{"id":727186,"date":"2026-06-26T12:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T12:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/727186\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T12:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T12:34:12","slug":"athlete-of-the-week-mytics-cotie-mcmahon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/727186\/","title":{"rendered":"Athlete of the Week: Mytics’ Cotie McMahon"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (7News) \u2014 The Washington Mystics’ <\/a>youth movement has been one of the biggest storylines in the WNBA this season.<\/p>\n

With one of the league’s youngest rosters, different players have stepped up throughout the year as the team continues to develop. Among them is rookie forward Cotie McMahon<\/a>, whose energy and production off the bench have made her an important piece of Washington’s rotation.<\/p>\n

And if her game doesn’t get your attention, her personality probably will.<\/p>\n

REA D | New Era Energy: Washington Mystics’ young core takes center stage at Media Day<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI love to have fun, I\u2019m a little loud, I don\u2019t have an inside voice,\u201d she told 7News Sports Anchor Natalie Spala<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Mystics selected McMahon with the 11th overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft. From the moment she arrived in Washington, she believed it was the right place to begin her professional career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that this would be kind of the best fit for me,” McMahon said. \u201cI knew that I could come here and make an impact and have an opportunity, but not only that. I knew that I would have an opportunity to make mistakes here and learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

That opportunity to grow has been exactly what McMahon was looking for as she adjusts to life in the WNBA. Her path to professional basketball began years ago with some encouragement from her mother, who wanted her daughter to find an activity outside the house.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO | Natasha Howard and Olivia Miles lead Lynx to 78-76 win over Mystics<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI had an older brother so he obviously played sports, and I didn\u2019t do anything, but she was just like \u2018I\u2019m tired of you being at home and not doing anything\u2019 so find something to do,” McMahon said. \u201cThen I was like okay, maybe I do like this. Maybe I do want to play this professionally and then got to college, and I was like \u2018oh yeah, I love this.'”<\/p>\n

That love for the game helped fuel a standout collegiate career at Ohio State and Ole Miss, where McMahon developed a reputation as a relentless competitor. Now, she’s embracing a role that allows her to bring that same toughness and edge to the professional level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can bring to this team my aggressiveness, my edge, and just my toughness to get downhill. And that’s really all that’s needed from me right now,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

As the Mystics continue building for the future, McMahon’s willingness to learn and her competitive spirit have made her a valuable part of the team’s young core. <\/p>\n

McMahon and the Mystics return to action Friday night when they take on the Connecticut Sun on the road. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (7News) \u2014 The Washington Mystics’ youth movement has been one of the biggest storylines in the WNBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-727186","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\/727186","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=727186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}