During the preseason, most major media outlets projected the Washington Mystics to finish somewhere around ninth through 11th place, likely missing the playoffs, with a chance of sneaking into the No. 8 seed.
It’s safe to say that the Mystics aren’t being held to any standard of dominance or consistency. For the second-straight year, the scale of judgement in the nations capital should be development. For some already-established talents like Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen, they hope to see more tangible
development that can actually amount to in-game competitiveness.
For others, namely the team’s seven rookies, that development may take a more conceptual form. Even if they’re not producing notable stats, are they seeing on-court action? Are they looking more comfortable on a game-by-game basis?
Let’s break it down and determine how Washington is—or is not—balancing developing players and competing in games.
Should Mystics fans be concerned about the Lauren Betts pick?
Lauren Betts was considered by most to be a real candidate for the No. 1 pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft.
Few considered the chance that she would fall all the way to No. 4, where the Mystics may have felt obligated to take her because of her college production, despite the fact that they already have two high-impact bigs. It would, quite frankly, be hard to justify not taking such a prospect with the fourth pick.
However, the Mystics have seen a version of this story before. They took Aaliyah Edwards with the No. 6 pick in the 2024 draft, but Edwards quickly fell out of the rotation in her sophomore season as Kiki Iriafen and Shakira Austin dominated front court minutes. Edwards was traded to the Connecticut Sun before even playing two whole seasons for Washington.
The abbreviated legacy of the Mystics three-deep frontcourt, each of whom were top six picks in their respective draft classes, was not looked upon proudly. There was no doubt that Edwards should have been more than an infrequent rotation player, but the minutes just didn’t exist for her to find a rhythm.
So will the Lauren Betts situation be different? How does Washington find some guarantee that Betts will see more minutes than Edwards, especially considering that Iriafen and Austin are only getting better themselves?
Head coach Sydney Johnson has to get creative find meaningful minutes for Betts development. Thus far, she’s only playing 13.7 minutes per game. Excluding Portland’s draft-and-stash pick Iyana Martín Carrión, every single player drafted first through ninth is playing at least 26 minutes per game except two: Betts, who the Mystics picked at No. 4, and Angela Dugalić, who the Mystics picked at No. 9. Dugalić is playing just 13.3 minutes per game, a hair below Betts.
Betts and Dugalić are by no means playing poorly, it’s just concerning how they aren’t always playing at all.
They’re both shooting 50 percent or greater from the field on low volume, and their per 36 averages (what they would average if they were to play 36 minutes per game) are 15.2 and 13.5 points, respectively. They aren’t ready for those kind of minutes, but their development certainly feels like it’s being held back more by a lack of game reps rather than a failure to execute when they do get subbed in.
There’s no doubt that Iriafen and Austin are more game ready than Betts, but as they Mystics continue to float below .500, the choice to draft Betts and Dugalić will be brought into question if they don’t see their minutes increase.
Is it possible for the Mystics to both compete for the playoffs and develop prospects?
Of course, there’s always the possibility that the Mystics sell out for wins despite their youth.
Last season, they made a conscious decision to prioritize development by trading Brittney Sykes to the Seattle Storm. After Citron and Iriafen were named All-Stars, and after re-signing Austin, it wouldn’t be a ridiculous notion to believe that Washington’s roster is good enough to make the playoffs.
They started the season off 2-1 but haven’t been able to put together consecutive wins through 10 games. At 4-6, they aren’t out of the picture when it comes to early postseason projections. However, they need to show more to convince fans that it’s really worth it to chase a playoff dream. It’s hard to justify that playoff berth if you look non-competitive against a higher seed, especially if you had to cut down on important developmental minutes to get there.
In a perfect world, Washington is able to find more minutes for Betts and Dugalić without sacrificing competitiveness, and can still position themselves towards the middle ranges of the league as the season dwindles down in August and September.
There is no scripture claiming that the Mystics must objectively prioritize development or wins while sacrificing the other. That balance is a challenge for coaching staffs, and there’s a fine line between a productive middle ground and a wasteful gray area. Right now, it’s just hard to tell which side the Mystics are on.
