CHICAGO — The Washington Mystics accelerated their rebuild, buying and selling two-time All-Star Ariel Atkins to the Chicago Sky for the No. 3 total choose on this 12 months’s draft on Sunday.
Washington additionally acquired Chicago’s second-round choose in 2027 and the rights to swap first-rounders that 12 months.
“We’re constructing a program to maintain a interval of competition throughout the subsequent period of Mystics basketball. Our bold return to extended excellence requires time, intention and troublesome choices,” basic supervisor Jamila Wideman mentioned in a press release.
“Buying and selling Ariel, a champion and celebrated Mystic, is a kind of troublesome choices. In alternate, we’re afforded one other alternative to pick a younger impression participant on the prime of the draft who might be a part of our aspirational future.”
Atkins helped Washington make the playoffs 5 instances in seven seasons because the group drafted her seventh total in 2018. She received a WNBA title with the Mystics in 2019 and was the lone remaining participant from that group on Washington’s roster.
Atkins additionally received an Olympic gold medal with the US in 2021.
For the Sky, Atkins will convey veteran management to a group led by Chennedy Carter and younger stars Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso. The Sky went 13-27 and missed the playoffs final season, resulting in the firing of first-year coach Teresa Weatherspoon. Chicago employed Tyler Marsh in November to switch the Corridor of Famer.
Chicago additionally introduced again veteran Courtney Vandersloot this low season. The franchise’s profession assists chief, Vandersloot helped the Sky win the league title in 2021.
An All-Star in 2021 and 2022, Atkins has averaged 13.4 factors, 3 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.4 steals in her profession. She led the Mystics in scoring final season at 14.9 factors per sport.
Atkins is Washington’s all-time chief in three-pointers (397) and is second in steals (313) and third in each factors (2,914) and assists (525). She is the one participant in league historical past to make an All-Defensive group in every of her first 5 seasons.
“Ariel has made an incredible impression on this league since her rookie 12 months,” Sky basic supervisor Jeff Pagliocca mentioned. “She is a wonderful function mannequin for her teammates and an All-Star-calibre contributor. As one of many league’s prime defensive specialists and a constant scorer, she is a menace on each ends of the ground who will assist us construct a playoff-contending group in Chicago.”
The Mystics fired coach Eric Thibault and his father, basic supervisor Mike Thibault, after ending ninth within the league at 14-26 and lacking the playoffs for the second straight 12 months. They employed Wideman and coach Sydney Johnson in December.
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