Did the Washington Mystics get enough for Aaliyah Edwards in deadline-day trade?

This is the second deal that first-year general manager Jamila Wideman has made in the days before the deadline. On Tuesday, the Mystics traded leading scorer Brittney Sykes to the Seattle Storm for veteran wing Alysha Clark and a 2026 first-round draft pick.

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Under then-general manager Mike Thibault, the Mystics had drafted Edwards sixth overall in 2024. The 23-year-old is already a two-time Olympian for Canada and had some standout moments last season as a rookie and in the offseason in the 3×3 league Unrivaled.

However, Edwards struggled to carve out minutes this season after the Mystics parted ways with Thibault and head coach Eric Thibault in October and drafted forward Kiki Iriafen fourth overall this spring. She missed the start of the season with a back injury, and Iriafen seized the opportunity to start from Day 1 and hasn’t relinquished it. That left Edwards to jockey with veteran center Stefanie Dolson and stretch forward Emily Engstler for minutes off the bench.

“Kiki’s pretty good. [Fellow starter Shakira Austin is] pretty good. We have Stef. We have Emily [and] Aaliyah,” first-year head coach Sydney Johnson told reporters on Tuesday after Edwards played three and seven minutes in the previous two games. “So just with five post players, it’s trying to … allow them to get in a rhythm. And it’s not — three minutes for Aaliyah is tough. Seven minutes for Aaliyah’s tough, but for any of them. So just trying my best there.”

Overall, the 6’3 Edwards is averaging 6.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in 13.3 minutes per game, all as a reserve. Those averages are all down from last season, when she averaged 7.6 points and 5.6 rebounds in 21.8 minutes per game and started 17 of 34 games.

Still, on a per-minute basis, Edwards has been similarly productive this season. She is making 51.7% of her 2-pointers, up slightly from 50.7% last season, and getting to the free-throw line much more often per 40 minutes. She is also still one of the 20 youngest players in the WNBA, having just turned 23 on July 9, and has plenty of untapped potential.

“My mindset’s just being ready for when my name’s called to go sub in and to impact the game in any way and my way,” Edwards told The Next on June 24, after she had 7 points and five rebounds in 11 minutes in a win over the Minnesota Lynx. “Just [being] the versatile player that I am, whatever the team needs of me, the coaches need of me in that time.”

“We appreciate everything that Aaliyah brought to our organization,” Wideman said in the Mystics’ press release. “She consistently showed her professionalism and toughness. We’re excited for the opportunity ahead of her and wish her the best.”

Meanwhile, Sheldon is also in her second WNBA season, though she’s nearly two years older than Edwards. She was the fifth pick in the 2024 draft, one spot above Edwards, and played her rookie season with the Dallas Wings.

In February, Sheldon was traded to the Sun, and she is averaging 7.5 points, 2.0 assists, 1.9 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 24.1 minutes per game this season. She is shooting 47.0% from the field and 41.2% from 3-point range, with about half of her shots coming from behind the arc.

As is the case with Edwards, Sheldon’s rookie contract runs through the 2026 season, with a team option for 2027.

“We are excited to welcome Jacy to the Mystics and think her skill set, energy, and team-first approach will be a great fit for us,” Wideman said in the release. “She is a competitor and … [has] demonstrated an ability to shoot the ball and read the game on both ends of the court.”

Sheldon’s 3-point shooting should be immediately valuable for the Mystics, who rank last in the WNBA by a wide margin with 16.6 3-point attempts per game. The next-lowest team, the Chicago Sky, attempts 20.7 threes per game, and the league-leading Golden State Valkyries attempt 29.9. And though the WNBA average in threes attempted per game is 24.3, the Mystics have yet to take more than 24 in any game this season.

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At 5’10, Sheldon is also a versatile perimeter defender, which will help mitigate losing Sykes. Sykes often guarded the opponent’s best perimeter player, a responsibility that will now likely fall to rookie guard Sonia Citron. But Sheldon and Clark can help spell Citron there and show opposing scorers different looks.

“[Sykes’] defense has been ridiculously good,” Johnson said on Tuesday, after the Sykes trade but before the Edwards trade. “So that’s … something that we’re gonna have to figure out and address, because Slim certainly leaves a hole there. She’s a lockdown defender [and] took a lot of pride in trying to win her matchup.”

Positionally, Sheldon fits a larger need on this Mystics team than Edwards did. Edwards was in a logjam of frontcourt players, whereas the Mystics have been relatively thin on the perimeter all season. However, it’s hard not to wonder whether the Mystics gave up on Edwards too soon and for too little. Johnson insisted in June that Edwards “definitely fits” in his system, and the only Mystics frontcourt player who is currently signed for 2026 is Iriafen, meaning that the logjam could be much clearer in future seasons.

In addition, Wideman was looking to get a first-round draft pick in exchange for Edwards, according to ESPN’s Kevin Pelton, before accepting the Sun’s offer. Earlier this season, the Las Vegas Aces acquired NaLyssa Smith, a 24-year-old with similar statistics as Edwards this season per 40 minutes, in exchange for a 2027 first-round pick. Many observers considered that overpaying for Smith — but if Edwards’ team option is exercised, her rookie contract will end two years later than Smith’s, potentially raising her value.

Instead of adding a first-round pick, the Mystics got the right to swap certain draft picks as part of the trade. The swap does not affect the Mystics’ and Sun’s natural picks in the 2026 draft. Instead, it covers first-round picks the teams previously acquired from the Lynx and the New York Liberty, respectively.

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If the regular season ended at the time of the trade, Minnesota would be first in the standings and New York would be second. That would allow the Mystics to move up from the No. 15 overall pick to No. 14 (assuming the expansion teams pick directly after the lottery, as the Golden State Valkyries did in 2025). But if New York passes Minnesota in the standings, the Mystics will not have to move down. So the pick swap only offers upside for them, even if it ends up being marginal.

The Mystics will learn the outcome of the pick swap in about a month, when the regular season ends. But it will likely take a lot longer to fully evaluate the swap of two young players who still have plenty of room to grow and evolve in the WNBA.

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.