Bria Hartley to miss season due to pregnancy, Mystics sign Leilani Mitchell, waive Tianna Hawkins

The Mystics announced on Saturday that Bria Hartley is pregnant and will miss the remainder of the 2016 WNBA season. As a result, they have put her on the suspended list. She is expected to return in 2017 after her child is born.

To replace Hartley, they have signed WNBA free agent point guard Leilani Mitchell, who played for the Australian women’s national basketball team in the Olympics.

Mitchell played seven WNBA seasons, most recently with the Phoenix Mercury where she averaged 6.7 points and 2.7 assists. Mitchell also won the 2010 WNBA Most Improved Player.

In a press release, General Manager and Head Coach Mike Thibault said the following:

This is certainly big news, but in the same press release, the Mystics also announced that they have waived Tianna Hawkins who recently suffered a concussion and is going through league protocol. I would imagine that Washington will sign another post player, because she was averaging 4.7 points and 2.5 rebounds a game in just less than 11 minutes per game.

So to recap:

• Congratulations Bria!
• The Mystics get a boost to their backcourt with Mitchell, but their frontcourt takes a hit with Hawkins out of the picture.

We’ll see how things go when the Mystics play the Fever later tonight at 7 p.m. ET.