Defense leads to offense, and offense wins games … but so does chemistry.
And that is what the young Washington Mystics team is becoming known for.
A combination of rookies and second-year players makes the Mystics the youngest team in the league. Add to that a head coach in Sydney Johnson entering his second season in the WNBA, and you have a team that’s keeping everyone guessing.
But 2026 UCLA national champion and Mystics rookie Lauren Betts made the team’s No. 1 goal for the season clear to Sue Bird on the Bird’s Eye View podcast: reach the playoffs.
Betts was drafted alongside her college teammate Angela Dugalić, and she already had ties to Kiki Iriafen from their Stanford days. During this time, they were teammates for a season before transferring and eventually facing each other.
So, the bond was already there.
The fact that much of the Mystics’ core is young enough to have faced one another during their college careers only adds another layer as they’re now learning each other’s games on the same team.
“I know we’re gonna give Coach Syd some headaches, just being super young,” Iriafen told reporters at media day. “But I’m just really excited to play with this young group.”
During training camp and the preseason, you could already feel the closeness as the players participated in behind-the-scenes TikToks featuring dances and popular trends, quickly capturing Mystics fans’ attention and admiration. But there’s more to this team than that.
Their competitiveness is what’s beginning to separate them.
In the team’s SLAM Magazine feature before the season, Betts was asked how she felt about playing alongside 22-year-old guard Sonia Citron, and she didn’t hesitate.
“Oh, I’m excited to play with Sonia,” Betts answered enthusiastically, remembering how they were just 15 years old when they last played together for USA Basketball. “…I feel like Sonia, and I work really well together. She throws really good passes, and she is so skilled and great from anywhere. I’m honestly excited to watch her as a spectator first, and then as my teammate, [to] play with her.”
This young team can hang with the best in clutch performances
Citron has already proven she’s a force to be reckoned with.
That chemistry with Betts was on full display June 12 against the Toronto Tempo, when Citron knocked down a game-winning buzzer-beater to give Washington an 86-85 victory. She finished with 17 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. After Betts won the opening tip on the final possession, Citron knew she had only one option with 0.5 seconds remaining.
The game also marked Betts’ best performance to that point, as she scored a career-high 18 points while stepping into a larger role with Iriafen sidelined because of injury.
That final 0.5 seconds put the league on notice.
What is Washington cooking up? And how?
This wasn’t just a one-night breakthrough.
From the moment the Mystics took the floor together, they proved they could compete with the league’s contenders. Their second game of the regular season against the New York Liberty went to overtime, and although Washington lost, it pushed the defending champions to the limit before falling 98-93.
The Mystics got their revenge June 19, defeating New York 86-83 and snapping the Liberty’s eight-game winning streak.
But it was Kiki Iriafen’s words afterward that best explained this team’s mindset.
“I think this one was huge for us,” Iriafen told AP News after the game. “Given we played the Liberty last week and we didn’t play up to our standards. We know they are a great team, but again we have so much fight, and we think we can beat anyone, regardless of who they have.”
That belief is what’s taking Washington to another level.
They truly believe they can beat anyone.
Thoughts become actions, and actions lead to execution.
Washington’s game plan revolves around outworking opponents while consistently moving the ball and communicating effectively. It’s paying off, as many of the Mystics’ games this season have been decided by a single possession.
The Mystics’ bond is carrying them through key moments effectively
That resilience showed up again in Washington’s quadruple-overtime, 124-123 victory over the Portland Fire on June 28.
Everyone – including Johnson – remarked that it was unlike anything they’d experienced before. But instead of shying away from the moment, the Mystics embraced it together.
Johnson said that’s exactly what’s driving the team forward.
“Their togetherness was off the charts,” Johnson told The IX after the game. “…That connection and feeling towards each other — real affection there — I think that added a little bit of wind to their sails, because I’m not sure how else we could get it done.”
This isn’t a team that should be overlooked because of its youth.
It’s a team proving it can compete with the league’s best.
Win or lose, the Mystics are making veteran teams work for every possession.
And it doesn’t stop there.
On Monday, July 6, the WNBA announced that Citron and Iriafen were named All-Star reserves. After each earning All-Star honors as rookies last season, they became the first teammates since 1999 to be selected to the All-Star Game in each of their first two seasons.
Washington’s story is still being written as the league approaches the second half of the season.
The Mystics have made it clear they’ll do everything in their power to accomplish their goal of reaching the playoffs – and perhaps making a deeper run than many expected.
Everyone loves a good underdog story.
But the Mystics are proving they’re becoming much more than that.
