What the new Washington Mystics leadership will prioritize in its rebuild

Jamila Wideman was one of the WNBA’s original players and trailblazers — in fact, she recorded the first assist in league history in 1997 with the Los Angeles Sparks. On Wednesday, in her introductory press conference as general manager of the Washington Mystics, Wideman described what it felt like for players leading up to the WNBA’s inaugural season.

“We imagined that this league could exist before it existed,” Wideman told reporters. “We imagined into space.”

That sense of imagination and belief in more than what’s right in front of you, she continued, is one definition of a mystic.

It is also what the Mystics franchise has to have now, as it begins a rebuild with a first-time general manager in Wideman and a new head coach in Sydney Johnson. They replace Mike Thibault, who had been the team’s general manager since December 2012 and the head coach from 2012 to 2022, and Eric Thibault, who had been on his father’s staff before succeeding him as head coach. The Mystics parted ways with both Thibaults in October.

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Mike Thibault is the winningest head coach in WNBA history. But since he led the Mystics to the 2019 WNBA championship — the first in franchise history — the team hasn’t won a playoff game and has missed the playoffs twice. Last season under Eric Thibault, the team went 14-26, finishing with its worst winning percentage since 2012. The Thibaults and their staff had experience with rebuilds, but Mystics ownership decided fresh voices were needed.

Wideman and Johnson were hired on Dec. 23 but not introduced until Wednesday, in part because Wideman was finishing up as the NBA’s senior vice president of player development. Before joining the NBA, she practiced law for a decade.

Johnson spent last season as an assistant with the Chicago Sky and nearly two decades in men’s college basketball as an assistant and head coach. He has also coached with USA Basketball, including leading a team that featured Mystics guard Brittney Sykes to a silver medal at the 3×3 AmeriCup in December.

“These two in particular have spent so much of their lives pouring into other people,” Monumental Basketball president Michael Winger told reporters on Wednesday about Wideman and Johnson. “… Countless people have become better humans, better athletes, better advocates because of them, and that was so incredibly important to us. … I think that athletes, for where they are in their extremely young lives, they need to be surrounded by givers. And Jamila and Sydney are maybe two of the greatest givers I’ve ever met.”

Wideman and Johnson’s formal introduction came after a whirlwind start to free agency around the WNBA. Since Feb. 1, eight of the 13 teams have been involved in at least one trade, and dozens of players have been signed. Washington has been rather quiet, though: It re-signed guard Sug Sutton and Emily Engstler to training camp contracts and signed free-agent forward Taylor Soule to a training camp contract. Soule was a third-round draft pick in 2023 and has played in 17 games in her WNBA career.

“We’re digging in,” Wideman said. “… [We’ve] certainly been studying our group, studying the league.”

The new front office is also preparing for the 2025 college draft, in which it has the fourth and sixth overall picks, and for future drafts. Wideman and the rest of the staff are considering several factors when evaluating prospects, including on-court performance, personal values and fit with the culture the Mystics are trying to build.

Johnson, who coached rookie standouts Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso last season with the Sky, said he expects more WNBA rookies to make an immediate impact in the years to come. That underscores the importance of making the right picks this spring.

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The culture the Mystics want to create, Winger said, centers around five principles: togetherness, accountability, competitiveness, excellence and joy. When it comes to togetherness, Wideman and Johnson already seem to have a strong rapport. Johnson called Wideman “my newest and best teammate” in his opening statement, and Wideman extended her hand to fist-bump Johnson after he finished his statement.

On the court, Johnson wants to play fast, have every player be a threat offensively and “break people’s rhythm” with defensive pressure. Player development will be emphasized, which makes sense because the Mystics had the three youngest players in the WNBA last season, return all three and are slated to add two first-round draft picks. Of the 11 players currently on the roster, six are age 25 or younger.

Those young players include forwards Aaliyah Edwards and Shakira Austin, whose recent play in the new 3×3 league Unrivaled brought some joy to the press conference. This week, Edwards advanced to the semifinals of Unrivaled’s one-on-one tournament, and Austin also won a game before being eliminated.

“We know Aaliyah’s one-on-one game is ready to put on blast alongside Kira,” Wideman said.

Johnson added that he’d been in touch with both players and wants to build off their success in Unrivaled when they get to Washington. And he is particularly excited to pair Austin with Sykes, as both missed significant time last season with injuries but have the potential to be a lethal duo on both ends.

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Eventually, the goal is to win championships, both Wideman and Johnson said. Johnson briefly mentioned the Mystics’ 2019 championship team — one of very few references to the past in the nearly 50-minute press conference. He also said he wants the Mystics to be part of basketball lore in the Washington region, commonly known as the DMV.

“This is where ballers come from,” said Johnson, who spent much of his childhood in Towson, Maryland. “This is where great coaches have been. This is where great teams have added to the story, the full rich story of basketball. … The DMV’s not coming short to anybody in that regard. And we have a challenge and an opportunity and work to do to add the Mystics to that.”

However, Wideman didn’t directly answer a question about whether making the playoffs is a reasonable goal in 2025. And Wideman, Johnson and Winger all spent most of the press conference emphasizing off-court elements, not on-court results or approaches.

In his opening statement, Winger said that 90% of players’ lives are spent off the court, so the front office wants to “maximize the quality of their lives during the 90%.” The front office hopes to help the players develop as people and as changemakers in the world beyond basketball. Wideman and Johnson also plan to prioritize players’ physical and mental health and make the Mystics organization a place where players feel at home and can grow.

“We want this to be a home where players can find themselves and really want to be here,” Johnson said. “… We also want some joy and togetherness and, again, players to be able to be themselves in this moment — all of themselves.”

Wideman added, “One of the things that can happen to players in this league and others in professional sports is you come in and you’re known for a certain skill or you’re known for a certain dimension of your personality, and that can get stamped on you. … And the reality is, like all of us, players evolve. …

“Alongside player development, there has to be room for players to think, ‘I can be a different person, a different player in a season, in five seasons,’ and we really want to embrace that.”

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The front office’s hope is that maximizing everything that happens off the court will also benefit what happens on the court. If players feel supported as people and have all their needs met, the thinking goes, they will be physically and emotionally ready to play their best. And if the organization has a strong culture off the court, there will be a stronger team on the court.

“[Basketball] is a translation of people, it’s a translation of culture, it’s a translation of a moment,” Wideman said. “And I think that’s part of what makes it dynamic is it is always changing, because it’s simply a reflection of the folks that are in the room and the way that we’re doing our business.”

The Mystics officially introduced their new era on Wednesday, and now they’re beginning to build toward their future. When the season begins on May 16 against the Atlanta Dream, it will be the first chance to see how the team’s new-look culture and priorities translate to basketball success.