Observers can be forgiven for not looking beyond the first selection at the 2025 WNBA Draft.
Paige Bueckers' long-awaited arrival dominated the main storyline, but in the shadow of the Dallas Wings' no-brainer selection at No. 1, the Washington Mystics held a trio of potentially franchise-altering picks.
Fresh off a 14-26 campaign - their fourth sub-.500 season in five years since winning the title in 2019 - the Mystics entered the mid-April showcase with a new head coach in Sydney Johnson and a huge opportunity. Armed with the third, fourth, and sixth selections, Washington chose Notre Dame wing Sonia Citron, USC forward Kiki Iriafen, and Kentucky facilitator Georgia Amoore.
Amoore tore her ACL less than a week into training camp and was ruled out for the season, though the early-season heroics of Citron and Iriafen have softened the blow. Quite suddenly, the Mystics appear to have a foundation that could help them return to the heights they reached in 2019.
You could argue that Citron and Iriafen - and not Bueckers - have been the league's best rookies in the campaign's early stages.
Johnson inserted both into his starting five out of preseason, and they've looked the part. Citron and Iriafen are second and third on the team in points and minutes played, respectively, and their contributions have helped lighten the burden on leading scorer Brittney Sykes. For a franchise that desperately needed an infusion of young talent, Citron and Iriafen have answered the call.
Citron: Versatile offensive weapon
The Mystics finished the 2024 campaign ninth in both points per game (79.3) and field-goal percentage (43.2%), reflecting their overall uninspired offensive effort. But they still showed flashes from deep, finishing second in the league in three-point shooting at 36.6%.
Notre Dame has a strong recent history of producing WNBA-ready guards (Arike Ogunbowale, Skylar Diggins, and Jewell Loyd, among others), and Citron appears poised to join the celebrated list. The 21-year-old is a well-rounded player with the size to be a good perimeter defender who can guard multiple positions, skills she displayed in college to earn a spot on the ACC's All-Defensive team. While Citron lacks explosiveness on the defensive end, her smart decision-making consistently compensates, a strength already translating at the pro level.
However, it's on the offensive end where Citron has truly excelled. Through eight games, she third among all rookies in scoring (14.1 PPG) and is shooting 48.8% from the field, an impressive return for a player viewed mainly as a perimeter threat. Citron's also hitting 39.4% from beyond the arc on 4.1 attempts per contest and could become the second player in WNBA history, alongside Mystics icon Elena Delle Donne, to finish a season with 50/40/90 shooting splits. Granted, there are 36 games left on Washington's schedule, but the early signs for Citron are beyond expectations.
"She's become a pretty important player for us in a very short amount of time," Johnson told Monumental Sports Network's Tyler Byrum in May. "We haven't even gotten started. If she stays healthy, there's going to be a lot of basketball coming her way."
Iriafen: A much-needed two-way threat
The Mystics placed dead last in the WNBA in rebounding in 2024, perhaps prompting the urgency to take Iriafen with the fourth pick.
The 21-year-old has made an immediate impact, leading both the Mystics and all rookies with 10 rebounds per game. Iriafen ranks fourth league-wide in boards, ahead of established veterans like Brionna Jones, Aliyah Boston, and Nneka Ogwumike. And with five points-and-rebounds double-doubles already, she's played a significant role in propelling Washington to fourth in boards per contest.
Iriafen's physicality and positioning at the defensive end have instantly remedied much of what ailed the Mystics last season. The hope is that she and 2024 sixth overall pick Aaliyah Edwards can form the team's frontcourt for years to come.
But Iriafen's contributions aren't limited to just the defensive end of the court. She ranks second among rookies for points (14.6) and tops all first-year players averaging 15 or more minutes per game with a tidy 51.7% shooting clip from the field. Credit should go to USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb and her offensive system for helping Iriafen prepare for the pro level in her one season with the Trojans. Rather than being confined to the low block, Iriafen frequently operated from the elbow and high post, polishing her footwork and decision-making.
Her finishing skills at the rim are already at a WNBA level, and she's an effective scorer out to 15 feet. As confidence in Iriafen's perimeter work develops, so will her already-versatile offensive repertoire.
Johnson also doesn't appear inclined to handle Iriafen like most rookies. "Really high expectations for her, to be perfectly blunt. ... She certainly earned the respect of her teammates," the Mystics bench boss told Byrum in May. "But the true test comes against literally Hall of Fame players. ... The steadiness there, I think, is really impressive."
Washington isn't without its flaws, and an early-season habit of surrendering leads is problematic. Even so, the highly anticipated 2026 free agency period and the availability of many of the league's biggest names should coincide with Amoore's return to health. Paired with the emergence of Citron and Iriafen, the Mystics should have enough to inspire hope.
