy seasons (2017-19 aside). And they decided to punt on the 2022 No. 1 Draft pick instead of keeping it themselves, so Chamique Holdsclaw still remains the only No. 1 pick to actually play for them as the team’s first round draft pick in her rookie season.
The Mystics have also fared poorly when they had two lottery draft picks in the same year. In 2002, one of the top drafts in league history, the Mystics had two lottery picks in the first such process in league history. But despite the Mystics having the best chance of getting the No. 1 pick to draft Sue Bird, they ended up with the No. 2 and No. 4 picks to select Stacy Dales and Asjha Jones, respectively. Meanwhile the No. 1 pick was Bird and the No. 3 pick was Swin Cash, both of whom were some of the most dominant players in league history. Jones ended up panning out as an All-Star, but never came into her own with the Mystics, while Dales never had a long WNBA career.
Yeah, I’m definitely among the first Mystics fans who would like to see the Mystics get some draft lottery luck this upcoming year.