The Mystics have one of the best young cores in the WNBA. Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen already earned their first All-Star nods as rookies, and Shakira Austin steadily continues to grow. The one question that has surrounded the team since Citron\u2019s and Iriafen\u2019s arrival is when the core will be ready to lead a winning team when it matters the most.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kiki Iriafen answered that question with an outstanding Unrivaled playoff debut: She can already help a team win at the highest level.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kiki Iriafen impressed in her Unrivaled playoff debut<\/p>\n
Phantom BC entered the playoffs as one of the clear favorites to win the title. Kelsey Plum and Aliyah Boston were taking opponents apart all season long. Tiffany Hayes and Natasha Cloud also put together strong regular seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then, the team got disastrous news. Aliyah Boston would have to miss the playoffs<\/a> with a leg injury. Boston was just named the regular-season Defensive Player of the Year and was also one of the top candidates for the MVP award, which ultimately went to Chelsea Gray.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Losing Boston was a tough blow, but Iriafen stepped into a bigger role seamlessly and confidently when the Phantom took on the Vinyl in the semifinals. She recorded 17 points on 8-13 shooting, 11 rebounds (including all five of the Phantom\u2019s offensive boards), 4 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Iriafen wasn\u2019t deterred by her veteran opponents\u2014Dearica Hamby and Brittney Griner\u2014and impacted every aspect of the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n She finished the game with a plus\/minus of seven, trailing only Cloud in that category.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Mystics are building a future championship contender<\/p>\n It\u2019s been seven years since the Mystics won a WNBA championship and two years since the team went to the playoffs. The latter streak should end soon. The Mystics were already close to securing a playoff spot last season but opted to trade Brittney Sykes and secure another round of first-round picks instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nine of the players on last season\u2019s roster were 25 or younger, including rookie All-Stars Iriafen and Citron. Once a new CBA is signed and the draft can take place, the Mystics will get to add another lottery pick and two more first-round picks to the mix.\u00a0<\/p>\n Having four recent lottery picks plus an array of young role players is usually a recipe for success. However, with three more rookies coming in\u2014if the Mystics roster all of them immediately\u2014the team may not find much playoff success next season.\u00a0<\/p>\n But one thing is for certain: the Mystics\u2019 patience will pay off soon enough, and Iriafen will be a big part of any success the team finds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mystics have one of the best young cores in the WNBA. Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen already…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-502898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}