June 22, 2021
Washington Mystics sign Megan Gustafson
What the signing means for the team moving forward
Welcome to The Next: A basketball newsroom brought to you by The IX. 24/7/365 women’s basketball coverage, written, edited and photographed by our young, diverse staff, dedicated to breaking news, analysis, historical deep dives and projections about the game we love.
Continue reading with a subscription to The Next
Get unlimited access to women’s basketball coverage and help support our hardworking staff of writers, editors, and photographers by subscribing today.
Already a member?
Login
Subscribe to make sure this vital work, creating a pipeline of young, diverse media professionals to write, edit and photograph the great game, continues and grows. Paid subscriptions include some exclusive content, but the reason for subscriptions is a simple one: making sure our writers and editors creating 24/7/365 women’s basketball coverage get paid to do it.
On June 21 the Washington Mystics announced that the team had signed center Megan Gustafson to a hardship contract and that she will be available for the team’s June 22 game against the Seattle Storm. She has played in 34 games with the Dallas Wings and averaged 2.6 points and 2.2 rebounds per game after being drafted with the 17th overall pick in the 2019 WNBA Draft.
Gustafson played for AZS Gorzow in Poland following the 2020 WNBA season and averaged 20.0 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists.
With the Mystics down to just two bigs (Tina Charles and Theresa Plaisance) through at least Tuesday’s game, the signing of Gustafson could not have come at a better time. She will have the opportunity to see meaningful minutes as the team gets ready to play their first of three games in five days.
Gustafson will be able to provide a break to Plaisance and Charles who both played more than 32 minutes during Saturday’s game against the Fever and add depth to the limited Mystics roster. She will likely not be expected to shoulder any significant burden, but instead provide support to a limited, but efficient, frontcourt.
Mystics head coach and general manager Mike Thibault said he decided to sign Gustafson because she’s used to playing in the style the Mystics do.
“She was a post player who was used to the running game, running the middle lane of the floor and getting early post ups. If she was involved in pick and rolls, roll into the basket. She’s a good finisher around the basket. She’s worked on her face-up game and extended her range. But I was intrigued enough to see how she fit into our system,” Thibault said.
While Thibault does not know how many minutes Gustafson will play against the Storm he is already noticing how quickly she is picking things up in practice.
Written by Natalie Heavren
Natalie Heavren has been a contributor to The Next since February 2019 and currently writes about the Atlantic 10 conference, the WNBA and the WBL.
