On the night Eric Thibault returned to Washington, the Mystics got their biggest win of the season

A year ago, Eric Thibault would’ve been celebrating with Austin and her teammates as the Mystics’ head coach. But on Tuesday, he hustled to the visitors’ locker room. The Mystics’ 68-64 win spoiled Thibault’s first game back at CareFirst Arena since he and Washington parted ways in October and he became Minnesota’s associate head coach in November.

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Thibault had spent over a decade in Washington alongside his father Mike. The duo arrived in late 2012, Mike as the general manager and head coach and Eric as an assistant coach. Eric was promoted to associate head coach in January 2019 — the year the Mystics won the lone championship in franchise history — and succeeded Mike as head coach in November 2022.

In Eric’s two seasons in charge, the Mystics went 33-47, but that didn’t tell the full story. They endured a league-high 56 injuries over those two seasons, which cost them an estimated 12.9 win shares. Last season was always expected to be about player development and setting a foundation for the future, but the team recovered from an 0-12 start to stay in playoff contention until the last day of the regular season.

After the 2024 season, Mystics ownership decided it wanted fresh voices. Michael Winger, the president of Monumental Basketball, told The Washington Post that there was “a lot to like” about where the Mystics were, but also “a lot that just didn’t fit with … my vision.”

Eight months later, sitting courtside at CareFirst Arena, Eric told The Next that he was at peace with how his and his father’s tenures ended in Washington.

“It’s disappointing not to see [the rebuild] out,” he said on Tuesday. “At the same time, it’s pro basketball. We’d had a 12-year run here. … We were treated extremely well here for a long time. … It really helps that the phone rang and I was able to get another, a really good landing spot. So that probably takes the edge off of it a little bit.”

Where Eric landed is with Cheryl Reeve, the Lynx head coach who has more playoff wins than any other coach in WNBA history. Her 342 regular-season wins rank second to Mike Thibault’s 379. For Eric, it’s been an easy transition from a head coach back to an associate head coach because he’s done it before — only now he’s armed with the experience of being in his boss’s shoes.

“I think I maybe have even a different perspective now, having been a head coach,” Eric said, “of taking things off [Reeve’s] plate and helping make her life easier.”

“Eric knows exactly how I’m feeling,” Reeve told reporters before Tuesday’s game. “… And when you’ve been in this seat before, it is immeasurable what you bring to the table, knowing when to speak up, knowing the things to say or not to say. … [He’s] just really confident, knowledgeable and passionate.”

The Lynx made the trip to Washington far enough into the season that Eric has settled into his routines in Minnesota. So coming to CareFirst Arena felt “a little odd,” but “not maybe as weird as I expected.” It mostly felt familiar, just like sleeping in his own bed at the home he still has in the Washington area did.

Overall, Eric’s return to Washington was understated. The public address announcer introduced Reeve, but not her assistants, to the crowd pregame. And the Mystics didn’t play a tribute video for Eric, as they’ve done in past years for players who’ve moved to other teams. As a result, many fans might not have even realized he was there.

Eric’s reunions with former players — eight of whom still play for the Mystics — were also muted. He greeted many of them briefly at shootaround, but he also maintained some distance, knowing the Mystics and the Lynx will play again on July 3 in Minneapolis.

However, several players were looking forward to seeing him. Center Stefanie Dolson, who was drafted by the Mystics in 2014 and returned as a free agent in 2024, told The Next on Sunday that she hoped to get dinner with him sometime when the teams crossed paths.

“Eric, Mike, both of them drafted me here,” she said. “Last season, I came here for them. I felt like they really poured into me as coaches and believed in me. … They became my second, third parent, if you will; [my] mentor; everything. [They] just taught me how to play, how to be a leader, how to be a professional.”

Veteran guard Brittney Sykes, who signed with the Mystics ahead of the 2023 season, added on Sunday, “It’s just gonna be like how it’s always been [with Eric]. … We’re always gonna be good. I’ve known him since I was 18. That’s always gonna be a cool guy to me. I have much respect for him, and I’m glad he’s still in the league.”

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During Minnesota’s warmups, Eric did many of the things he did for so long with the Mystics. He watched film with players individually and got on the court to play light defense and pass to players as they went through their shooting routines. In the middle of a film session with guard Kayla McBride on Tuesday, he paused briefly to hug a CareFirst Arena worker before getting back to business.

Eric mainly works with Minnesota’s wings, including Karlie Samuelson, who was traded from the Mystics to the Lynx in the offseason. She told The Next on Tuesday that her first workout with the Lynx was with Eric and director of player development Sefu Bernard, who filled that role for the Mystics from 2015 to 2024.

