Depending on who you asked, Brittney Sykes and the 2025 Washington Mystics were often pegged to be youthful, energetic, and exciting, but not necessarily one likely to earn immediate glances atop the WNBA’s 13-team win column. In between fearless around-the-rim attacks, team-first dives to the floor, and everything in between, Sykes had no time to listen to said predictions in Week 1. One of two elder statesmen on the league’s youngest roster, Sykes arrives to a hotly-contested fourth quarter with a veteran’s poise, using a lightning-quick in-and-out dribble, unlocking her path for a brake-pumping pivot, followed by a pump-fake and and-one bucket. Sykes’ heroics helped turn the Mystics’ once-troublesome 15-point deficit into a win over the Connecticut Sun, and an impressive 2-0 start thereafter on May 18, 2025. In the driver’s seat, perhaps, for her first-ever All-Star appearance in a few weeks time, the red-hot Sykes closed with 27 points, seven assists, two steals, and a block, alongside eye-opening efficiency overall (8-of-13) and from the foul line (11-of-13). · May 18, 2025