With the 2025 WNBA season less than a month away and training camps set to begin in late April, the buzz around rookies is already building. And for the Mystics, that buzz is louder than ever. The team welcomed five fresh faces on draft night: Citron, USC power forward Kiki Iriafen, Kentucky point guard Georgia Amoore, Iowa shooting guard Lucy Olsen, and Alabama’s Zaay Green. That’s a lot of young talent ready to make some noise. But is this enough to set them apart? Just ask Jenn Hatfield.

After finishing 14-26 last season, the franchise isn’t considered a title contender just yet. ESPN BET has them at +7500 odds to win it all, the third-lowest in the league. But with youth comes opportunity. Only four players on the Mystics’ 13-woman roster are over the age of 25, leaving the door wide open for rookies to step in and make an impact. That’s the perspective the national women’s basketball reporter is going for.

“They’ve got a really young roster,” she said. “So the trio of first-round picks will have opportunities to play and to be difference-makers.” Aaliyah Edwards, Shakira Austin, Sug Sutton, Emily Engstler, and Taylor Soule are the new-look Mystics. Shaping it to a better form are the rookies with proven caliber.

The Notre Dame guard was a third-leading scorer on a team that averaged 6th most points in DI. She averaged 14.1 points while shooting 48.4% from the field and 37.2% from beyond the arc. Iriafen, on the other hand, showed what she was capable of when she led the Trojans in Juju’s absence. She averaged 18 points and 8.4 rebounds for USC before crashing out of the Elite Eight.

Amoore brought alive the Kentucky program. With an average of 19.6 points and SEC-high 6.9 assists, she took the Wildcats to the tourney, breaking a 2-year drought. Moreover, these are the talents that have played against each other and are familiar with their games. “Her mentality is great, and I’m a massive fan of her game,” says Amoore of the former Fighting Irish. With that chemistry and talent, you can guess the long-term rebuild we talk about. So, Harfield admittedly sees potential.

And it’s not just the first-round picks with a shot. The reporter believes the team’s later-round selections will also have a legitimate chance to stick. “The two picks that the Mystics had in later rounds are going to have plenty of opportunity to compete and even make the team. So that is great news for players drafted by the Mystics,” she added.

Washington’s draft strategy also filled a critical need. “The Mystics needed guards entering the draft. They had just three on the roster,” Hatfield explained. “They picked up four in the draft, plus Aria Fenn, who’s a forward and will add to the depth they already have there.”

It’s a fresh start in D.C., and it comes at a pivotal moment. The Mystics last reached the playoffs in 2023 but made a quick exit in the first round. In fact, each of their three postseason appearances since winning the title in 2019 has ended early. But despite that recent history, chasing a championship isn’t necessarily GM Jamila Wideman’s top priority this year.

Washington Mystics GM paired with HC aims for a bigger dream!

When Washington Mystics general manager Jamila Wideman sat down for an episode of No Offseason: The Athletic Women’s Basketball Show, she didn’t sugarcoat the team’s reality. In a league chasing rings, Wideman offered something a little different—honesty and vision.

“I think what we’re excited about is to build,” she said. “I think we have some really great talent on our team. I think we’re really conscious that we’re probably not going to contend for a championship next year. But what we are going to do is put a game on the court that is really, really dynamic and fun. And we’re going to be really, really competitive.”

Coming from anyone else, those words might’ve sounded like just another rebuild pitch. But from Wideman, it holds weight. She’s no stranger to the W. In fact, she recorded the very first assist in league history back in 1997 as a guard for the LA Sparks.

After hanging up her jersey, Wideman didn’t step away, she pivoted. She spent a decade practicing law, returned to basketball on the operations side in the NBA, and eventually found her way back to the W as a leader of one of its most storied franchises.

That mix of experience, shapes everything she brings to the table. And she’s not building alone. Head coach Sydney Johnson shares that vision and is ready to execute it. Her plan? Play fast. Pressure on defense. Make every player a scoring threat. But above all, she wants development at the core. With one of the youngest rosters in the WNBA.