“Injuries are part of the game,” is what new head coach Sydney Johnson had to say when appointed a couple of months back, and that part of the game has already hurt the Mystics enough. They lost their promising freshman, Georgia Amoore, to a right ACL injury, which is suspected to keep her out for almost the entire season.

A season-ending injury to anyone isn’t good but it especially matters more when it’s the brain of your team sitting out. Amoore was supposed to be the premier point guard for the Mystics and now Johnson will have to adapt to his situation.  It seems someone has put a spell on the Washington Mystics, as they can’t catch a break with these injuries. Now, they have another player down in practice once again.

Forward Aaliyah Edwards will be sidelined for at least two weeks with a lower back contusion. The Mystics announced she’ll undergo further evaluation, and there’s no set timeline for her return just yet. A low back contusion occurs due to sudden impacts, so it is suspected that she had a hard fall during practice, which led to this injury. Depending on the severity of the injury, this injury typically heals within a week or two.

The Mystics are no strangers to injury crises, as they are one of the most injury-ridden teams in the last two years and they have two in this one just days into the preseason.  It seems they have a tendency to have a lot of  players in the recovery room to boot, as the Mystics had five during their winless start last year. In July, they found themselves down four starters in a game against the Las Vegas Aces. Overall, they led the WNBA for the second straight season with 28 injuries in 2024. The crazier part is they had only two games all last season where the entire roster was available and didn’t suffer an injury midgame.

The season starts on May 17 so Aaliyah will not miss much, maybe a game or two at the maximum. She is their premier defensive player, leading in most blocks and rebounds per game so they will hope she is back in time. This habit of always having injured players is a matter of concern for the team management. With such long periods of time where they have had these many injuries consistently, their medical team and the management come under scrutiny.

Should the Washington Mystics change their medical team?

The medical staff is one of the many teams that work in the background and are critical to the team’s success. It ensures that you have all your players available at most times and when injured, they are back as quickly as possible.  Since 2014, the Washington Mystics have had MedStar Health as their official medical provider, which is a huge non-profit organization with trained doctors on their payroll and with the Mystics as well.

It also depends on what kinds of injuries their players have had throughout the last few years. If most are impact-related injuries or circumstantial injuries, then it’s just their bad luck. If they have more repetitive muscular injuries, then there is a matter of concern with regards to their medical team. Sure, they are all well qualified for their job but the truth of the matter is there are too many injuries for the coach to properly implement what he wants.

With already two injuries with the Mystics, it is already looking shaky for the upcoming season. It’s still too early to call but if they continue losing players like this, it will once again be a rerun of their last season. The new coach will hope that their playing five and their roster are available to him most of the time so he can run this team the way he wants.