2016 Washington Mystics season
The 2016 WNBA season was the 19th season for the Washington Mystics of the Women's National Basketball Association. The season began at home versus the Washington Mystics on May 14, 2016. The Mystics would go on to lose their opening game 76–87. Their losing streak extended to three games before the Mystics got their first win of the season on May 21, 2016, 84–76, over the Connecticut Sun. They continued their winning ways with a 84–82 overtime victory in [2016 2016 Seattle Storm season|Seattle Storm season|Seattle]. They lost their final game of the season to finish May 2–4. The Mystics then lost back-to-back games against the Chicago Sky to open June. Their fortunes improved after that as they went 5–1 in their next six games. Their only loss came against the Minnesota Lynx. They won a triple overtime game against Connecticut over that stretch, and also defeated [2016 2016 Atlanta Dream season|Atlanta Dream season|Atlanta] twice. The streak was broken with a 91–79 loss to [2016 2016 Phoenix Mercury season|Phoenix Mercury season|Phoenix]. The Mystics won their next two games to close out June with a 7–4 record. The two game winning streak was not extended as they opened July with an overtime loss in Chicago. Their season took a turn for the worse from there as they lost their next six straight games. They lost to [2016 2016 San Antonio Stars season|San Antonio Stars season|San Antonio], [2016 2016 New York Liberty season|New York Liberty season|New York], and Phoenix by single digits, but lose their other three games by double digits. The worst loss of the stretch was a twenty-nine point loss at Seattle. The Mystics went into the Olympic break with a 9–15 overall record. They played two games in August after the Olympic break where they defeated [2016 2016 Indiana Fever season|Indiana Fever season|Indiana] and lost to San Antonio. They won two out of their first three games in September, defeating Dallas and Chicago. They had an outside chance of qualifying for the playoffs, but ended September on a 1–4 stretch. Their only win came against New York while they lost to Seattle, Indiana, Atlanta, and Connecticut.
The Mystics finished the season 13–21 and only mustered four wins after June 29. They finished sixth in the Eastern Conference and did not qualify for the playoffs. Their thirteen wins were their worst since the 2012 season.
Transactions
WNBA draft
| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
| 1 | 7 | Kahleah Copper | Rutgers | |
| 2 | 19 | Lia Galdeira | Washington State | |
| 3 | 31 | Danaejah Grant | St. John's |
Roster
Source:Source:Statistics
Regular season
Source:| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
| Tayler Hill | 32 | 32 | 29.3 | 34.8% | 35.1% | 82.9% | 2.6 | 2.9 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 15.4 |
| Emma Meesseman | 34 | 34 | 29.3 | 53.3% | 44.8% | 80.0% | 5.6 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 15.2 |
| Tierra Ruffin-Pratt | 32 | 31 | 24.4 | 36.9% | 32.0% | 74.7% | 4.5 | 2.6 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 7.3 |
| Natasha Cloud | 31 | 28 | 24.3 | 34.8% | 33.8% | 75.4% | 3.0 | 3.8 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 5.7 |
| Stefanie Dolson | 34 | 31 | 22.5 | 48.2% | 30.0% | 84.3% | 4.7 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 9.3 |
| Ivory Latta | 22 | 2 | 20.8 | 33.1% | 30.5% | 90.9% | 1.7 | 1.9 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 8.3 |
| Kia Vaughn | 34 | 4 | 19.8 | 50.3% | — | 75.0% | 4.3 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 6.3 |
| LaToya Sanders | 4 | 0 | 17.3 | 50.0% | — | 84.6% | 3.0 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 2.5 | 7.3 |
| Bria Hartley | 24 | 5 | 16.9 | 37.6% | 36.2% | 80.0% | 2.0 | 2.3 | 0.4 | — | 6.5 |
| Kahleah Copper | 30 | 3 | 16.2 | 41.7% | 46.7% | 68.3% | 3.1 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 6.2 |
| Leilani Mitchell | 10 | 0 | 16.1 | 43.5% | 35.5% | 80.0% | 1.7 | 1.9 | 0.1 | — | 5.9 |
| Tianna Hawkins | 24 | 0 | 10.5 | 49.4% | 50.0% | 85.7% | 2.5 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 4.7 |
| Ally Malott | 23 | 0 | 7.8 | 30.6% | 31.3% | 81.8% | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 2.1 |
| Zoi Dimitrakou | 2 | 0 | 5.5 | 33.3% | 50.0% | — | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | — | 1.5 |
| Jamie Weisner | 7 | 0 | 3.6 | 44.% | 50.0% | 100.0% | 0.4 | 0.3 | — | — | 1.7 |
Awards and honors
| Recipient | Award | Date Awarded | Ref. |
| Emma Meesseman | Eastern Conference Player of the Week | June 13 |