Defending WNBA champion Washington announced Monday that it has signed two more players, center Alaina Coates and guard Shey Peddy. The Mystics now have 12 on their roster after also having signed guard Essence Carson on Friday. What hasn't been announced yet, though, is whether 2019 league MVP Elena Delle Donne will play in 2020, though she is on the roster.
Delle Donne has a history of Lyme disease, plus she had offseason back surgery. Players who are deemed to be medically high risk if they were to contract the coronavirus can be designated as a protected player. They would be exempted from playing this season and still receive their full salary.
The Mystics received their 2019 WNBA championship rings at a private event in the Washington, D.C., area on Sunday, and Delle Donne was in attendance.
Two players from last year's title team, guard Natasha Cloud and forward/center LaToya Sanders, previously announced they are sitting out the 2020 season, which is expected to run from June to October at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
The 6-foot-4 Coates, 25, was the No. 2 draft pick by Chicago in 2017 out of South Carolina. She was injured and missed the NCAA tournament that year, when the Gamecocks won the national championship, and then also wasn't able to play that WNBA season.
Thus, her rookie year was delayed to 2018 with the Sky. Coates was traded to Minnesota and played 14 games for the Lynx in 2019, then was waived and finished the season in Atlanta. Coates has averaged 3.1 points and 2.9 rebounds in 55 career games.
Peddy was a second-round draft pick out of Temple in 2012, but she didn't secure a WNBA roster spot and played overseas the next several years. Last season, Peddy made her WNBA debut at age 30, playing 15 games with the Mystics as a replacement player during the time Emma Meesseman was overseas with the Belgian national team. When Meesseman returned, Peddy took a job on the Mystics' coaching staff.