The Mystics are entering a period of transition, and the biggest question this offseason is what to do with unrestricted free agent Elena Delle Donne.
“[Transition] is a word that can be used a little bit,” Thibault said. “I think we have to make a decision about what this is going to look like going forward. And it’s not an easy one.”The Mystics have been operating with a core group they have felt was championship caliber since they traded for Delle Donne, a two-time league MVP. This year’s roster featured Delle Donne, Ariel Atkins, Natasha Cloud, Myisha Hines-Allen, Tianna Hawkins, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and Kristi Toliver.
Delle Donne is the biggest question. She’s a seven-time all-star, including this season, and an Olympian who has long been considered one of the best players on the planet. A pair of back surgeries, plus two ankle injuries and a hip injury this season, have limited her to just 51 games since she signed a supermax deal before the 2020 season.
The Mystics, meanwhile, must determine how Delle Donne fits in their plans. She played well enough to earn the all-star appearance and had strong efficiency stats, shooting 48.5 percent from the field, 39.3 percent from three-point range and 93.8 percent from the free throw line. But her 16.7 points per game were a career low for seasons in which she played more than three games. She has averaged 11.3 points and 3.
“I think that’s the discussion we’re having, and I really can’t give you that answer,” Mike Thibault said. “I would say that anytime you have some of your players getting older, whether she was a free agent or not, we need to make sure that we have other players that we can make focal parts of what we do. It can’t just be one player.”Cloud also will be a major factor this offseason because she is expected to draw significant interest from other teams.
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