2020 Washington Mystics season

The 2020 Washington Mystics season was the franchise's 23rd season in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The regular season tipped off versus the Indiana Fever on July 25, 2020.^[1]

2020 Washington Mystics season
Coach	Mike Thibault
Arena	Originally: St. Elizabeths East Arena Rescheduled to: IMG Academy gymnasiums, Bradenton, Florida
Attendance	0 per game
Results
Record	9–13 (.409)
Place	3rd (Eastern)
Playoff finish	8th Seed, Lost in First Round to Phoenix Mercury
Team Leaders
Points	Myisha Hines-Allen – 17.0 ppg
Rebounds	Myisha Hines-Allen – 8.9 rpg
Assists	Leilani Mitchell – 5.4 apg
← 2019 season 2021 season →

This WNBA season will feature an all-time high 36 regular-season games.^[2] However, the plan for expanded games was put on hold on April 3, when the WNBA postponed its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[3] Under a plan approved on June 15, the league is scheduled to hold a shortened 22-game regular season at IMG Academy, without fans present, starting on July 24.^[4][5]

The Mystics were without star Elena Delle Donne for the season, as she sat out due to COVID-19 concerns. Expectations were lowered when it was announced that the 2019 MVP would be out for the season. However, the Mystics defied those expectations in their first three games, winning all three. However, the season took a drastic turn for the worse after that, with the team going 1–11 in their August games. At 4–11 overall, the Mystics were on the outside looking in for the playoffs. The Mystics went 5–2 in September, including a four game win-streak to finish the season and secure the eight seed in the playoffs. As the eight seed, they lost in the first round to the Phoenix Mercury.

Transactions

WNBA draft

See also: 2020 WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
2	24	Jaylyn Agnew	United States	Creighton
3	36	Sug Sutton	United States	Texas

Trades and roster changes

Date	Details
February 11, 2020	Re-Signed F Elena Delle Donne[6]
February 13, 2020	Signed G Leilani Mitchell[7]
February 17, 2020	Re-signed G Emma Meesseman[8]
April 15, 2020	Engaged in a three team trade where they acquired Tina Charles in exchange for their first-round pick in the 2020 WNBA draft and their first, second, and third round pick in the 2021 WNBA draft and G Shatori Walker-Kimbrough.[9]
June 22, 2020	G Natasha Cloud and F/C LaToya Sanders announce they will opt out of the 2020 season.[10]
June 26, 2020	Signed G/F Essence Carson.[11]
June 29, 2020	Signed C Alaina Coates and G Shey Peddy.[12]

Roster

2020 Washington Mystics roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs G 7 Atkins, Ariel 5' 8" (1.73m) 167 lb (76kg) 1996-07-30 Texas 2 C 31 Charles, Tina 6' 4" (1.93m) 192 lb (87kg) 1988-12-05 Connecticut 10 C 81 Coates, Alaina 6' 4" (1.93m) 225 lb (102kg) 1995-04-07 South Carolina 2 G/F 11 Delle Donne, Elena 6' 5" (1.96m) 187 lb (85kg) 1989-09-05 Delaware 7 F 88 Gemelos, Jacki 6' 0" (1.83m) 165 lb (75kg) 1988-11-22 USC 1 F 21 Hawkins, Tianna 6' 3" (1.91m) 186 lb (84kg) 1991-03-02 Maryland 6 F 2 Hines-Allen, Myisha 6' 2" (1.88m) 200 lb (91kg) 1996-05-30 Louisville 2 G 4 Johnson, Stella 5' 10" (1.78m) 158 lb (72kg) 1998-07-11 Rider R G 1 Leslie, Kiara 6' 0" (1.83m) 175 lb (79kg) 1995-12-06 NC State R F 33 Meesseman, Emma 6' 4" (1.93m) 191 lb (87kg) 1993-05-13 Belgium 6 G 5 Mitchell, Leilani 5' 5" (1.65m) 138 lb (63kg) 1985-06-15 Utah 11 G/F 23 Powers, Aerial 5' 9" (1.75m) 159 lb (72kg) 1994-07-17 Michigan State 4 G 0 Sutton, Sug 5' 8" (1.73m) 140 lb (64kg) 1998-12-17 Texas R	Head coach Mike Thibault (Saint Martin's) Assistant coaches Eric Thibault (Missouri) Asjha Jones (Connecticut) Athletic trainer Chalisa Fonza (Western Illinois) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Game log

