Why Georgia Amoore could be a great fit for the WNBA’s Washington Mystics
The Washington Mystics added former Kentucky point guard Georgia Amoore, along with two other first-round picks, in the 2025 WNBA draft Monday night.
The team has new leadership and is undergoing a rebuild. It has a slew of new faces, many inexperienced, bound together in hopes of achieving not only the highest highs of a winning period within a team’s history, but also breaking through to a new level of success.
For those in Lexington, that description might seem familiar; one could have used similar sentiments to describe the state of Kentucky women’s basketball following the hiring of head coach Kenny Brooks.
Thanks to the guiding hand of Brooks and his staff and an influx of players with high ceilings and a renewed energy, the Wildcats went from six combined Southeastern Conference wins over the course of two full seasons (2022-24) to a fourth-place finish in the league and a top-16 overall seed in its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2022.
Amid high-level chemistry, an innovative style of play and the likes of fellow starters Clara Strack, Teonni Key, Dazia Lawrence and Amelia Hassett, Amoore was unquestionably the largest on-court factor in Kentucky’s dramatic turnaround. During her sole season with the Wildcats, Amoore averaged 19.6 points, 2.3 rebounds, 6.9 assists, 1.0 steal and 0.4 blocks in an SEC-high 36.7 minutes per game across 31 contests.
On Amoore’s arm is a tattoo which reads “MY WAY,” which rings true when considering her path to becoming the sixth overall pick in this year’s draft. She’s also Kentucky’s fifth first-round draft pick in the WNBA history.
Amoore developed from a little-scouted prospect out of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, to an All-America point guard during her time with Virginia Tech (2020-24) and Kentucky (2024-25). Per the Australian Associated Press, Amoore is the highest Australian WNBA draft pick since Liz Cambage was taken second overall by the Tulsa Shock (now the Dallas Wings) in 2011.
Her close relationship with Brooks, and the desire to continue to develop under him, led to her opting to delay her entry to the WNBA draft despite first-round projections in 2024.
“He’s always told me to stop and smell the roses,” Amoore said on Monday. “Not to get too ahead of yourself or live too far in the past, and just be super present with what’s happening. And it helped me tonight, and it’s gonna help me going forward.”
Why Washington makes sense
Often, when discussing the WNBA draft, you’ll hear about how it’s less important when a player is drafted, and more important where.
Despite Amoore’s height — she’s 5-foot-6, which remains a sticking point for critics — she was the second point guard taken off the board (following top overall pick Paige Bueckers to the Dallas Wings) and now finds herself in a potentially ideal situation. Immediately following the pick, ESPN analyst Andraya Carter praised Washington’s choice.
“The way that Georgia Amoore elevated and expanded this past season at Kentucky in the SEC, one thing that Washington wants to do is play fast, and Georgia Amoore is incredible at playing fast but also playing under control,” she said. “She has such a great ability to manipulate the defense; she doesn’t just react to the defense, she makes the defense shift where she wants them to. And she can find her teammates, she creates her own shot.”
In December, the Washington Mystics announced an overhaul of leadership after parting ways with former general manager Mike Thibault and former coach Eric Thibault. The Mystics won their first and only title in 2019 under Mike Thibault and have only reached the WNBA Finals twice in franchise history (2018, 2019) in 12 playoffs appearances.
Since being named an expansion team in 1998, the Mystics have drafted some of the game’s greats — from Chamique Holdsclaw (1999, first overall) to Natasha Cloud (2015, 15th overall) to Ariel Atkins (2018, seventh overall), there’s been no shortage of all-star or championship-level talent in D.C.
The Mystics’ most famous, and successful, piece in recent history, Elena Delle Donne, arrived in 2017 by way of the Chicago Sky and was instrumental in Washington’s 2019 championship. Delle Donne, a two-time WNBA MVP and seven-time All-Star, hasn’t played since 2023 and recently announced her retirement from basketball.