Having Eric as an associate head coach rather than her head coach is “definitely a little different, just because you’re either the head coach or not,” Samuelson said. “But for me, talking with him is the same. He’s super positive. I know he has my best interests at heart. … It’s just like a comfortability factor. So I’m really, really glad that he’s here.”

Eric had the scout for Tuesday’s game, though he said that was a coincidence. More than once, he watched the Mystics set up to inbound the ball after timeouts and rushed down the sideline to shout to his players on the far end of the court about what to look for. Late in the second quarter, those instructions helped the Lynx force a five-second call.

Sometimes, giving instructions like that took him all the way to the scorer’s table. In the second quarter, he ended up there while Dolson, forward Aaliyah Edwards and forward Emily Engstler — three Mystics who played for him — were waiting to sub in.

According to Edwards, Eric said something to them first. Then there was more “friendly banter” back — something to the effect of telling him to get back in the coaching box or head back to his seat.

“It was cool seeing him,” Edwards told The Next postgame, laughing as she tried to recall their back-and-forth. “But yeah, he was an op today.”

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Even before beating the Lynx, the Mystics had surprised many people this season. Some had expected them to finish last or nearly last, but they are now 7-8, with six of their losses coming by single digits. They have won three of their past four games, and Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen are both WNBA Rookie of the Year contenders.

In some ways, Eric noted, those outcomes are fruits of the rebuild he and Mike had planned on.

“We ended the season last year playing good basketball. We had young players; we had draft picks,” he said. “I think everything that they’re seeing about their team now that is likable, I think we — without trying to be arrogant about it, I think we set a lot of that up. We made moves for the future.”

That future — also shaped by current general manager Jamila Wideman and head coach Sydney Johnson — arrived to haunt Eric and the Lynx on Tuesday. The Lynx raced out to a 20-6 start, but the Mystics responded with a 16-2 run, and it was close from there.

One big difference-maker was Washington’s defensive pressure, including Sutton and Melbourne hounding opposing ball-handlers full-court. Minnesota entered Tuesday averaging 13.8 turnovers per game, which opponents converted into 14.4 points per game. The Mystics forced 19 turnovers, which led to 26 points.

The biggest of those turnovers came with 29.6 seconds left, when Sutton intercepted Minnesota’s inbounds pass near midcourt for an easy layup. That put the Mystics up 66-64, and two free throws from Citron sealed the win.

Sutton finished with 12 points, four assists and four steals in 35:19. When she was on the court, the Mystics outscored the Lynx by 13.

“They outplayed us,” Reeve told reporters afterward. “They outphysicaled us. They outtoughed us. They outwanted us. They took the game.”

Another major factor in the win was Austin, who was named the WNBA’s Eastern Conference Player of the Week earlier in the day. She had 19 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals in 27:45. It was her third straight game with at least 19 points, her fifth straight with at least seven rebounds, and her fourth straight with multiple assists.

Austin had the clutch basket that set up Sutton’s steal, getting an offensive rebound and putback to tie the score at 64.

“She brings a certain type of energy,” Sutton told reporters postgame. “I mean, every time she scores, every time she’s getting an and-one, every time she’s getting a rebound, every time she’s getting a block, she’s screaming. She’s showing you, ‘Let’s go!’

“I think that we pick up on that. And … what she did tonight, I mean, sometimes I was just looking at her like, ‘Wow.’ It’s crazy what she’s doing.”

Austin is playing at such a high level partly because she is fully healthy after battling injuries for much of 2023 and 2024. But it’s also because she’s relishing being a go-to player in her fourth season — something she’s wanted ever since she was a rookie.

“When you’re put into positions where you’re not getting a lot of opportunities, you feel like you have to go score,” she told reporters postgame. “And that’s not where I’m at anymore. I feel like I can do everything.”

Alongside scoring, Austin now feels comfortable handling the ball anywhere on the court, and she enjoys setting up her teammates. On Tuesday, Johnson said he drew up a play to help her find her rhythm, but she was most concerned with making sure the spacing was right to set up a teammate if she didn’t have a good look.

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Asked postgame whether there was added motivation to play well against her former coach, Austin laughed. “I always create beefs in my head,” she said. “So, I mean, every team is gonna have some vendetta where I’m like, ‘All right, F y’all.’

“It was definitely a little something extra this game. Just wanted to establish who we are as a team. But what I’m doing … means a lot to me.”

It means a lot to her teammates, too, and that showed up in the way Austin, Sutton and Melbourne clung to each other and celebrated after the buzzer. Meanwhile, it wasn’t the outcome Eric was looking for from the opposite bench — but it was one he’d had a role in building toward.

“Tonight was a reward for us,” Sutton said. “We’ve been playing super hard the whole season, and so we got us one tonight, and it felt good.”

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 Terry Horstman and Rob Knox contributed reporting for this story.