Regular season

2020 game log Total: 9–13
July Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 July 25 Indiana Fever W 101–76 Hines-Allen (27) Hines-Allen (10) Mitchell (4) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 1–0 2 July 28 Connecticut Sun W 94–89 Powers (27) Hines-Allen (8) Meesseman (8) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 2–0 3 July 30 Seattle Storm W 89–71 Atkins (22) Powers (8) Mitchell (6) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 3–0
August Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 4 August 1 Chicago Sky L 86–88 Atkins (24) Hines-Allen (10) Meesseman (6) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 3–1 5 August 5 Las Vegas Aces L 77–83 Meesseman (24) Meesseman (13) Mitchell (4) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 3–2 6 August 7 New York Liberty L 66–74 Powers (20) Hines-Allen (8) Mitchell (5) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 3–3 7 August 9 Indiana Fever L 84–91 Meesseman (19) Hawkins (10) Mitchell (5) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 3–4 8 August 11 Minnesota Lynx L 48–68 Hines-Allen (12) 3 tied (6) 3 tied (3) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 3–5 9 August 13 Los Angeles Sparks L 64–81 Atkins (20) Meesseman (11) Tied (5) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 3–6 10 August 15 Las Vegas Aces L 73–88 Atkins (17) Meesseman (9) Tied (5) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 3–7 11 August 19 Atlanta Dream W 98–91 Johnson (25) Meesseman (6) Meesseman (10) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 4–7 12 August 21 Dallas Wings L 92–101 (OT) Hines-Allen (35) Hines-Allen (12) Mitchell (4) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 4–8 13 August 23 Phoenix Mercury L 87–88 Hawkins (19) Hines-Allen (13) Hines-Allen (8) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 4–9 14 August 28 Phoenix Mercury L 72–94 Mitchell (17) Tied (6) Mitchell (5) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 4–10 15 August 30 Connecticut Sun L 63–76 Tied (14) Hines-Allen (13) Hines-Allen (6) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 4–11
September Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 16 September 2 Seattle Storm L 64–71 Meesseman (17) Hines-Allen (6) Mitchell (5) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 4–12 17 September 4 Chicago Sky W 79–69 Mitchell (20) Hines-Allen (10) Mitchell (12) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 5–12 18 September 6 Dallas Wings L 94–101 (OT) Atkins (22) Hines-Allen (13) Mitchell (9) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 5–13 19 September 8 Minnesota Lynx W 89–86 Hines-Allen (26) Hines-Allen (9) Mitchell (10) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 6–13 20 September 10 Los Angeles Sparks W 80–72 Hines-Allen (30) Hines-Allen (8) Mitchell (9) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 7–13 21 September 12 New York Liberty W 75–58 Hines-Allen (25) Hines-Allen (11) Meesseman (7) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 8–13 22 September 13 Atlanta Dream W 85–78 Atkins (26) Hines-Allen (10) Tied (7) IMG Academy No In-Person Attendance 9–13
2020 season schedule

Playoffs

2020 playoff game log Total: 0–1
First Round Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 September 15 Phoenix Mercury L 84–85 Mitchell (25) Hines-Allen (9) 4 tied (4) IMG Academy 0–1
2020 playoff schedule

Standings

#	Team	W	L	PCT	GB	Conf.
1	x – Las Vegas Aces	18	4	.818	–	8–2
2	x – Seattle Storm	18	4	.818	–	8–2
3	x – Los Angeles Sparks	15	7	.682	3	5–5
4	x – Minnesota Lynx	14	8	.636	4	4–6
5	x – Phoenix Mercury	13	9	.591	5	4–6
6	x – Chicago Sky	12	10	.545	6	6–4
7	x – Connecticut Sun	10	12	.455	8	7–3
8	x – Washington Mystics	9	13	.409	9	6–4
9	e – Dallas Wings	8	14	.364	10	1–9
10	e – Atlanta Dream	7	15	.318	11	5–5
11	e – Indiana Fever	6	16	.273	12	4–6
12	e – New York Liberty	2	20	.091	16	2–8

• v
• t
• e

Notes

x – Clinched playoff berth

e – Eliminated from playoffs

Home and Away records not shown, as all games played at a neutral location.

Updated to include results from September 13, 2020

Source

Playoffs

Main article: 2020 WNBA Playoffs

	First round Single elimination (September 15)					Second round Single elimination (September 17)					Semifinals Best-of-5 (September 20–29)					WNBA Finals Best-of-5 (October 2–11)
											1	Las Vegas Aces	3
						4	Minnesota Lynx	80			7	Connecticut Sun	2
	5	Phoenix Mercury	85			5	Phoenix Mercury	79								1	Las Vegas Aces	0
	8	Washington Mystics	84													2	Seattle Storm	3
											2	Seattle Storm	3
						3	Los Angeles Sparks	59			4	Minnesota Lynx	0
	6	Chicago Sky	81			7	Connecticut Sun	73
	7	Connecticut Sun	94

Note: Teams re-seeded after each round.

• Bold – Game or series winner

Statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage	TO	Turnovers per game
PF	Fouls per game		Team leader		League leader

Regular season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Myisha Hines-Allen	22	22	30.0	51.0	42.6	82.8	8.9	2.6	1.5	0.2	17.0
Aerial Powers	6	6	29.8	46.4	34.6	83.3	4.8	2.5	1.5	0	16.3
Ariel Atkins	22	22	31.0	43.8	41.1	88.6	2.9	2.4	1.8	0.3	14.8
Emma Meesseman	20	20	31.0	45.4	28.9	82.9	5.3	4.5	1.2	0.8	13.0
Leilani Mitchell	22	22	30.6	40.8	30.5	87.2	2.8	5.4	0.8	0	9.5
Stella Johnson	5	2	18.8	48.5	64.3	100	2.0	2.4	1.0	0.4	9.2
Tianna Hawkins	17	5	19.4	40.8	29.8	84.6	3.5	1.0	0.8	0.4	8.5
Kiara Leslie	19	10	21.8	35.2	36.2	92.3	3.0	1.1	0.5	0.4	5.5
Jacki Gemelos	12	1	16.1	31.3	20.7	50.0	1.4	1.2	0.3	0.1	3.2
Sug Sutton	12	0	9.4	36.4	29.4	71.4	0.8	1.0	0.1	0	2.8
Alaina Coates	20	0	9.9	52.9	0	53.8	2.8	0.5	0.4	0.2	2.5

Awards and honors

Recipient	Award	Date awarded	Ref.
Myisha Hines-Allen	Eastern Conference Player of the Week	August 3, 2020	[13]
		September 14, 2020	[14]
	Eastern Conference Player of the Month – September	September 15, 2020	[15]
Ariel Atkins	2nd Team All-Defense	September 29, 2020	[16]
Myisha Hines-Allen	All-WNBA Second Team	October 4, 2020	[17]