July 20, 2025
What’s made the Washington Mystics successful in the first half of the season?
The Mystics are the youngest team in the WNBA, but they’ve hung with much older, more experienced teams
Washington Mystics head coach Sydney Johnson called his wife Jennifer on Tuesday while he was on the way to Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The Mystics were about to play their final game before the WNBA All-Star break, and Johnson was counting his blessings.
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Those blessings weren’t just that the team was 11-10, with three wins over teams in the top five of the WNBA standings. They were about the group he was working with, too.
“I’m not sure there’s a day that we’ve come in the gym and they haven’t given me every single ounce of themselves,” Johnson told reporters before Tuesday’s game. “Can’t ask for more. Not gonna.”
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After losing to the Sparks, the Mystics entered the All-Star break with an 11-11 record. That puts them seventh in the WNBA standings, just 2.5 games out of fourth place. They have beaten the Minnesota Lynx (No. 1 in the standings), Seattle Storm (4), Atlanta Dream (5) and Indiana Fever (6), and the win over the Storm came on the road.
Entering the season, the Mystics were generally expected to finish at or near the bottom of the league. The lack of expectations made sense at the time because the Mystics have a first-year head coach in Johnson, a first-year general manager in Jamila Wideman and the youngest team in the WNBA.
The Mystics were also the league’s youngest team a season ago, so that part isn’t new to them. But their average age this year is more than a year younger than it was in 2024, and the age gaps between them and their opponents are much larger.
| 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Mystics’ average age | 26.45 years | 25.02 years |
| Years younger than next-youngest team | 0.26 | 0.88 |
| Years younger than median team | 1.21 | 3.04 |
| Years younger than oldest team | 2.66 | 4.70 |
In fact, the Mystics have three of the eight youngest players in the WNBA this season, and six players — half of their roster — are among the 20 youngest leaguewide.
“I think this first half of [the season is] just getting to know each other, getting to play with each other,” point guard Sug Sutton told reporters after Tuesday’s loss. “And we’ve been doing really good. … We’ve been holding each other accountable. We’ve been sticking together.”
“They’ve learned fast and kind of just performed,” Johnson said. “… At the same time, we realize we’re not like the Minnesotas, New Yorks of the world, and so we still have some growth and development to go through, and we’re serious about that. We don’t run and hide from that, but we also feel like we can compete at the same time.”
How have the Mystics been able to play beyond their years this season? Let’s look at several factors that have contributed to their success. You can read them all or click on the links below to skip to specific ones. Unless otherwise noted, all statistics are from WNBA Stats.
- They’re dialed in on the fundamentals — and learning as they go
- They have a knack for comebacks
- Rookies are playing like veterans
- Can the Mystics sustain their success?
They’re dialed in on the fundamentals — and learning as they go
The Mystics have been very good at several basics of the game. That starts with how hard they play on both ends of the court, including deploying an aggressive defense that pressures opponents full-court.
“Gotta keep up with them. They’re a young, very juiced team,” Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon told reporters on July 10. “And so you can’t allow teams to be playing harder than you. … What I really admire about this Washington team is how they compete.”
The Mystics also start and end defensive possessions well. Their transition defense allows just 8.0 fast-break points per game, the fewest in the WNBA, and they lead the league in defensive rebounding rate, pulling down 72.7% of opponents’ misses.
Offensively, they score 38.1 points in the paint per game. That’s nearly half their total and third-best in the WNBA. And they lead the league in free throws made (17.7) and attempted (24.0), meaning they are getting even more of their points on relatively easy shots. Guard Brittney Sykes is making 6.1 free throws per game on her own, which ranks second in the league.
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Getting to the free-throw line and playing hard have been constants for the Mystics all season, but other strengths of theirs have grown over time. For example, they struggled with defensive rebounding in their first few games but have cleaned that up since, in part because center/forward Shakira Austin and forward Aaliyah Edwards returned from injuries.
They have also scored more in the paint and reduced their turnovers as the season has progressed. They scored 40.3 points per game in the paint in June and July, up from 33.4 per game in May. And their turnovers fell from 17.1 per game in May to 15.1 in June and July.
