The Washington Mystics and Dallas Wings both shook up their rosters at the trade deadline. Since then, however, the moves haven’t yielded wins.
After being involved in all five in-season trades this year, and the three deals closer to the deadline, Washington and Dallas have each lost four in a row as the two sides meet again on Sunday in Arlington, Texas.
The Mystics (13-17) shockingly traded leading scorer Brittney Sykes (15.4 points per game) to the Seattle Storm on Tuesday, further cementing their status as a rebuilding team.
“Everybody just has to step it up a little bit more,” Mystics center Shakira Austin said after Sykes was traded. “There’s no pressure for anyone to get up more shots, but we do have to find a new flow. We do have to find what works best.”
Trading the All-Star guard has left a void of scoring production in the backcourt. In the two games since, starting guards Sug Sutton and Jade Melbourne haven’t filled it. The pair has combined for 20 points on 9-for-30 shooting from the field in the last two contests.
Dallas dealt wing DiJonai Carrington to the Minnesota Lynx last week, ending a solid-but-inconsistent season with the Wings.
Carrington averaged 10.4 points per game, third-most on the team, but shot 35.4 percent from the field and 26 percent from 3-point range. She also missed about a month of games with a rib injury and had been coming off the bench since mid-June.
“When we were approached, we looked at the outcome and saw a chance to get young assets,” Wings general manager Curt Miller said. “Still, it was hard to lose someone like DiJonai, especially given our relationship.”
The Wings (8-23) are clearly heading back to the lottery after this season, but the excellence of rookie guard Paige Bueckers has been the highlight of the year in Dallas.
Bueckers has scored at least 20 points in four straight games — although she missed Friday’s 88-77 loss to the New York Liberty with a back injury. She is listed as probable for Sunday’s game.
The UConn product also had 20 against the Mystics on June 22, the teams’ first matchup of the season and a 91-88 overtime win for host Washington. Dallas claimed the rematch six days later, a 79-71 home victory, without Bueckers.
Dallas is 1-6 this season when Bueckers doesn’t play.
Washington’s All-Star rookie guard Sonia Citron recorded a 20-point double-double — 22 points and 10 rebounds in the first game followed by 27 points and 11 boards in the second — in both games.
–Field Level Media
