Days after the 2025 season ended, Washington Mystics general manager Jamila Wideman told reporters to expect 2026 to look very similar to 2025 for the rebuilding franchise. But at least two roster spots will now have to change for 2026, as the Portland Fire selected guard Sug Sutton and forward Emily Engstler in Friday’s WNBA expansion draft.
The 27-year-old Sutton had a career year in 2025, which was her fourth WNBA season. She started all 43 games she played and averaged 7.4 points and 3.9 assists in 26.1 minutes per game. She also made 47.2% of her 2-pointers and 35.3% of her 3-pointers, both of which were career bests.
Engstler was the No. 4 overall pick in 2022, but she has struggled to find a consistent long-term role in stints with three WNBA teams. Last season, her minutes fluctuated in the Mystics’ crowded frontcourt rotation, and she averaged 3.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 12.8 minutes per game.
Sutton is a restricted free agent this offseason, meaning that the Mystics were set to have the right to match any contract she received. Now, the Fire have that right, assuming they extend her a restricted qualifying offer next week. Engstler is a reserved player, meaning that the Fire now have exclusive negotiating rights with her.
The Toronto Tempo, the other expansion team in Friday’s draft, did not take any Mystics players. Existing franchises could lose a maximum of two players, one per round, so once the Fire picked both Sutton and Engstler, Toronto couldn’t select a Mystic.
With Sutton and Engstler heading west, the Mystics will enter free agency with five players under contract in 2026, plus two under partial team control. Second-year pros Sonia Citron, Kiki Iriafen, Georgia Amoore and Lucy Olsen are all under contract, as is third-year pro Jacy Sheldon. Forward/center Shakira Austin is a restricted free agent whom the Mystics would like to re-sign. And guard/forward Madison Scott is a reserved player after joining the Mystics midseason.
The five players under contract give the Mystics youth they can build around. Citron, Iriafen and Amoore were all top-six picks in the 2025 college draft, and Olsen was a second-round selection. Amoore missed the 2025 season with a knee injury but is expected to be fully healthy for 2026. The team will also have three first-round picks in the upcoming college draft.
So this month, Mystics leadership will aim to assemble a roster that gives its young players space to flourish.
“I think that we have to explore all avenues,” Monumental Basketball president Michael Winger told reporters in January. (Monumental Basketball is the group that operates the Mystics.) “I think that we have to explore trades. I think that we have to explore free agency. But at the very end of the day, we are firmly committed to building a team around Soni and Kiki, [and] Georgia likely as well.”
With that guiding principle in mind, the Mystics will continue to emphasize incremental growth, not win totals and playoff position. That doesn’t mean they’re content to stagnate; they want to get better. But they plan to do that by staying patient and focusing on player development, which they considered one of their biggest wins from the 2025 season.
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As a result, Winger said the Mystics would probably not put “all of our eggs in one basket” in free agency to pursue one or two stars. But they will almost certainly look to add veteran leadership.
“When you think about building anything, you have to start with some sort of a foundation,” Wideman told reporters in September, after the 2025 season ended. “And then the fun part is when you get to add those next layers. … One of the ways that we tried to do that this year was how we brought in some veteran leadership in Alysha Clark [and] Stef Dolson. … That was an ingredient that we felt like was really important for our young core to continue to develop.”
Clark and Dolson are both unrestricted free agents, so they can sign with any team. If they don’t return to Washington, it will be important for Wideman to find other veterans who bring leadership styles that mesh with where the Mystics are in their rebuild. Austin would be a natural fit if she decides she wants to return. She is a high-level WNBA player in her own right and has already been an impactful leader for the team despite being only 25 years old.
The Mystics will also likely look to add 3-point shooting and guards who can play fast, whether in free agency, the college draft or both. Last season, the Mystics took just 17.1 threes per game, whereas every other WNBA team took at least 20. They also made just 32.9% of them, which ranked 10th out of 13 teams. Sutton took and made the second-most threes on the roster behind Citron, so the expansion draft results only magnify this need for the Mystics.
Similarly, first-year head coach Sydney Johnson wanted the Mystics to play fast, but that goal wasn’t fully realized. The team turned the ball over too often and wasn’t efficient in transition, which makes sense when you consider that it was one of the WNBA’s youngest teams last season.
Amoore could step in as the starting point guard and help push the tempo, but the Mystics will still need to add depth at that position with Sutton departing. They could re-sign 23-year-old Jade Melbourne, who is an unrestricted free agent after spending two years in Washington. They could also look elsewhere in free agency or to the college draft, which will feature several high-level point guards.
Because their young players will generally be on rookie-scale contracts, the Mystics will also have money to spend. One strategy could be to overpay for free agents who are extremely talented but won’t command maximum contracts. Wideman noted in September that Citron and Iriafen had shown they could coexist quite well with that caliber of player, as they and veteran guard Brittney Sykes were all named WNBA All-Stars last season before Sykes was traded at the deadline.
“One of the best things that we saw out of both of those players and our team is that as good as they are individually … there’s still room on the floor for other extraordinary talent,” Wideman said. “And I can’t say enough how important that is when you’re trying to build around a young core.”
Just like in September, the biggest question for the Mystics now is how fast their rebuild will progress. Their free agency moves should make that a little clearer — both because they will reveal more about the Mystics’ strategy and because Winger believes the pace ultimately depends on the players and their development.
“The athletes themselves sort of tell us when we’re ready to graduate on to the next phase by their competitiveness [and] their ability to carry a team,” he said.
In the next few weeks, we’ll see who the Mystics entrust with carrying the team alongside their standout sophomores.
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Melbourne was a turnover machine so please pass on her. The Mystics have 5 picks on the top 30. Pick I expect all 5 to make the roster but they need size and athleticism to back up F/C Shakira. I’d like to get Okut or Serah Williams at #11 or #19.
You probably wouldn’t if you were the GM! LOL