Last season, the Mystics finished fifth in the Eastern Conference with a 14-26 record and missed the playoffs. The franchise opened the 2024 campaign with a 12-game losing streak, and dealt with key injuries throughout the season. Though Washington had drafted dominant Connecticut forward Aaliyah Edwards in the first round of the WNBA draft, the franchise struggled to find any consistent rhythm.
Now with former WNBA player and NBA League Office veteran Jamila Wideman as acting GM and longtime coach Sydney Johnson at the helm, the Mystics set forth on a new course in hopes of success.
Wideman — who reached three Final Fours as a 5-foot-6 point guard at Stanford under Tara VanDerveer before being drafted third overall in the inaugural WNBA draft in 1997 — spoke to sports media personality Craig Hoffman in February about the shared vision for the Mystics in the franchise’s new era.
“A moment for the Mystics to imagine into the future,” Wideman said, “not just look backwards at our prior success, which is undeniable ... but to look forward and ask the question — where are we going next?”
In the Mystics’ favor this April? Five draft picks, including three of the top six selections this year, who, ideally, have a shot to pair well with Edwards, 2022 third overall pick Shakira Austin and veteran guard Brittney Sykes, and to make a real difference in the continued efforts to bring another WNBA Championship to D.C.
Amoore, projected by several analysts to go either seventh overall to the Connecticut Sun or 10th overall to the Chicago Sky, again finds herself in a position to impact a team striving for more — this time, in the professional ranks.
“I’m super excited to get there and grow myself and my game,” Amoore said. “And then go out and put my best foot forward. ...
“I know I have the capabilities, I know I have the confidence to do so. And so I’m so excited to do that ... I haven’t felt like I’ve shown the ability to be that pesky annoying defender, I think, you know, just being a little bit conservative, knowing I had to be on the court during my times at Kentucky and Virginia Tech, I’m excited to kind of be able to go ahead and do that.”
Draft grades
The Mystics also drafted Notre Dame shooting guard Sonia Citron (third) and Southern California power forward Kiki Iriafen (fourth) in the first round, and Iowa sharpshooting shooting guard Lucy Olsen (23rd) and Alabama point guard Zaay Green (32nd) in the second and third rounds, respectively.
For their efforts, Washington was given an ”A-” by ESPN’s Michael Voepel.
“The top three here, of course, are the most likely to make an impact for a new-look Mystics franchise,” Voepel wrote. “Citron is an excellent defender and dependable scorer who brings Notre Dame’s famed ‘Guard U’ prowess to the Mystics. Iriafen turned herself into a lottery pick with her junior and senior seasons. Amoore is small, but she is an offensive force and will do whatever is needed of her on defense.”
CBS Sports’ Jack Maloney individually graded each first-round pick. Maloney rated Washington’s decision to go with Amoore at No. 6 a “B.”
“After taking a wing (Citron) and a big (Iriafen) earlier, they went with a guard in Amoore,” Maloney wrote. “While there are questions about her size (she’s just 5-foot-6) and how she’ll hold up defensively, Amoore is an electric offensive player who can easily create shots for herself and others. The Mystics needed help in the backcourt, and there’s a good chance that she is their starting point guard this season.”
Rachel Galligan, who assessed each of the night’s 39 picks for Bleacher Report, considered Amoore’s selection an “A.”
“Washington Mystics went from an organization plagued with questions and uncertainty to one of the biggest winners of draft night,” Galligan wrote. “And the best news yet? The opportunity to build around these rookies makes this a prospect’s dream to be able to compete and secure a spot in year one. The additions of Sonia Citron and Georgia Amoore beef up their backcourt and give the Mystics poised, pro-ready guards with high IQs who will complement each other exceptionally well.”
Galligan went on to say that the Mystics’ roster has the space for multiple rookies to step up and influence the course of the franchise’s season.
“With five or six roster spots up for grabs,” Galligan wrote,“not only do any of these drafted rookies have an opportunity, but the Mystics will need anywhere from two to four of them to impact right away.”
