Mystics open highly-anticipated WNBA season with eyes on rebuild

The Washington Mystics, now five years removed from their championship season, open the highly-anticipated 2024 WNBA campaign on Tuesday with eyes on a rebuild.

This WNBA season has been attracting record levels of media interest. New stars like the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark, the Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese and the Mystics’ Aaliyah Edwards set women’s college basketball on fire this year and the expectation is that they can do the same for the WNBA.

But without departed veterans Elena Delle Donne and Natasha Cloud — even with new arrival Edwards — the bar for this season is set fairly low for the Mystics, who are coming off a 19-21 campaign in 2023. 

Washington eked into the playoffs last year before being swept by the New York Liberty in a best-of-three series. The Mystics will have a shot at redemption against the Liberty in the season opener.

Power rankings from Bleacher Report, ESPN and Newsweek slot the Mystics near the bottom of the league. DraftKings Sportsbook gave Washington the longest odds to win the WNBA championship this season at 1,000-to-1.

Second-year coach Eric Thibault has said that success won’t necessarily appear in the win column. He’s hoping for progress.

“We have maybe more new faces than normal. We’ve obviously had continuity for a while here, we still have some, but there’s new faces,” the coach said during the team’s preseason media day. “The theme has been competing … We hope a lot of people make a jump in growth, but it’s going to be earned.”

The Mystics took heavy losses over the offseason, losing two of their top three scorers from last year. Delle Donne, a former MVP, announced in February that she was stepping away from basketball. Cloud, a two-time All-Defensive team selection, left in free agency to join the Phoenix Mercury.

With this year’s departures, only three players remain from Washington’s 2019 championship squad in Myisha Hines-Allen, Ariel Atkins and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough.

Thibault said the team will look for immediate production from first-round pick Edwards to remain competitive.

“That takes time and chemistry … it’s exciting though,” Thibault said. “We have to maximize the talent at our disposal and the people on our roster.”

Edwards was a star in four seasons at Connecticut, earning third-team All-American honors in 2023. The 6-foot-3 forward brings size to a Washington frontcourt that got smaller with Delle Donne’s departure.

“Stepping into this role, I’m just trying to be a sponge,” the No. 6 overall pick said during training camp. “Wherever I’m needed, wherever my team needs me to be to help them be successful on either end of the court, that’s what I’m going to do.”

The Mystics continued to renovate their roster throughout the preseason, including trading for guard Jade Melbourne on Saturday. Washington also signed two-time All-Star Stefanie Dolson and guard Karlie Samuelson during the offseason.

“It’s going to be a collective,” Thibault said.

The 36-year-old Mystics coach compared the expanding WNBA to an indie band that begins to find broader success. He’s protective but proud.

“I think we all feel that this should be a big tent,” Thibault said. “There should be room for everybody to get on board and follow this league.”