The Wizards & Mystics saw where they were in the hoops world for 2023

As the managing editor of a site that covers multiple professional basketball teams, it’s hard to write about them around one common theme. If the NBA team is doing well, the WNBA team in the same city may be terrible.

But the reality in the D.C. area is that the Washington Mystics, the DMV’s WNBA team, has done more than its fair share of holding Washington’s reputation as a basketball city. They won a WNBA title just four years ago. And they are still riding off the coattails of that title,

But the Washington Wizards have effectively done all they can to turn the nation’s capital into a hockey town while the Washington Capitals enjoyed their heyday in the 2010s.

Where I live in Loudoun County, Va., my perception of the DMV is that it’s an ice hockey area now. I see many more Capitals jerseys and hats than Wizards ones. I can go to Ashburn Ice House or ION in Leesburg to see Loudoun County high schools play each other in competitive varsity-equivalent competition. And I’d imagine that Ashburn and Aldie will produce some NHL players in the years ahead, if not already.

But I also get that in other parts of the DMV, especially east of D.C. proper, the Wizards and the Mystics are still followed more than the Capitals ever will be.

And that leads me to how 2023 went for both teams, with their natural trajectories.

The Mystics faced the reality that they may have to rebuild after another blown season under the Elena Delle Donne era

Let’s start with the Washington Mystics because their entire season was played this calendar year. They have a roster that COULD be a dark horse championship contender. If a few injuries to other teams happen, they could steal a title, like in 2019, though few here would like to admit that that’s how they won the title.

Again, in 2019, if Breanna Stewart hadn’t torn her Achilles and if Maya Moore hadn’t retired from the WNBA in hindsight, the Mystics would have never sniffed the WNBA Finals. That’s even if Emma Meesseman found her inner beast that she apparently could never find in seasons past.

Yeah, I said it then, and I’m more confident saying it today. Here’s why.

In the 2023 calendar year, Elena Delle Donne was supposed to be healthy for the year, Shakira Austin and Ariel Atkins were coming off FIBA Women’s World Cup gold medals, and that could give the Mystics reason to be better than other WNBA teams like the Dallas Wings, To be fair to the Mystics, all three started the year healthy and were playing very well. But all three missed significant time in the middle of the season due to injuries, ultimately preventing them from playing a home playoff game for the first time since … 2019!

And of all the injured players, it feels like an insult to injury to see that Austin, the youngest player, won’t be 100 percent until the middle of the 2024 regular…