Two rebuilding teams go head-to-head on Tuesday night. The Chicago Sky tore it down once again this offseason and are heading into a new era. The Washington Mystics continue their draft-based build with some promising early results. Who wins the youth battle?
Tipoff is set for 7:40 p.m. ET. The Mystics are 1.5-point home favorites with -120 Moneyline odds on DraftKings Sportsbook. A Sky upset is priced at +100. The game total is set at O/U 162.5 points.
Let’s get into a pick and prediction for this Sky-Mystics game.
Sky vs. Mystics Preview
After a very promising 3-1 start to the season, the Sky are falling. It’s no coincidence that their four-game losing streak coincides with Rickea Jackson’s season-ending ACL tear. After acquiring the young bucket-getter from the Sparks in exchange for Ariel Atkins (a coup of a trade in my opinion), the hope was that their offense would take off with Jackson, Skylar Diggins, and more space for Kamilla Cardoso. With no Rickea for the rest of the season, things may continue to go off the rails.
Chicago will have to lean on the defense to stay afloat. Natasha Cloud was signed to bring defense, and rookie Gabriela Jaquez is bringing energy on that end of the floor. Jacy Sheldon has shown strong backcourt defense as well. Hopefully, Diggins can raise the floor of the offense enough to make this formula viable. But it may take a while and time isn’t on their side; at this rate, GM Jeff Pagliocca will have no choice but to entertain trading some of the veterans before the deadline.
Washington’s vision is very clear. Nine of the 14 players on the roster are rookies, and only two players have more than two years of experience. Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen form the core of the team so far, and Shakira Austin continues to grow as a two-way paint threat. Head coach Sydney Johnson has no issue spreading out the playing time to accommodate all this young talent, playing 12 different players at least 10 minutes per night.
So far, brute force of talent has produced results, despite bad underlying numbers for the team. Citron is capable of big scoring games and is a drastically underrated defender. Iriafen and Austin can swing the possession battle with their defense and rebounding. The relentless energy of this team is a lot for many teams to handle. The Sky certainly have more veteran experience in the rotation, but as an older team, they’ll need to keep pace with the youngest team in the W. That’s no easy task.
Now we have a good idea what to expect from these teams. Who is going to come out the winner?
Sky vs. Mystics Pick, Best Bet
Before the Rickea injury, this would have been a pretty compelling showdown. In my view, the gap between these teams has grown significant since she went down. Washington has more talent and a more cohesive identity with its relentless parade of size. Our oddsmakers have them more or less even, giving Washington a slight edge for the home court advantage. I believe the Mystics to be much better, and that will show on Tuesday.
