How Mystics forward Aaliyah Edwards has kept her focus amid reports she might be traded

On Tuesday, ESPN’s Kendra Andrews and Alexa Philippou reported that the Mystics had taken calls from multiple teams that were interested in trading for Edwards. In her second WNBA season, Edwards is averaging 5.6 points and 3.5 rebounds in 14.4 minutes per game off the bench.

“It’s a tough situation for her to deal with and for the team,” Mystics head coach Sydney Johnson told reporters before Thursday’s game. “She’s very young in her career, and she’s a Mystic.”

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Edwards had a promising rookie season, starting 17 of her 34 games and averaging 7.6 points and 5.6 rebounds in 21.8 minutes per game. She made 50.7% of her 2-pointers despite being the third-youngest player in the WNBA that season. Then-teammate Julie Vanloo called her the Mystics’ “Duracell Bunny” because “her battery just never dies.”

Edwards also played for Canada in the Olympics last August, making her second Olympic team at just 22 years old.

In the offseason, she impressed in the 3×3 league Unrivaled. Though her team didn’t qualify for the playoffs, she made the finals of the one-on-one tournament by beating established WNBA stars Breanna Stewart, Allisha Gray and Arike Ogunbowale.

However, Edwards was nursing a back injury to begin the 2025 WNBA season and didn’t debut until May 25. By then, rookie forward Kiki Iriafen had cemented herself as the team’s starting power forward. And in a crowded frontcourt that also includes starting center Shakira Austin and 3-point threats Stefanie Dolson and Emily Engstler, Edwards struggled to find minutes.

“Coming out and trying to get your rhythm, trying to get a flow, and [the] majority of the time it’s in low minutes, it’s tough,” Austin told reporters about Edwards after Thursday’s game, speaking from experience after battling multiple injuries over her career.

Edwards is only averaging about two-thirds of the minutes she played last season, and she hasn’t cracked the starting lineup once. Her season high in minutes is 20:24 — below her average from a season ago.

Her turnover rate has increased from last season, but that is somewhat unsurprising. She has had fewer minutes to settle into games, and she is playing much more often with certain players and less with others than she did last season. For instance, 54% of her minutes this season have come alongside point guard Jade Melbourne, compared with 23% last season. She’s also playing much less with Dolson and much more with Austin.

Still, Edwards has generally been productive in the minutes she’s getting. Per 40 minutes, she is averaging more points, offensive rebounds and steals than she did as a rookie while making 48.3% of her 2-pointers. She is also getting to the free-throw line much more often.

“She definitely fits,” Johnson said about Edwards’ role before a game against the Dallas Wings on June 22. “… So in my mind, it’s not a game plan to restrict Aaliyah in any way. Definitely want to get her out there.”

However, Edwards played just 11:05 in that game, an overtime win. She played 11:15 in a win over Minnesota two days later, finishing with 7 points on 3-for-6 shooting and five rebounds.

“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 after that game. “Just [being] the versatile player that I am, whatever the team needs of me, the coaches need of me in that time. And I think that, yeah, [I] had great minutes today.”

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After ESPN’s report surfaced on Tuesday, Edwards told The Washington Post’s Kareem Copeland that she was trying to focus on being with the Mystics, preparing for the rematch with the Lynx and “showing up for D.C. every night.”

She added, “As an athlete, we go through highs and lows. We have great seasons. We don’t have good seasons. We kind of have stall seasons. So my mentality of all of it is just to lean on my teammates, lean on my family, my friends, those who support me.”

According to Johnson, Edwards had good practices on Tuesday and Wednesday despite the distraction of the trade reports. He praised her before Thursday’s game for her offensive rebounding, defense and finishing at the rim, which are all things he wants her to emphasize in every game.

“Her knowing what she can do here with our team and what she contributes, that’s the focus,” Johnson said. “We’re focusing on her development here, and we’re blocking out the noise.”

Edwards is likely an appealing trade target for other teams because she has lots of potential and is on an inexpensive rookie-scale contract, which goes through 2026 with a team option for 2027. Those same factors make it risky for Washington to trade her, especially if Austin or Iriafen gets injured in the future. Edwards’ best days are likely ahead of her — she just needs the minutes to show what she can do.

In a sense, Thursday’s game was a reminder of that, even though she still played less than 20 minutes. It was just the fourth time in Edwards’ career that she’d scored 15 or more points and the first time since September 2024. It was also just the third time — and the first in over a year — that she’d shot 80% or better from the field on five or more shot attempts.

Edwards opened her scoring midway through the first quarter, less than a minute after she’d subbed in for the first time. She ran into the paint from the 3-point line to grab an offensive rebound, then took one step across the lane and spun in a reverse layup.

Midway through the second quarter, Edwards beat Lynx forwards Napheesa Collier and Alanna Smith down the court in transition by several steps. Her uncontested layup, off a feed from Melbourne, gave the Mystics a 7-point lead and forced Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve to call timeout.

Most of Edwards’ shots on Thursday came near the rim. The Mystics are hoping she can eventually extend her offense past the 3-point line, and when she took a three in the team’s previous game, Johnson said he was mentally “doing cartwheels.” But for now, she is primarily a threat out to the elbow, where she scored midway through the third quarter off of another offensive rebound.

Edwards’ only miss from the field came on a midrange fadeaway with just four seconds left in the game. She was the Mystics’ second-highest scorer of the night, behind fellow reserve Lucy Olsen’s 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting in 17 minutes.

“They work hard, they’re not waiting for something to be given to them, and they just compete,” Austin said about Edwards and Olsen. “And that’s what it’s supposed to look like, no matter if it’s a play set up for you or if you play five or 35 minutes. You have to go out there and compete. … And that’s just everything that they do every single day. So I’m super proud of them.”

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For Johnson, Edwards’ performance on Thursday showed a lot about her mental toughness, and that was something he wanted to celebrate. He will support her however he can through this limbo period, whether it ends in a trade or not.

“It’s been [a] little bumpy ride for her the last 48 hours, and there’s been a lot of attention on her in ways that she didn’t want and wasn’t fair to her,” Johnson said postgame. “And I just love her professionalism, and I love the sisterhood where they’ve just rallied around each other and just support her. …

“She’s a Mystic. And so I’m … happy that she has a really nice moment and outing and that we can share in it.”

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.