Washington Mystics at Atlanta Dream Matchup Preview | 2025 Preseason
Welcome back. Welcome back. It’s your host Delaneo on the Fanwide podcast. It is game day. We have the Washington Mystics taking on the Atlanta Dream at an 11:38 a.m. tip off. So, this is going to be the quick matchup preview so that you all can know who is playing, what to expect, and what we predict. All right, so let’s jump to it. So in this matchup, this is going to be the Washington Mystic’s second preseason game and final preseason game before the start of the season. And we will be taking on the Atlanta Dream and that is who we actually will be opening the season against as well. So this is going to be a great matchup to see what we got going on. All right. So, in this particular matchup, um, we do have some key people that will not be playing in this game, and we got some key matchups and storylines, too. All right, so let’s start off with the story lines. So, in this matchup, uh, Ryan Howard comes to DC, right? She was the number one draft pick and uh the Washington Mystics actually had the rights to that pick, but we traded the pick. We traded the pick and we resulted in the drafting of Shakira Austin, right? So Ryan Howard and Shakira Austin will forever be tied together, right? So, this is going to be an interesting matchup because uh Ryan Howard is an athletic wing and we have our new rookie Sonia Citron um that’s expected to play and she is our defensive stopper. So, we really really will be able to see how Sonia Citron matches up against some of the elite talent of the WNBA and you know, we’ll see what she does on the offensive end as well. All right, so um take a second, like the video, subscribe to the channel real quick. Just want to get you while I got you. So Ryan Howard is expected to come in and have a good healthy dose um of minutes and production today. Um even though Sonia Citron is going to be up for the task and we’ll see how she matches up against top tier talent. All right, so with that being said, the starting lineups for this game are as expected. All right. So, from the Washington Mystic side, we have Sug Sutton, we have Britney Sykes, Sonia Citron, Cadesia Cave, and Stephanie Dawson. All right. Um, there in the last preseason game, Emily Inksler was the power forward or the forward. Um, so I wonder why there is a change. Uh, but maybe Coach Sydney Johnson wants to get a good eye on uh on Cade. But we’ll see. We’ll see. We’ll see if she has a lot of minutes. We’ll see if she has a lot of production. We’ll see if Emily Inksler, you know, is there a particular reason why she’s not starting. But, you know, this is the preseason. We’re taking a look at everybody. We want to see how everything works. All right. Um, from the Atlanta side, you have uh Alicia Gray starting. You have Jordan Canada starting. You have Ryan Howard. You also have the new addition of uh Bana Jones and Britney Grinder. So, this is going to be a very interesting matchup. Um, this is going to be Atlanta’s first preseason game. So, this is everybody’s first opportunity to see the new additions of Briana Jones and Brady Grryer and how they work together, right? What kind of offense are they going to be really running? Um, because my from my understanding, Atlanta Dreams new coach, they are known for having a three-point shooting offense. So, I wonder how having two bigs that uh take a lot of space and don’t necessarily do a lot of rim running. So, we’ll see how that translates to their offense. Um, so when it comes to the matchups of uh Britney Sykes and Sonia Citron against uh Ryan Howard and Alicia Gray. This should be something to see. Something to see. And then you also have this the speedy Jordan Canada. So we’ll see if Sugg is able to keep up. So this is going to be an interesting interesting matchup. Um, additionally, let’s talk about who will be out for this game. So, Shakira Austin will miss this uh game as well due to a leg injury. Uh, Aaliyah Edwards will be out as well for the Washington Mystics due to the back injury that she uh that she had prior to the last preseason game. And Sika will be out as well. for the Atlanta Dream. Um they have a number of players that are out as well. Um well actually their game time decisions. Um you have a few game time decisions, but the one player that is out is the newly acquired Cheyenne Cis. Cheyenne Celis was recently cut um after being the number 17 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft. She was cut by the Golden State Valkyries uh for let’s just say ambiguous reasons and she was picked up off of waiverss by Atlanta. I was hoping that we picked her up cuz I’m definitely a Cheyenne Cellers fan. She went to school at Merlin University and she’s a top flight top so she could have been a great addition to the team but it is what it is right. So, it’s like Cheyenne Cellers is a newly acquired player. So, I’m assuming um that this is just so that she can become more acclimated with the team and plays and things of that nature. It’s definitely not related to injury. Um and this information is brought to you by rotowwire.com. A lot of great information there. All right, so let’s see here. So, that’s pretty much what we’re expecting here. Um, guardwise, I think this is going to be a really good test for our future. U, we’re going to really see how Sun Citron is able to keep up with uh, Ryan Howard because I’m pretty sure that’s going to be her defensive matchup for the day and also what she’s able to do on offense. Um, I hope she she is a very unselfish player, right? So, we really hope that she shoots the ball more because she got a pretty Jay and that thing goes in. So, we’ll see how that goes. Um, definitely expecting a big game from Alicia Gray and Ryan Howard. It’s just a matter of how much everybody plays today because this is um the preseason. This is about evaluating the talent for the future. Um, so we’ll really see. I think that after this game or shortly thereafter, we’ll be making some more roster cuts so we’ll be able to get down to our final roster. And everybody’s fighting today. Everybody’s fighting. And then this is Atlanta’s very first game against uh other talent, other other teams. So, we’ll really see how their offense comes together and their defense and we’ll see. But we think that just off of talent and skill, we think that Atlanta will get this victory. Um, of course, we weren’t watching the win, but we think they’re going to pull it out and we’ll just see how it goes. So, this is your host Delano on the Fanwire Podcast. Uh, I’m going to actually pull up to the game today. The game is at 11:30 a.m. So yeah, as you can see, I’m ready. I got my Washington Mystics on. So let’s go. This is your host, Delena, on the Fanwire Podcast, where we shoot, we score. All right, talk to y’all in the later.
The Washington Mystics are set to tip off against the Atlanta Dream in their 2nd preseason home game. Lets talk about what we expect.
