Just two weeks ago, I wrote about the Washington Mystics breakup with former General Manager Jamila Wideman right before the WNBA Draft, and what the cited “strategic differences” could have been that birthed a rift between Wideman and a front office that was once in her corner.
I had hoped that the draft would shed light on these differences, or maybe the Mystics would attack veteran names in free agency to suggest an accelerated timeline.
Instead, two weeks later, Washington has somehow gotten more
confusing. Here’s my assessment of the situation in DC; Mystics fans, give your perspectives in the comments.
Did DC suddenly decide that shooting doesn’t matter?
Last September, in the final days of the Mystics 2025 season, head coach Sydney Johnson made it very clear what his priorities were for building out his roster in the upcoming offseason when he said:
We need a better shooting lineup to compliment [Shakira Austin and Kiki Iriafen], because teams can really, really pack it in. Maybe they don’t leave Sonia [Citron], but then they’ll really play off of some others. As much as Kira and Kiki’s chemistry has grown with reps together, it’s also important who we’re pairing them with for the entire team to thrive.
This was far from the only time he talked about the need for better shooting. His answers to various questions in exit interviews always circled back to shooting, and how that was the missing piece to maximize the rest of their talent.
I’m far from the first person to point this out, so I won’t bury the lede here. The Mystics had six picks in the 2026 WNBA Draft. Not a single player they selected shot over 32.2 percent from three in their college career, nor did any of them attempt more than 2.5 threes per game in college. To be brutally honest, they drafted six completely below-average to terrible 3-point shooters.
Lauren Betts attempted two 3s in 133 collegiate games, missing both. Angela Dugalić shot 32.2 percent on 2.4 attempts per game in her college career. Cotie McMahon shot 29.6 percent on 2.5 attempts per game. Cassandre Prosper shot 27.8 percent on 1.6 attempts. Darianna Littlepage-Buggs shot 25 percent on 0.5 attempts. Rori Harmon shot 29 percent on 1.3 attempts.
None of those prospect profiles suggest that the newest Mystics could be WNBA-level off-ball shooters in the remote future. None of them could even be classified as players with high-upside swings as a shooter (i.e., someone who showed flashes of catch-and-shoot ability but lacked other WNBA-level traits).
The Mystics didn’t just fail to pick an elite shooter—they failed to pick any shooter whatsoever.
They passed on Gianna Kneepkens three times, who was regarded as the second best shooter in the draft behind No. 1 overall pick Azzi Fudd. Kneepkens shot 43 percent from 3on almost six attempts per game throughout college—a remarkable combination of volume and efficiency. None of this is to say that the Mystics chose “bad” players, or players who can’t impact winning and culture-building in Washington. It’s simply a strange and dramatic departure from an agenda that felt so, so certain just months ago. Johnson wanted to maximize his young stars, as he should. But after his first draft without Wideman, has he done that at all?
The positives and negatives of the Mystics’ six draft picks
Betts falling to the No. 4 put the Mystics in a position that was somehow equal parts awkward and amazing. Betts is an incredible player to land at fourth overall, and the Mystics had to take her. She was a 1.1 talent in this draft, and could easily have been the first pick in many other drafts as well.
However, she does not fit the Mystics current roster, which already has two heavily-featured bigs in Austin and Iriafen. This frontcourt logjam is something I’ve written about at lengths; it’s the exact reason why Aaliyah Edwards was traded away to Connecticut last season. Betts was still the right pick, but it certainly won’t be easy to figure out rotations with three non-shooting bigs.
Dugalić is the pick that will likely have to be defended by production. Washington passed on a handful of talent that seemed to fit their needs better, instead taking another forward (somewhere in-between a jumbo wing and a “tweener” big) who is a capable but far from elite shooter. McMahon followed as their third first-round pick: a wing driver with decent physicals for the W. Cassandre Prosper had a great season at Notre Dame, and has a lot of upside as the youngest collegiate prospect drafted, but is yet another big wing who has more questions than answers as a perimeter scorer. Darianna Littlepage-Buggs has already been named one of Washington’s developmental players, so she will be limited to a maximum of 12 games this season and thus won’t affect rotational chemistry.
Finally, Rori Harmon, despite being a non-shooter, was a solid pick in the late draft who could fill a vacant role for the Mystics. Georgia Amoore will be vying for the starting point guard position, but the Mystics could still use a secondary ball-handler off the bench to run offense. Harmon is a low risk, high upside shot for Washington. She had an extremely successful career at Texas, and was third in the NCAA in assists last season despite only averaging 1.7 turnovers per game (her 3.71 assist-to-turnover ratio was one of the best for volume passers in the country). While not a shooter, Harmon was a more sensible pick in accordance with Washington’s needs.
I don’t have the privilege of being in pre-draft workouts, nor can I speak on the internal conversations happening within Washington’s GM-less front office. There is surely intention behind each pick, but that intention seems distant from the agenda that Johnson set in the final moments of last season.
As the Mystics approach preseason with 13 new players and an apparent lack of shooters, Johnson’s team-building strategy will continue to be viewed under lens of confusion.
