Top Stories of the Week: Mystics complete West Coast road trip, more Wizards player evaluations and offseason analysis

Happy June everyone! Summer has now unofficially started with Memorial Day last weekend. We’re getting close to the NBA Draft for the Wizards, while the Mystics have raced off to a hot start. Let’s get to the main stories!

Mystics race to a 5-2 start despite injuries

The Mystics are currently 5-2 in the WNBA with nearly a quarter of the regular season now in the books. Last week, Washington started off on a three game west coast road trip that included games against the Seattle Storm, Phoenix Mercury, and Las Vegas Aces. They ended up going 1-2 during their trip after losing to the Aces and Storm, but defeating the Mercury.

The Mystics hoped to come into the 2018 season at 100 percent health. Unfortunately, Elena Delle Donne did not play a game due to a stomach bug and later, an undisclosed illness during this road trip. Natasha Cloud is dealing with kidney stones for the second time in the last three years. Tayler Hill is still rehabbing from an ACL tear last season, while Emma Meesseman is getting some rest in Belgium before this fall’s FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup.

Fortunately, Kristi Toliver had a strong stretch of 20 point performances, including a 30 point outburst against the Mercury last Wednesday. She didn’t make a shot in the Mystics’ last game against the Aces, but hopefully we’ll see more games liek her Mercury performance for the rest of this season.

We do more Wizards player evaluations and offseason analysis

The Wizards don’t have much on their schedule until late June when the NBA Draft happens. So in the meantime, we’re writing evaluations on each member from the 2017-18 team:

• Alan Jenkins wrote about Bradley Beal’s 2017-18 season.
• And if you missed it over Memorial Day Weekend, Marcus Atkinson wrote about Markieff Morris’ season.

And here are some more offseason pieces for you to read:

• Tony East writes how a DeMarcus Cousins to D.C. trade would be very difficult to pull off.
• Nick Young and JaVale McGee were once prank video stars on YouTube when they played for the Wizards. They are now close to winning an NBA championship with the Warriors.
• Ben Mehic writes that Tomas Satoransky was mishandled by Scott Brooks and the Wizards front office — especially during the 2018 NBA Playoffs. I’ll have a deeper player evaluation on Satoransky later this week.
• Osman Baig writes how the Wizards could get under the luxury tax next season.

Alright, that’s it from me. If you have another story you’d like to share, feel free to do so as a FanPost or in the comments. Enjoy the rest of your weekends everyone!