The Washington Mystics will be just fine if their players take their current momentum into the regular season. Aaliyah Edwards, Jade Melbourne, and others have all represented the franchise well the past few weeks.
Edwards made it all the way to the final round in the inaugural Unrivaled one-on-one tournament as an eighth seed on Feb. 14. The 22-year-old beat No. 1 Breanna Stewart in the first round, then No. 3 Allisha Grey in the quarterfinal and No. 1 Arike Ogunbowale in the Final Four. The final scores were 12-0, 12-6, and 11-2, respectively.
However, Edwards lost to former UConn teammate Napheesa Collier in the best-of-three final, falling in two of the contests. Collier took home $200,000, which is almost $16,000 more than her average annual salary.
Edwards was happy with her Cinderella run despite the loss, via ESPN.
“I’m proud of myself. No one could take that away from me,” the 2024 No. 6 overall draft pick said. “All the work I put in, I was able to just showcase that and kind of let everyone know that, you know, I’m not one to play with.”
Edwards’ 1-on-1 tournament run comes amid an Unrivaled campaign in which she’s averaging 8.9 points on 61.4-percent shooting with 5.1 rebounds across just eight minutes per game for the Mist. That’s a good way to build on her rookie WNBA season, when she averaged 7.6 points on 49-percent shooting with 5.6 rebounds across 21.8 minutes per contest. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, as Unrivaled games are three-on-three, scoring over a point per minute is still impressive.
Meanwhile, Mystics guard Jade Melbourne capped off her All-WNBL (Australian league) Second Team campaign with 40 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, three steals and one block to lead the UC Capitals to an 83-74 victory over the Bendingo Spirit on Feb. 16. The back-to-back WNBL Fan MVP led the Capitals with 15.7 points, 6.8 assists, and two steals per game, and was third on the team with 5.8 rebounds.
WOW! Jade left it all on the court.
40 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals…
WHAT A PERFORMANCE. #MysticsOnTheMap pic.twitter.com/w9sQ70msoM
— Washington Mystics (@WashMystics) February 17, 2025
Melbourne, who averaged 5.4 points in 14.2 minutes across 37 contests for Washington last season, could make a case for more WNBA playing time this year if she plays even a fraction as well as she did in Australia.
With that being said, Edwards and Melbourne are just the tip of the iceberg.
Brittney Sykes, several other Mystics putting in work
Brittney Sykes, Shakira Austin, and Stefanie Dolson are all playing in Unrivaled as well, with Sykes averaging 10.7 points on 43.1-percent shooting across 11.4 minutes per game for the Rose. Additionally, Austin is scoring 6.7 points on 40-percent shooting across eight minutes for the Lunar Owls, and Dolson has 9.4 points on a 56.3-percent clip in 15 minutes for the Laces.
As for overseas ball, Sika Kone, Ariel Atkins, and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough have all earned “Mystics on the Map” Player of the Week honors for their work in Spain, Turkey, and Poland, respectively, via the Mystics’ website. Sykes also helped Team USA win silver at the FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup in December.
While it’s normal for WNBA players to hoop internationally in the offseason, the addition of Unrivaled allows the community to watch them domestically too. It’s a new way to evaluate their progress, and Washington fans should be happy to see all of their players performing efficiently.
Unrivaled’s regular season will end on March 10, followed by the playoffs and final, which will end a week later. After that, Mystics fans can look forward to the WNBA draft on April 14, in which their team will pick No. 4 and No. 6. Training camp then starts on April 27.
Washington’s players hooping well in the offseason doesn’t guarantee that the team will improve on its 14-26 campaign, but it gives it something to be excited about as it installs a new regime.
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