A little later in the season, the Mystics started to improve at scoring off the turnovers they forced. Through their first 11 games (the last of which was on June 15), they scored 12.0 points per game off turnovers. In their past 11 games, that’s up to 19.6, which leads the WNBA in that span.
As the players get more game experience, the team’s defense is also evolving. The coaching staff can give more detailed scouting reports and add more complexity to the Mystics’ schemes. And the Mystics have shifted from allowing opponents to shoot the most 3-pointers per game in the league over their first 11 games to running teams off the 3-point line and allowing more 2-pointers in the paint.
| Opponent paint points per game | Opponent 3-point attempts per game | |
|---|---|---|
| First 11 games | 28.7 | 30.5 |
| Past 11 games | 39.1 | 20.1 |
“There’s a little bit more pressure,” Johnson said on July 10 about his defense. “… You got to give up something. And right now, we’re kind of playing the numbers a little bit.”
They have a knack for comebacks
The Mystics are showing an unusual trend for a young team: They play their best in the fourth quarter. In fact, that is the only quarter where they are scoring more points per 100 possessions than their opponents.
| Points scored per 100 possessions | Points allowed per 100 possessions | Net points per 100 possessions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First quarter | 90.8 | 95.8 | -5.0 |
| Second quarter | 89.9 | 109.3 | -19.3 |
| Third quarter | 101.1 | 102.3 | -1.2 |
| Fourth quarter | 107.3 | 94.3 | 13.0 |
The Mystics have trailed at halftime in 15 of their 22 games. But they’ve won the fourth quarter 13 times, tied it twice and lost it just seven times.
As a result, they’ve had a knack for comebacks. Seven of their 11 wins have come after trailing by at least 10 points. In four of those wins, they’ve trailed by that much in the second half.
“Even if you get a lead against these guys, it’s never safe,” Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts told reporters before Tuesday’s game. “They’re never going to quit. They’re never going to stop competing. And I have a lot of respect for that. That’s a goal for every team.”
“We just stick to it. It doesn’t matter what the score is,” Sykes told reporters after a 15-point comeback against the Aces on July 10. “Whether we’re up 20, down 20, we’re gonna play hard. … No matter how hard the punch is thrown, we’ll punch back. And some days, the punch might not be strong enough, but some days, it’s a hell of a haymaker.”
Meanwhile, teams have come back from double-digit deficits against the Mystics only twice. The Aces did it on May 23, in the Mystics’ fourth game of the season, and the Lynx did it on July 3.
In particular, that 3-point loss to the Aces was a big learning moment for the Mystics.
“I think their poise outshined us, frankly, and … we either lost our poise or maybe didn’t really have it,” Johnson said before playing the Aces again on June 26. “We were still trying to figure out how to win games, and that’s probably still a work in progress, but I think we’re better today than we were back then, and that moment helped us.”
The Mystics showed their growth with an 11-point road win that night. They’d also leaned on those lessons on June 24, when they held off the Lynx in the fourth quarter for their best win of the season. “That wasn’t the prettiest … ending that we’d had,” Johnson said, “but it was one of the gutsiest.”
Sykes has led the way for the Mystics in fourth quarters, averaging a WNBA-best 5.9 points. Rookie guard Sonia Citron leads all rookies who’ve played at least 10 games with 4.4 points in the final quarter.
The Mystics have also played a lot of minutes where the score is tight. The score has been within two possessions in 57% of their minutes all season. They’ve also played the most clutch minutes — where the score is within 5 points in the last five minutes of the game or overtime — of any team in the WNBA.
Like they’ve done in fourth quarters, the Mystics have played better in the clutch than they have overall. In all minutes, their opponents are outscoring them per 100 possessions, but that reverses in the clutch.
| Points scored per 100 possessions | Points allowed per 100 possessions | Net points per 100 possessions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| All minutes | 97.1 | 100.1 | -2.9 |
| Clutch minutes | 103.1 | 92.4 | 10.7 |
In clutch minutes, the Mystics are getting 4.0 more possessions per 40 minutes. That’s one measure of playing fast, which has been a goal of theirs this season. They also get more steals and blocks per 100 possessions, suggesting that their defense has helped spur their offense.
