Mystics carving their own journey within WNBA and Washington DC
DYNAMIC DUO: Sonia Citron of the Washington Mystics celebrates with Kiki Iriafen. Pic: Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images
It’s September in Washington DC and it’s the Mystics’ night to fly the sporting flag in the capital.
The Mystics – the city’s WNBA outfit – are hosting the Phoenix Mercury and a couple of well-looked-after journalists from Ireland and the UK are lucky enough to be in attendance at the 4,200-seater CareFirst Arena.
What’s better? We’re in the good seats. Just a short number of rows away from the action, we think we’re the big shots until a man sporting big sunglasses and a Kiki Iriafen jersey outside his hoodie rocks in and takes his seat courtside.
It’s Frances Tiafoe, the No.19-ranked tennis player in the world and a native of nearby Maryland, supporting his own. It's now evident we're no longer the big shots (as if we were in the first place).
More sporting figures would add to the support that night, speaking to camaraderie within the Washington sporting world that we’ll touch on again.
A Mystics team in year one of their rebuild fell to the Mercury, 75-69, that night. A 16-and-28 record meant they missed out on the play-offs last season and an entire off-season has passed – not without significant change.
The WNBA is back, and the Mystics are really honing in on youth to back up their 2025 rebuild. Six rookies have walked through the doors of the CareFirst.
General manager Jamila Wiseman has gone in the opposite direction after a single season just last month, after “strategic differences” put a full stop on her time at the Mystics. Big change.
"Jamila has a long history in professional basketball, made many thoughtful contributions to the Mystics, and we are thankful for the time and work she devoted to the team," Monumental Sports president of basketball Michael Winger said in a statement. "At this time, we are looking forward to this historic new season for the WNBA and remain focused on building sustainable success in Washington. I have every confidence in the team we have, and will continue to build, to move us toward our goals."
It hasn’t all been rosy since then, however, as many have cited being confused by the Mystics’ draft decisions.
Perhaps it’s too early to judge with the WNBA regular season only just throwing in, but early signs indicate that they haven’t got the required long-range shooters to make the sought-after improvements this season on the women’s basketball front in DC.
What they do have is youthful exuberance and serious quality in the frontcourt.
Shakira Austin is the one who bridges the gap from pre-rebuild to this new era. Iriafen and the positionally versatile Sonia Citron are looking to build on rookie seasons that garnered All-Star honours.
Beep beep Sonia and Kiki coming through pic.twitter.com/rW8iW2TD7k
— Washington Mystics (@WashMystics) May 3, 2026
Point-guard Georgia Amoore is back after a torn ACL robbed her of her rookie season last term, and 2026 draft picks in top-level centre Lauren Betts, Angela Dugalic and Cotie McMahon were picked up at four, nine and 11, respectively.
But despite those pick-ups, are they still shy of three-point shooting? Head coach Sydney Johnson isn’t overly concerned.
“I think there’ll be an incremental boost there,” said Johnson, speaking in early May at the Mystics’ media day. “People are maybe underestimating it. At the end of the day, we are a key-and-three team, you know, we’re talking about that a lot and messaging that a lot in terms of the value that comes from the paint and from beyond the arc.
“We feel with this generally youthful group, that they’re unbelievably coachable and we’ll be able to check those boxes the more we get a chance to be together in the gym.”
Youthful indeed. Coachable indeed. So what needs to happen for this team to make a play-off push in 2026?
One thing’s for sure. They need a repeat effort from the sophomore versions of Iriafen and Citron. Austin’s trajectory needs to continue in an upward manner and they’d really cherish an immediate impact from Amoore.
Iriafen is certainly ready to back-up her stellar start to life in the W.
“I’m just a competitor and this level really thought me that (last season), like in college you are a competitor, but when you go to a great programme and a great team, you’re expected to win,” she said. “You don’t have so many moments where you’re losing to people, but here (in the WNBA), everyone is so talented, you’re seeing 10 of you, so it’s really hard to win.
“I think that’s when I really saw how competitive I am. Losing is not fun, but winning is really hard, so just having to, maybe not have the outcome you want one night and 48 hours later you have to be your best self again to play another great team. That competitive spirit and fire really came out of me last season.”
An ACL comeback season isn’t always the easiest to navigate, but Amoore will be desperately eager to contribute on-court, having been restricted to an off-court role last season, albeit one she thrived in.
She’s been handed the keys to the Mystics’ one position. It’s her’s for the foreseeable. She’ll want to grasp that responsibility in the here and now and look forward to it for the future.
So back to that September night at the CareFirst Arena. Cross-court from the injury-stricken Amoore is the aforementioned Tiafoe.
A few seats down is fellow tennis player, DC’s Hailey Baptiste. Next to her is then-Washington Spirit – the city’s women’s soccer team – duo Croix Bethune and Chloe Ricketts.
All four heavily intrigued and eager to engage in post-bucket celebrations.
That sporting camaraderie on full show. Skip over the newbie journalists a few rows back, who are now converted fans; there’s a real buzz in this intimate venue. Die-hard fans of the 2019 WNBA champions and Washington sport alike.
There’s room for growth, both in terms of on-field success and the wider Mystics community, but for now, their cosy yet raucous arena provides an ideal backdrop for the team to rise up the WNBA ranks.
Johnson’s Mystics will play all but one of their home games at the CareFirst, except for the visit of the Chicago Sky to Capital One Arena – the home of the NBA’s Wizards – in late September.
The franchise will hope there’s plenty on the line to get bums on seats at the 20,000-plus capacity venue. A season where a coachable and hungry Mystics team carves out a campaign for Washington DC to remember is the aim.
It’s certainly not beyond the realms of possibility.
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