{"id":320504,"date":"2025-12-02T12:39:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T12:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/320504\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T12:39:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T12:39:09","slug":"2026-wnba-draft-offers-exactly-what-mystics-need-and-not-just-in-the-lottery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/320504\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 WNBA Draft offers exactly what Mystics need\u2014and not just in the lottery"},"content":{"rendered":"

If there is one thing the Washington Mystics need, it\u2019s 3-point shooting<\/a>. The Mystics finished the regular season last in 3-point attempts and tenth in 3-point percentage. Rookie Sonia Citron was the only really impactful volume shooter, sinking 44.5% of her 4.1 attempts per game. Sug Sutton was next in line with 35.3% shooting on 2.8 attempts per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Mystics will have plenty of opportunities to address that need in the 2026 draft. They have the fourth overall pick and will have a chance to draft one of Azzi Fudd, Olivia Miles, or Flau\u2019jae Johnson. Fudd is the best 3-point shooter in the draft, Miles emerged as a 3-point threat last season but still has to prove that it wasn\u2019t a fluke, and Johnson hasn\u2019t shot below 38% on a decent volume from three since her freshman season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The top pick isn\u2019t the only way for the Mystics to add 3-point shooting, though. Washington has been amassing draft assets lately and has three first-round picks. There will also be great 3-point shooters available later in the first round.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Mystics also have picks nine and eleven\u00a0<\/p>\n

Besides their lottery pick, the Mystics also have two picks later in the first round and can target several great 3-point shooters to add young role players to the roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

UCLA\u2019s Gianna Kneepkens would be an absolute steal if she\u2019s still available<\/a> with the ninth overall pick. Kneepkens is currently in her fifth season of college basketball and her first at UCLA. Kneepkens has never shot below 38% from three on a high volume, averaging 5.5 attempts per game for her career and converting 43.2% of those shots. She is a great connector and offers good off-ball movement and shooting the Mystics need around their young stars, especially if they draft an on-ball creator in the lottery.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kneepkens\u2019s UCLA teammate Gabriela Jaquez could fill a similar need. Jaquez is off to a great start, logging career highs all across the board. Over eight games, she is shooting 41.4% on 3.6 3-point attempts per game. Jaquez moves well without the ball, which will be important on a team that wants the ball to be with Kiki Iriafen, Sonia Citron, and their other lottery pick as much as possible, and is also a solid defender.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yarden Garzon should also be available later in the first round and could be an interesting prospect for the Mystics. Garzon never shot below 40% on a high volume in her first three seasons at Indiana. She transferred to Maryland for her senior season. Her numbers went down a bit over the first nine games, but the 3-point shooting should bounce back as Garzon gets more comfortable in her new role.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last but not least, TCU\u2019s Marta Suarez is off to a hot start, averaging 19.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.5 assists on efficient shooting. She is attempting a career-high 6.6 threes per game and converting 43.4%. Suarez\u2019s 3-point shot improved significantly compared to her first four seasons. If it\u2019s a lasting improvement, she could be an interesting prospect for the Mystics. BleacherReport\u2019s latest mock draft <\/a>had her go ninth to Washington.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If there is one thing the Washington Mystics need, it\u2019s 3-point shooting. The Mystics finished the regular season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-320504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}