Currently, WNBA teams, including the Washington Mystics are negotiating with free agents who may be interested in coming to their team. One of the key things that remains in teams’ hands is whether to give the core player designation on one player. According to Alexa Philippou of ESPN, most teams have, but the Mystics appear not to have done that.
This is not particularly surprising. According to Sportrac, the 2025 Mystics roster at the end of the season had two players with cap hits above $100,000: Alysha Clark and Stefanie Dolson. However, both Clark and Dolson are longtime veterans and wouldn’t be able to be cored. The remaining players are primarily on rookie scale contracts.
What this means is that the Mystics are in prime position to spend on free agents though they can’t give a supermax salary. They have over $5 million in cap space out of a $7 million salary cap. Remember, the Mystics, EVEN IF THEY CHOOSE TO …. deconstruct like the Wizards … HAVE TO PAY SOME PLAYER a big salary, likely at around $1 million.
Also, out of their cap space, some of these players will be used on their three first round picks (No. 4, No. 9, No. 11) and there’s a good chance that their second round picks (No. 19, No. 30) could ALL make the roster. If that happens, there will still be cap room to sign a free agent or two at a very large salary.
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