Betnijah Laney-Hamilton has fit in quickly with the Washington Mystics, the WNBA’s biggest surprise this year
The Mystics jumped at at the chance to add a veteran to a team full of young promise. Now, the daughter of Philly legend Yolanda Laney has Washington headed for its first playoff berth in three years.
WASHINGTON — When the New York Liberty waived Betnijah Laney-Hamilton earlier this month, it caused quite a commotion around the WNBA.
The transaction wasn’t too much of a surprise, since her playing time had fallen sharply from years past. But the 32-year-old with roots in the Philly area was a Liberty fan favorite, and a key piece of the team’s long-awaited first title in 2024.
Now the rest of the league had a shot to sign a former WNBA and FIBA world champion, All-Star, and first-team all-defense player with a reputation as a great teammate.
It turned out that the moving van didn’t have to go too far. The Washington Mystics won the race to claim her, jumping at the chance to add a veteran to a team full of young promise.
“The transition’s been pretty easy, just in terms of how everyone’s embraced me and just made it easy,” Laney-Hamilton said. “It’s nice always being able to be close to home, where my family can get here and everything.”
That family includes her mother, Philly women’s hoops legend Yolanda Laney, who is often in the crowd at Laney-Hamilton’s home games. Washington is even closer to Yolanda’s home in Delaware than Brooklyn.
» READ MORE: South Jersey’s Cheryl Reeve is atop the WNBA yet again, helped by a rookie sensation with Philly ties in Olivia Miles
Washington has been the biggest surprise in the league this year. On a circuit full of sizzling stars, the Mystics have a lot of good players, but not a household name yet. Still, they started the week in seventh place, and clinched a playoff spot Sunday night with a win in Portland.
From there, they could look down at Paige Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale’s Dallas Wings in eighth, and two marquee squads already eliminated from playoff contention: Nneka Ogwumike and Cameron Brink’s Los Angeles Sparks, and Kahleah Copper and Alyssa Thomas’ Phoenix Mercury.
The Mystics still have a ways to go until they’re real contenders, and they showed it in last Friday’s loss to the first-place Minnesota Lynx. Though Washington battled gamely throughout, the decisive moments were the little things down the stretch: a missed shot here, a turnover there, a basket conceded on a break the other way.
Perhaps those things will come in time for former college greats like Sonia Citron, Kiki Iriafen, and Lauren Betts as they develop in the pros. Coach Sydney Johnson can hope Laney-Hamilton’s presence alongside the team’s other veterans, Shakira Austin and Michaela Onyenwere, will help the process go even faster.
» READ MORE: From our archives: How Betnijah Laney is following in Yolanda Laney's footsteps
“She’s hit the ground running here,” Johnson said. “They really respect her, they look up to her, they understand her playoff experience. She speaks with a high level of command with the players and coaches.
For now, Johnson is simply thrilled to have her, and he does not take her easy integration for granted. Sometimes, a veteran’s arrival to a new team can upset existing chemistry. That hasn’t happened here.
“I’m not a betting man, but it was a good bet,” said the second-year head coach, familiar to Philly hoops veterans from many years at Princeton. (He was the point guard in the famous 1996 NCAA Tournament upset of UCLA, and coached his alma mater to the 2011 Ivy League title.)
“We are about toughness and togetherness,” Johnson said. “When you watch her, you watch her career, it’s pretty clear that she’s as tough as nails out there. You see her interacting with her teammates on the court, and then all the intel behind the scenes, she’s an outstanding person and a giver — she’s really giving to her team. So we felt like we got a steal, we really do.”
Laney-Hamilton in turn praised her new teammates for “the energy, the intention behind everyone.” And she called Johnson “great,” helping with the transition then being clear about his expectations.
The Mystics are spending this week on the west coast, with two games to come at Phoenix and one at Los Angeles before the WNBA pauses at the end of the month for the FIBA World Cup. When the season resumes, there will be just four games left to jostle for playoff positioning.
Whatever happens along the way, it’s clear those expectations Laney-Hamilton mentioned have changed, thanks to her arrival.
