The Washington Mystics knew that going into their 2025 season. The 2019 championship is still recent enough that fans have fond memories of it. Of winning basketball. Of being one of the franchises.
But it’s also far enough away that the memory of winning basketball is fading in the DMV, as the Mystics have just one winning season since that championship campaign.
The players from that team are all gone. Ariel Atkins (Chicago), Brittney Sykes (Seattle), and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough (Atlanta) were the last three remaining pieces from the squad, so the Mystics are looking to the future instead of relying on the past.
And 2025 was the first step toward doing that, as Washington not only introduced a new head coach, Sydney Johnson, but also had three of the first six picks in the 2025 WNBA Draft to build around.
If 2025 was any indication of what the future holds in Washington, fans can start turning the page on 2019 and look ahead to the next championship instead.
A Loaded Rookie Class
Draft capital is great, but if you don’t hit on the picks, the capital means nothing. Washington held picks No. 3, 4, and 6 in the draft, leaving with Sonia Citron, Kiki Iriafen, and Georgia Amoore, respectively.
In recent years, we’ve seen duos drafted together in the draft, shaping the direction of a franchise moving forward in Chicago (Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso), Los Angeles (Rickea Jackson and Cameron Brink), and Connecticut (Saniya Rivers and Aneesah Morrow), but a trio?
That’s different, and that’s draft capital gained and used wisely by the general manager, Jamila Wideman.
But, as is all too often the case in women’s sports, a knee injury stopped the rookie trio from taking the court together.
In training camp, Amoore, a guard out of Kentucky, tore her ACL during practice, ending her would-be rookie campaign before it started.
That left the Mystics entering the season with a group of Sykes, Citron, Iriafen, Sug Sutton, and Stef Dolson as the opening-night lineup, with Shakira Austin and second-year forward Aaliyah Edwards getting a late start to the season due to injuries.
A blend of rookies and veterans. Threading the needle, so to speak, and it was all on Citron and Iriafen to decide the direction of the Mystics in 2025 and beyond.
No pressure. No pressure at all.
Parting Ways
When the Mystics drafted Iriafen No. 4 overall, the discussion immediately became about how she and Edwards would fit together.
Opinions vary, but taking the best player on the board and worrying about the fit later is exactly what a vast number of teams do during the draft.
It just so happened that Iriafen was even better than they could have ever imagined she would be, and with Edwards’ delayed start to the season, Iriafen usurped her in the pecking order for Washington.
Johnson downplayed the speculation that the team and Edwards were looking to part ways in early July.
Sydney Johnson said he just found out about the ESPN report that the Mystics are in trade talks to move Aaliyah Edwards. Said he cannot comment and “I have nothing to say.” Added that’s not his role or something he’s privy to. pic.twitter.com/hjiAeeBxvM
It’s what you say as a coach. It’s what you say as a player. But it doesn’t make it true, and Edwards was ultimately moved to the Connecticut Sun for a package that netted the Mystics’ former first-round pick Jacy Sheldon and the right to a pick swap in the 2026 WNBA Draft.
But that wasn’t the only trade that Washington made as they were two games under .500 by the trade deadline. Sykes made the All-Star Game as a representative for the Mystics, joining both Citron and Iriafen as the team’s representatives. Slim had a breakout season, cementing herself as not only a lockdown defender, but also a walking bucket, averaging 15.4 points, 4.3 assists, and 1.2 steals per game at the time of the trade.
In return, the Mystics received Alysha Clark, Zia Cooke, and, well, another first-round pick.
Exceeding Expectations
Even though the writing on the wall was clear that the Mystics weren’t exactly making winning a priority in 2025, the team still outperformed expectations.
Under Johnson, the team got to the free-throw line more than any other team, emphasizing getting the ball down low to Austin and having Irifaen work the paint.
During an open practice this year, the Mystics were having their bigs work on extending their range during practice.
All of them were extending beyond the three-point line—even Austin.
All of them except for Iriafen.
Iriafen, instead, worked the foul-line extended range and in, focusing on her mid-range game. Then, after practice, it was working on nothing but post moves with assistant coach Barbara Turner.
They made it a priority. Get Iriafen busy in the paint.
Kiki Iriafen playing like a veteran. The nice DHO, set the pick, release, and popping the J in Tina Charles face. She’s so good, man. #WNBA
Only four players in the league attempted more shots within five feet from the basket than Iriafen’s 272.
And those names are standouts:
Aliyah Boston
Dearica Hamby
Kamilla Cardoso
Brionna Jones
That’s it. That’s the entire list.
Iriafen, who made the All-Rookie Team, wasn’t the only rookie to exceed expectations.
All year, the consensus was that Paige Bueckers would win the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award. But the question was, really, who was her biggest challenger?
Depending on the day of the week, it was either Iriafen or Citron.
Citron led all rookies in three-point percentage, and she trailed only Iriafen and Bueckers in player efficiency and just Bueckers in scoring.
She was in her bag, and the chemistry between Iriafen and Citron showed immediately.
As in the first game on the Mystics’ second scoring possession.
Fantastic work by the Mystics here between Stef Dolson, Sonia Citron, and a cutting Kiki Iriafen. #WNBA @winsidr.com
The Mystics are more than just Citron and Iriafen. Yes, they are the building blocks, and as Winsidr founder Aryeh Schwartz has said many times before, you need the three stars to have a chance to win the title.
Sophomore slumps happen, yes, but Iriafen and Citron look every part of that equation as not just stars for the Mystics, but stars in the league, too.
But that would be discounting the career season that Austin had for Washington. Austin always looked the part, but it was staying on the court that was the struggle.
Austin set career highs in games played (38), scoring (12.7 points per game), PER (18.5), and defensive rating (96.8 percent).
Will she be that third star they need? Well, she’s shown that she can be when she can stay healthy. She, along with Sutton, are restricted free agents, meaning that the Mystics can match any offer that they receive in free agency.
They’d like her to return. You can argue that they need her to return, but given the draft positioning that they find themselves in again, there are plenty of bigs that the team can target and find a stop-gap as they develop, if they need to.
Because they don’t need another guard.
No, they still have their point guard of the future in Amoore.
During that same open practice as mentioned above, in mid-June, a month and a half after tearing her ACL, Amoore was doing side drills and work with the coaching staff. Ladder drills. Snake dribbling drills. She was even getting up shots.
She looked like a player who was 7 months recovered instead of 50 days.
At Mystics practice. Nice to see Georgia Amoore getting up some shots on the side as she recovers from her ACL tear. #WNBA @winsidr.com
And the team remains high on her moving forward. It’s not just coach speak, either. Her teammates see it.
“Next year, for her rookie year, everyone should be on watch,” said her teammate Jade Melbourne,” because she’s going to be a superstar.”
Superstar. A big word to throw around. It’s one that we can’t evaluate until we see Amoore on the court with a large sample.
But the feelings that Melbourne has toward her teammate aren’t isolated just to her. Another player told me that Washington’s three-player young core—Amoore, Iriafen, and Citron—doesn’t just rival any other young core in the league, but it’s unmatched.
That’s something that would be welcomed by Mystics fans. They know the taste of success. But that taste is becoming more of a memory rather than on the tip of their tongue.
But if Iriafen, Citron, Austin, and Amoore have any say, they’ll be serving up a championship in the DMV, bringing winning basketball back to the DMV for good.
