Mystics have capable players and not enough roster spots
Emily Engstler caught the ball on the block and went to work Wednesday, flashing the most impressive sequence she has had during a pair of exhibition games with the Washington Mystics. She gave a quick shoulder shimmy toward the paint before spinning baseline to fake a fadeaway, completing the layup with a step-through as the defender bit on the pump fake.
Her Mystics teammates jumped off the bench. That was the kind of move that made Engstler the No. 4 pick in the 2022 WNBA draft. The moment conjured thoughts of what could be with some time, but time is short.
The Mystics defeated the Atlanta Dream, 88-76, to finish their two-game preseason. Elena Delle Donne scored a game-high 17 points. The team opens the regular season May 19 at home against the New York Liberty.
General Manager Mike Thibault will have some difficult decisions to make as the May 18 roster cutdown deadline approaches. Teams can carry 12 players, but many, including the Mystics, will keep 11 to better navigate the salary cap. There’s not a lot of space available to make the team, so a game like Engstler’s on Wednesday can go a long way, especially after she came to camp late following a surprising release by the Indiana Fever after one season.
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The 6-foot-1 forward said she thinks about the future when she’s back at the hotel, talking to friends and family.
“In my opinion, it’s not the best habit,” said Engstler, who scored 11 points and had eight rebounds off the bench. “You should really live in the moment, especially when you’re in this career and you need to just play day by day. But it’s a very human thing, and I do it often.
“But when I’m in the gym and when I’m with this team, I’m living in this moment and I try to make sure of that because it’s not fair to them for me to be overthinking and all that. And it’s not fair to myself because it’s giving me a lesser chance than I think I would have if I were just sitting here thinking about what happens at the end of this week.”
The Mystics have six players with guaranteed contracts — Delle Donne, Natasha Cloud, Brittney Sykes, Myisha Hines-Allen, Ariel Atkins and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough. That leaves five spots to be filled by next week. Shakira Austin, the 2022 No. 3 pick, is on her rookie deal and isn’t going anywhere. Three-time all-star and two-time champion Kristi Toliver signed a one-year deal to return to Washington in free agency and is also considered a lock to be on the roster.
The three remaining spots are likely to be filled by the other seven players in training camp after Evina Westbrook and Alisia Jenkins were released last week. This is where things get tricky for Thibault and his staff. Amanda Zahui B. was the No. 2 pick in 2015 and signed a one-year deal in free agency. The 29-year-old center started both exhibition games, and it would be a shock if she was left off the roster.
Then there is forward Tianna Hawkins. The 10-year veteran has played seven seasons with the Mystics over two stints, making for a level of trust and familiarity. But Hawkins has struggled the past two seasons, averaging just 4.9 points. Her field goal percentage was a career-low 38.6 percent last season, surpassing her previous low of 39.7 percent in 2021. Hawkins, 32, played well in the exhibitions, posting a team-high 14 points in a 72-69 loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Friday and a game-high 10 rebounds against Atlanta on Wednesday.
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The overall makeup of the roster will also be considered. The Mystics mainly are a mix of guards and bigs. Versatility is a strength of that group, but that still leaves no true wings among the nine expected to make the team.
“With maybe a couple exceptions, it’s kind of bigs and guards and sometimes our bigs play like guards,” Coach Eric Thibault said. “If you look at our roster, I don’t know who you’d say the point guards [are]. ... I don’t care who’s the five; they can just figure out how to play off of each other and read each other. We’re conscious of the fact that we still have at least a week until we do have to make cuts. So [the] game is not the end of that evaluation.”
Eric Thibault has repeatedly praised 6-foot Jazmine Jones, who may be the closest thing to a true wing on the roster. She’s athletic and energetic, another versatile player who can play three positions. Jones spent time with the Mystics late in 2022 and signed a training camp contract in January. In the first exhibition game, she got the start, which the coach said Jones earned in practice.
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“I’m just in a good place mentally, physically. I feel great,” Jones said. “Learning. ... Being aggressive every chance I get. I’m just trying to find my way every single day. Tomorrow’s an off day, but I’m coming in here to shoot. Coming in to shoot like this [could] probably be my last time shooting because you never know.”
Li Meng is another 6-footer who could be a wing, though the Chinese national team star has had her growing pains during her first WNBA training camp.
Making the Mystics’ roster is a challenge, considering they’ve got the third-best odds to win the championship, according to VegasInsider.com. Elena Tsineke was the No. 20 draft pick out of South Florida and has shown quickness, tenacity and the knack to score, but the team already has five guards on the camp roster. Former University of Maryland standout Stephanie Jones has played 23 WNBA games as a 6-2 power forward, but it will be difficult to find room on the roster.
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Engstler and that aspiring group have a week-and-a-half to make final impressions and fight for two, maybe three slots. Everyone knows the stakes, and it won’t be easy.
“This is a team that has a lot of pieces already — really good ones,” Engstler said. “So you kind of just want to go in and be able to seep into the seams and be that little room they have left, so that you can stick and help them out in those aspects. And I think that I was able to do that decently tonight.”
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