WASHINGTON — Washington Mystics forward Kiki Iriafen spoke glowingly on Monday about what point guard Georgia Amoore brings to the table. But even before she spoke, her reaction to the question said it all. As she was asked about Amoore’s return from an ACL injury, Iriafen stretched her arms out wide and tilted her head toward the ceiling, striking a triumphant pose.
Amoore laughed when she heard about Iriafen’s reaction. But that’s how this moment feels for her, too, as she gets another opportunity to make her mark in the WNBA after the injury wiped out her rookie season.
“You take some time off of the sport you love, and obviously it gives you just an added level of gratitude and thankfulness to be out there,” Amoore told reporters at the Mystics’ preseason media day on Monday. “So, [I’m] never taking anything for granted.
“I think you think that you don’t do that until it’s taken away from you, and you’re like, ‘Oh, I definitely just woke up and rolled up to the court and did my best.’ But yeah, I’m super grateful to have this opportunity again.”
Last season, Amoore tore the ACL in her right knee on the third day of training camp. Though she couldn’t play, she was ever-present with the team all season, to the point that assistant coach Emre Vatansever said he’d never seen an injured player around as much as she was.
Amoore did that because she considers her job as a point guard to be 50% physical and 50% mental, with the mental part including things like basketball IQ and communication. So with the on-court part ruled out, she tried to learn as much as possible about the mental side of the game and help her teammates succeed however she could.
She often took notes in a padfolio during games as she watched from the second row of the Mystics’ bench. Practices felt like being back in school as she studied what the team was working on and pointed out things she saw on the court to her teammates.
“That’s what encompasses a good point guard, or what I would hope people consider me to be,” Amoore, the No. 6 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, told The IX Basketball later on Monday. “So last year … it was good that I was still able to make a mark, and I’m only gonna be able to improve and add more to that this year.”
Besides taking a two-week trip home to Australia — her first time back in 18 months — Amoore spent the entire offseason rehabbing in Washington. At first, there were a lot of milestones in her recovery: increasing her quadriceps strength, walking, jumping. “Everyone prepares you for that,” she said. “But then it obviously kind of plateaus, and that’s kind of when it’s like, ‘All right, things are getting real.’”
Even more than the plateaus, Amoore’s biggest challenge in rehab was not overdoing it when her body felt good. She had to dial back the instinct she’s always had as an athlete to push herself as hard as she could because taking a more measured approach was better for her recovery.
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Amoore has been cleared to play without restrictions for a while now, and she’s practicing with the team in training camp. She said she doesn’t remember when she was cleared for contact — or the date of any milestone other than her surgery — because she has tried to stay so focused on the present. That big step just kind of happened one day, when the medical staff told her she could try contact drills. That approach helped her because she didn’t have time to think about it and worry about how her knee would handle it.
“Georgia is coming along great and is full of energy and leadership and creativity and communication,” head coach Sydney Johnson told reporters on Monday. “So it’s really fun to see how she’s adding to [our] young core, and our job is to push them forward.”
Amoore knows there will almost certainly be difficult moments in her first season playing professionally. But she’s confident that she’ll be able to handle them and make the right adjustments. She even joked about how she’s already thrown several errant passes in transition as the Mystics try to play fast again this season under Johnson.
“As soon as I catch that ball, I’m looking to fire it up,” Amoore told reporters. “I don’t have to dribble it every time. … Kiki’s hungry. She’s gonna rim run every time, and I’m gonna look to feed her every time. I think the best part about Coach Syd now is that he understands that this is a process. So for the first couple of practices, was I throwing the ball at the wall? Yeah. But at least Kiki knows that the ball’s coming, and I’ll gradually start hitting her more on the spots where she likes it.”
Amoore has also prepared herself for the physical grind of a WNBA season. Last summer, she filled the quiet times before and after games by studying the veteran players on both teams. She watched how they warmed up and activated their muscles before games, particularly on the road. She wandered through the back hallways after games and noticed how they used ice, compression and other tools to help their bodies recover. In addition, she talked to teammate Sonia Citron, who was an All-Star as a rookie in 2025, about how her recovery routine changed from college to the WNBA.
From all those sources, Amoore got inspiration for how she’ll travel, warm up and recover this season.
“A lot of [my recovery] is probably knee-centric now, just activating quads, activating hamstrings and glutes,” she told The IX Basketball. “I did that before, but I guess just doing it for longer. And recovery is just the biggest key, especially when the season’s so condensed. … [So] I’m excited to incorporate all those things that I learned.”
That attention to detail and her desire to be great make Amoore a strong leader by example, but she’s also confident using her voice. She made an impact in both ways last season, and this year, she’ll be relied on even more.
Last season, the Mystics were one of the youngest teams in the WNBA, but they’re even younger and less experienced now. Only two of the 18 players in training camp have more than one season of WNBA experience, and Johnson is leaning on second-year players like Amoore, Iriafen and Citron to help share the leadership responsibilities.
The team responds to Amoore’s leadership because it’s so purposeful, according to Iriafen. Amoore takes the time to learn about each of her teammates and what types of communication resonate most with each of them.
“Georgia is very intentional about how she approaches every single person, and I think that is a testament to who she is as a person,” Iriafen said. “So, just, I don’t think we’ve had anything like that. I’ve never seen anything like that in all my years of playing basketball. …
“I think Georgia’s just one of one, and we feel her whether she’s on the court or off.”
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Though the Mystics have only had a few practices so far, Amoore’s impact on and off the court has even been noticeable to players who haven’t played with her before. Rookie point guard Rori Harmon said she’s been “sticking around Georgia pretty close” in training camp because she knows she can learn a lot that way.
“She’s just always bouncing around,” Harmon told reporters on Monday. “She’s just a great player, a great point guard. She’s looking to get other people better on her team, and she shoots the ball really well. But her IQ’s the one thing that stands out to me, and that’s something that I want to learn from.”
Forward Michaela Onyenwere, the Mystics’ most experienced player at just 26 years old, has similarly appreciated Amoore’s presence and leadership. They share an agent, and Onyenwere watched Amoore play at Kentucky, but this is the first time they’ve been teammates.
After just one day of practice, Onyenwere pulled Amoore aside. “I’m so proud of you,” she said she told Amoore. “You have fought through something, an adversity, that maybe you didn’t expect, but you’ve come back, and we’re looking for you to obviously lead the team as a point guard.”
Evidence of that comeback appeared all over social media the next day, when the Mystics posted a clip of Amoore freestyling against several male practice players. She faked a drive toward the middle, burst toward the left wing, and dribbled through her legs and behind her back. Then she exploded toward the basket, splitting two defenders and curling in a right-handed layup.
She looked like a point guard who’d never been hurt — or perhaps one who got even more determined in her months of rehab to show what her body is capable of.
“She’s already been amazing in just the drills that we’ve done,” Iriafen said on Monday. “So I think she’s going to impress the whole world. And I’m just really excited to play with her.”
Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the group that owns the Washington Mystics, holds a minority stake in The IX Basketball. The IX Basketball’s editorial operations are entirely independent of Monumental and all other business partners.