Rookies are playing like veterans
Citron and forward Kiki Iriafen, the Nos. 3 and 4 picks in the 2025 WNBA Draft, both had impressive starts this season and were named All-Stars. Citron scored in double figures in her first 14 games, which is the second-longest streak in Mystics history. And Iriafen had double-doubles in four of her first five games and has already broken the franchise record for double-doubles by a rookie with seven.
“I’ve never seen rookies play as well, as solid, this early in the season,” New York Liberty guard and 10-year WNBA veteran Natasha Cloud told reporters on May 30.
On the season, Citron is the Mystics’ second-leading scorer. She is averaging 14.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steals in a team-high 33.5 minutes per game. Iriafen is the fourth-leading scorer and is averaging 11.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 26.7 minutes per game.
“We’re both kind of in similar positions as rookies but having high impact,” Iriafen told reporters on July 6. “And we were both nervous coming in, but just having someone that you can bounce those things off of and someone that’s going through the same experience as you has been really helpful. And we’re super honest with each other. She’s super encouraging for me and myself with her. So … [she’s] like a built-in buddy.”
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Citron and Iriafen have also been two of the top rookies leaguewide. They rank second and third, respectively, among rookies in points per game, and they’re second and fourth in minutes per game. Iriafen leads all rookies in rebounds per game and double-doubles, and Citron is second.
For Johnson, what sets them apart is their professionalism and work ethic, combined with their competitiveness. Iriafen has consistently brought a notebook and a pen to film sessions and participates in extra “Breakfast Club” workouts to get better. Citron has been unflappable on the court and immediately applies what she learns in workouts to games.
“They’re so steady,” Johnson said on July 6. “We knew we were getting talented players, but we didn’t know we were getting consistent WNBA performers right out the gate. … It is truly unbelievable that how good they’ve been right away.”
Can the Mystics sustain their success?
With half a season left, the Mystics could continue to improve and be an extremely tough out in the playoffs. The experience around the league could also wear them down, sending them out of the playoffs and into the WNBA draft lottery again.
Over the last 20 WNBA seasons, there have been 28 teams whose average age has been within 0.5 years of the 2025 Mystics’ average age (in either direction).* Excluding the 2008 Dream, who were in their first season as an expansion team, those teams have won an average of 41% of their games. Only seven of the 27 teams finished the regular season at or above .500.
The Mystics have the fifth-easiest schedule in the league after the All-Star break, according to the website Tankathon. But the calendar includes three pairs of back-to-backs and 14 games crammed into August, which could be challenging for a young team to navigate. Citron and Iriafen showed a few signs of wear before the break, with Citron’s scoring and field-goal percentage dropping in July and Iriafen’s foul rate increasing in the past month.
Asked on July 13 whether he was worried about Citron and Iriafen hitting a “rookie wall,” Johnson said, “Don’t speak it into existence. But [we have] 14 games in 29 days in August, so circle back to us.”
Still, the Mystics were counted out in preseason and have defied those expectations so far. Who’s to say they can’t keep doing it?
“I think for us, we are on a good trajectory,” Sykes said after beating Seattle on July 13. “We’re peaking at our allotted time … [and] sticking to our daily habits. … We literally look game by game, practice by practice. And that has kept us poised, that’s kept us sane, that’s kept us together. … We’re just staying present and just trying to, whatever we got — a problem, an issue — find a solution. Keep it pushing.”
* Across the Timeline calculates average ages as of July 1 of each season.
Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the group that owns the Washington Mystics, holds a minority stake in The Next. The Next’s editorial operations are entirely independent of Monumental and all other business partners.
The Next’s Cameron Ruby contributed reporting for this story.
Written by Jenn Hatfield
Jenn Hatfield is The IX Basketball's managing editor, Washington Mystics beat reporter and Ivy League beat reporter. She has been a contributor to The IX Basketball since December 2018. Her work has also appeared at FiveThirtyEight, Her Hoop Stats, FanSided, Power Plays, The Equalizer and Princeton Alumni Weekly.
