Mystics MVP Elena Delle Donne is recovering from a pair of back procedures and has had her return date pushed back several times this season. Originally, there was hope she’d open the season on restricted minutes, then she was ruled out for the first two-to-six games, and now, 10 games into Washington’s season, Delle Donne’s return date has been moved even further.
Delle Donne has played one-on-one in practice and is working on defensive drills, but is yet to play five-on-five, head coach Mike Thibault said, and she could sit until after the Olympic break in August, via The Washington Post’s Kareem Copeland.
“Certainly she’s going to need team practice time for a number of days before we consider putting her in a game,” Thibault said. “So if we’re two weeks from now [and] we’re still wondering about that then, yeah, it’s probably more likely coming out of the break. But we’re not saying it’s absolute at this point.”
This is brutal news for Mystics fans, who haven’t seen Delle Donne play since she helped win the franchise’s first championship in 2019. The team had every expectation to run it back in 2020 until the coronavirus pandemic reached the United States. Several key players including Delle Donne opted out of playing in the bubble, and the Mystics lost in the first round of the playoffs.
Injury news and a chaotic offseason have completely altered the makeup of this year’s Mystics team, too. Two-way wing Aerial Powers and Sixth Woman of the Year candidate Tianna Hawkins signed elsewhere over the winter, center LaToya Sanders retired and joined the franchise as an assistant coach, new signee Alysha Clark suffered a season-ending Lisfranc injury before the start of the season, and 2019 Finals MVP Emma Meesseman has yet to play due to overseas commitments.
The injury bug hasn’t left the team either as point guard Natasha Cloud is battling a hip flexor injury that caused her to leave Sunday’s game in the third quarter, and Sydney Wiese has played in just six games due to an ankle sprain.
Washington has found ways to win this season despite it all. The Mystics are 4-6, staying competitive due to the MVP-caliber play of new-acquisition Tina Charles, who leads the WNBA in scoring at 24.0 points per game. Without Delle Donne down low, she’s had to carry a significant role on both ends of the court, securing 8.4 rebounds with 1.8 assists. She’s owned that spotlight and leads the WNBA in usage rate at 32.1 percent, but if the Mystics want another trophy come October, they’ll need Delle Donne back, too.
If Delle Donne returns in August, she’ll have little time to work her way back into game-shape and get acclimated with her new teammates. The roster looks drastically different than it did two season ago, and after the Olympic break, the Mystics will have only 14 games remaining on their schedule. Four of those games are against the three best teams in the league — the Connecticut Sun, Seattle Storm and Las Vegas Aces — which means the margin for error will be slim for Washington to get a good seed.