Rebuilds are, and always will be, an incredibly delicate and intricate processes.
They take time. They take patience, or at least enough self-awareness to know which direction a team needs to take. They take home run hits, whether they be inside the park or just a little further, at almost every level, from management, to coaching, to roster changes and beyond. One wrong move, willing or not, can send the entire process into a tailspin, leaving a team scrambling for options as they have no choice but to try again.
Some teams, whether it be through impatience or pure hubris, may feel the need to overwater the delicate plant that could have blossomed into something beautiful with enough delicate care. The Chicago Sky, in a desperate attempt to remain somewhat relevant far after a mass exodus of starters in early 2023, opted to redline their rebuilding process by mortgaging their future in favor of a "win-now" mentality that fell far short of the mark. 10 wins and plenty of turmoil later, Chicago will now have to rely on scotch tape and half a practice facility to hastily tape the pieces of a lost season back into place and scrape together any semblance of a sales pitch to keep pace with the "win-now" mentality general manager Jeff Pagliocca stubbornly doubled down upon during his exit interviews.
The Washington Mystics, on the other hand, seem to be finding treasures from what the Sky once thought of as trash.
Washington traded guard Ariel Atkins, a two-time All-Star and five-time All-Defensive selection, to Chicago in exchange for a handful of draft picks, including a first-round swap in 2027. While the Mystics would have already been in good hands if they had stayed the course with their first-round selections, their 2025 draft haul was made all the sweeter when they selected a rookie All-Star in Notre Dame guard Sonia Citron at No. 3. Led by a former Sky assistant in head coach Sydney Johnson, Washington finished with a record of 16-28 after they were at .500 by late July. A 10-game losing streak all but shattered their early postseason hopes, but they could at least take home a sense of hope and the feeling of leaning into their future instead of away from it.
Citron and USC standout Kiki Iriafen headlined a preview into the next chapter of Mystics basketball—one that, like so many other successful rebuilds before them, will be fueled by time, patience, and plenty of player development. Washington will also hold the fourth-highest odds in the 2026 WNBA Draft lottery. If paired well with their two other first-rounders, the Mystics can further catapult themselves into a future filled with home-grown talent and a real team identity that can last a lifetime.
“Whether (next season) includes the playoffs or not, I think the important thing for us is to remember that we are building for something even bigger than that,” Mystics general manager Jamila Wideman said during her exit interview, via The Next Managing Editor Jenn Hatfield. “I think we are building with an aspiration to create a culture of competitiveness that lets us have the playoffs in our sight year in and year out.
"And so I think we’re one year into building that foundation, and we look forward to continuing to build next year.”
The Mystics still have room for improvement on offense
It's clear Washington still has some ways to go on offense.
The Mystics finished this season with an offensive rating of 97.2, which put them just ahead of the Sky for 11th place in the WNBA. They placed behind the Golden State Valkyries, Dallas Wings, and Seattle Storm. They took last place in the league in field goal and 3-point attempts, though they were near the middle of the pack in field goal percentage. Guard Brittney Sykes, who was shipped off to the Storm in August, led the team with 15.4 points per game.
The Kitron duo proved to be one of the few bright spots in Washington's offense, one that will need to add scoring power during the next stages of its rebuild.
Citron and Iriafen took point in total scoring while ranking second and third on the squad in points per contest, respectively. While the Mystics lacked the shooting and scoring needed for a more consistent offense, Citron still ended the year with an astounding 44.5% from the 3-point line on just over four attempts per game. Iriafen made most of her living from up close after hitting on a clip of just above 60% of her tries from five feet or less. The two showed out in a late-July victory over the Sky, where they combined for 50 points as Washington moved up to a .500 record for the final time this season.
The Mystics will have to look for ways to either further extend their game outside of their post bigs or get more long-range production from either one of them, a point head coach Sydney Johnson pointed out in late August.
"Offensively, (center Shakira Austin) is a little more mid-range and some productivity at the rim," Johnson said. "It's kind of meshing those two skillsets because Kiki is mid-range at the rim as well. It's trying to find that double-post chemistry on the offensive end."
The Mystics need more wing defenders
The Mystics weren't all much better on defense after ranking ninth in the league in defensive rating and opponent points per game.
They ranked ahead of the Wings, Los Angeles Sparks, and Connecticut Sun in defensive rating, while placing behind the Las Vegas Aces, Indiana Fever, and New York Liberty. Washington was about as middle of the road as a team can be when defending the 3-point line after ending the year with a 33% opponent 3-point percentage, good enough for seventh place in the WNBA. It lost two of its bigger-name defenders in Sykes and Atkins, who have combined for nine All-Defensive teams during their WNBA careers, in a pair of landmark trades during and before the season.
Guarding on the perimeter may be one of the next steps for Iriafen, who already started to show off her skill on the boards after leading the Mystics with six defensive rebounds per game. Washington still placed near the bottom of the league in both rebounds and defensive rebounds, but took a small step forward from where they were last year. Even with Citron, it may help to find more wing defenders who could at least come close to matching the pace of their two former defensive standouts.
What now?
You love it when a plan starts to come together.
They may not be as close as some want them to be, but, like their NBA counterparts, they're certainly getting closer. The Mystics still found ways to compete despite being one of the youngest teams in the WNBA. Armed with some returning young players and some potential high-level picks in the next few drafts, the Mystics could go even further if they continue to hit home runs and solidify their young foundation of the future. Should they tap into the potential of guard Georgia Amoore, who missed the year with an ACL injury after excelling in her final two collegiate seasons, things could be a lot easier for the emerging squad as they look to keep pushing their way forward.
They'll still need to account for a number of free agents heading into the offseason, including forward Alysha Clark, center Stefanie Dolson, and guard Jade Melbourne. Austin, who finished up her fourth season with the squad, will be a restricted free agent after playing on a club option this year. She'll join guard Sug Sutton, who started in 43 games for the Mystics and led them in total assists. While they won't need to bid for bigger names in what has the potential to be a tumultuous free agency period, they'll still need to load up on complimentary talent and bigs who can add some depth alongside Austin and Iriafen.
Either way, the Mystics were, at least at some point, one of the more pleasant surprises in what could ultimately be a defining season for The District's own.
“We don’t want to romanticize [our situation] too much. We really do want to be in a position where we keep playing,” Johnson said earlier this month, via Hatfield. “… But I will also say that it’s been a heck of a ride. …
"There’s real joy in this. And I think that that, among some other things, is a really good thing to build upon.”