WASHINGTON, D.C. (7News) — The Washington Mystics honored a former player, Monique Currie, who was inducted into the franchise Hall of Fame on Monday night.
The D.C. native was drafted third overall in the 2006 draft by the Charlotte Sting.
“I have some people here today that I played with supporting me, that’s probably the best, but like just the process going overseas in the off season, being here in DC, I can remember when I first got traded here from Chicago, and I was driving to the arena, and I’m like, I can’t believe I really played for the Mystics now, like I live up the street, and so just being at home, being able to play in front of my parents and my friends that I grew up with, probably that was probably the most memorable for me,” Curried told 7News ahead of the Mystics game.
“What stands out the most is the journey, the relationships that I’ve built throughout my playing career, the friendships.”
Currie’s honor came during the Mystics halftime at home when the team faced the Golden State Valkyries.
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Currie addressed the crowd telling the story of growing up in D.C. and waiting outside of the then Verizon Center, where the team used to play to see the players.
She reflected on the moment the late Nikki McCray-Penson handed her and her friends a pair of sneakers — adding that “you can be anything you set your mind to.”
As the league has witnesses exponential growth over the last five years, Currie called the moment “exciting” – joking that she was born “15 years too early.”
“The ladies are truly.. their value is being shown through exposure, through pay, through opportunities outside of sport, and so to be just even a small part of that journey, it means a lot. I know that there were people who came before me, and I love basketball history. I love women’s basketball, and I know the shoulders that even I stood on to get to the WNBA, when players only had the overseas option, or they had the ABL,” Currie said.
“It’s just all about kind of uplifting each other as we go along,” Currie told 7News. “I’m just thankful that the Mystics have decided to honor me in this way, because it is truly special, and all of us veterans, I think we share in that sentiment of being thankful and grateful where the game is,” she added.
During her 14-year WNBA career, Currie averaged 10.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists.
The now 43-year-old who attended Bullis School, a college-prep school in Potomac Maryland was a Gatorade All-American.
Currie went on to play at Duke becoming the first player in Atlantic Coast Conference women’s basketball history to register 2,000 points, 800 rebounds, 400 assists and 200 steals in a career.
She was inducted into the Duke Hall of Fame in 2024.
Her final season with the Mystics was in 2018, just a year shy of the Mystics winning the 2019 championship.