The Washington Mystics will begin the 2026 season later tonight when they are on the road to play the Toronto Tempo. They will also do so with the second youngest roster in WNBA history.
Age is one thing. But the number of rookies on the team is staggering. Nine of the 14 players (including Alicia Florez and Darianna Littelpage-Buggs, the team’s developmental contract players) are rookies.
Starting with a very young and inexperienced roster is another thing. The Mystics have two All-Stars in Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen who will be relied heavily upon this season along with Shakira Austin, the team’s lone player with a $1 million cap hit. However, it also seems as if the front office is content to see whether their young stars can sink or swim in near-extreme conditions.
Finally, how good will the Mystics be in 2026?
Given the Mystics’ youth this season as well as their lack of signing free agents in each of the past two years, Washington will likely be a lottery team this season and for the next two to three seasons. That said, the WNBA pundits are confident that the Mystics will avoid being the 15th best (or the worst) team in the league in 2026.
According to ESPN, the Mystics are predicted to finish 11th in the league. That’s in large part due to Citron and Iriafen forming the Mystics’ top duo in 2025. The good news is that the two were winning games with Brittney Sykes in the first half of the season. But they still lost 10 games in a row to finish it. It’s difficult to say whether one or both could be All-Stars again this season, especially if the Mystics have a rough start.
I’m hopeful that we will see more of the Citron and Iriafen duo leading Washington to its fair share of wins this season, though a playoff appearance is probably out of the question.