Crystal Langhorne retires from the WNBA

On Monday, the Seattle Storm announced that veteran forward Crystal Langhorne retired from the WNBA but will remain with their organization. She will take a new position within their organization as their Director of Community Engagement for the Force4Change initiative. In their release, the Force4Change initiative is a program to “combat racism and support diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Langhorne spent seven years with the Storm from 2014-20, but her best playing seasons were with the Washington Mystics from 2008-13. She was a long-time fan-favorite, not only as a Mystics player, but also as a former Maryland Terrapin, where they won the NCAA Division I women’s basketball championship in the 2005-06 season. Langhorne came to the Mystics after she was the sixth pick of the 2008 WNBA Draft.

During Langhorne’s tenure in Washington, the Mystics made three playoff appearances, including a then-franchise-best 22-12 regular season record in 2010. Langhorne was also an All-Star in 2011 and 2013, the league’s Most Improved Player in 2009 and was named to the All-WNBA Second Team in 2010.

After Langhorne was traded to the Storm in 2014, she remained a starter but played a reserve role in her last three WNBA seasons. Along the way, Seattle won two WNBA championships in 2018 and 2020.

Langhorne is one of the Mystics’ all-time greats and was often a bright spot on the court during some of their tough stretches. That said, I’m also happy to see that she won championships toward the end of her career, even if that 2018 title came at the Mystics’ expense.

As Mystics fans, we should be thankful that Langhorne represented Washington well and was part of a 2010 team that finished first in the WNBA Eastern Conference which was a high point for many fans. Congratulations on a great career Lang!