CHICAGO (AP) — The Washington Mystics accelerated their rebuild, trading two-time All-Star Ariel Atkins to the Chicago Sky for the No. 3 overall pick in this year's draft on Sunday.
Washington also received Chicago's second-round pick in 2027 and the rights to swap first-rounders that year.
“We are building a program to sustain a period of contention during the next era of Mystics basketball. Our ambitious return to prolonged excellence requires time, intention and difficult decisions,” general manager Jamila Wideman said in a statement. “Trading Ariel, a champion and celebrated Mystic, is one of those difficult decisions. In exchange, we are afforded another opportunity to select a young impact player at the top of the draft who can be part of our aspirational future.”
Atkins helped Washington make the playoffs five times in seven seasons since the team drafted her seventh overall in 2018. She won a WNBA title with the Mystics in 2019 and was the lone remaining player from that team on Washington's roster.
Atkins also won an Olympic gold medal with the United States in 2021.
For the Sky, Atkins will bring veteran leadership to a team led by Chennedy Carter and young stars Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso. The Sky went 13-27 and missed the playoffs last season, leading to the firing of first-year coach Teresa Weatherspoon. Chicago hired Tyler Marsh in November to replace the Hall of Famer.
Chicago also brought back veteran Courtney Vandersloot this offseason. The franchise's career assists leader, Vandersloot helped the Sky win the league title in 2021.
An All-Star in 2021 and 2022, Atkins has averaged 13.4 points, 3 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.4 steals in her career. She led the Mystics in scoring last season at 14.9 points per game.
Atkins is Washington's all-time leader in 3-pointers (397) and is second in steals (313) and third in both points (2,914) and assists (525). She is the only player in league history to make an All-Defensive team in each of her first five seasons.
“Ariel has made a tremendous impact on this league since her rookie year,” Sky general manager Jeff Pagliocca said. “She is an excellent role model for her teammates and an All-Star-caliber contributor. As one of the league’s top defensive specialists and a consistent scorer, she is a threat on both ends of the floor who will help us build a playoff-contending team in Chicago."
The Mystics fired coach Eric Thibault and his father, general manager Mike Thibault, after finishing ninth in the league at 14-26 and missing the playoffs for the second straight year. They hired Wideman and coach Sydney Johnson in December.
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FILE - Washington Mystics guard Ariel Atkins (7) moves the ball against the Seattle Storm during a WNBA basketball game May 25, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)
CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — In the aftermath of a fire inside a Swiss Alpine bar that killed 40 people celebrating the new year, survivors, friends and family members, the region’s top authorities and even Pope Leo have spoken to the public in remarks in French, Italian, German and English, reflecting the tradition of Swiss multilingualism.
Another 119 people were injured in the blaze early Thursday as it ripped through the busy Le Constellation bar at the ski resort of Crans-Montana, authorities said. It was one of the deadliest tragedies in Switzerland’s history.
Investigators said Friday that they believe sparkling candles atop Champagne bottles ignited the fatal fire when they came too close to the ceiling of the crowded bar.
Here’s a look at what people said in the wake of the disaster:
— “I’m looking everywhere. The body of my son is somewhere,” Laetitia Brodard told reporters Friday in Crans-Montana as she searched for her son, 16-year-old Arthur. “I want to know, where is my child, and be by his side. Wherever that may be, be it in the intensive care unit or the morgue.”
— “We were bringing people out, people were collapsing. We were doing everything we could to save them, we helped as many as we could. We saw people screaming, running,” Marc-Antoine Chavanon, 14, told The Associated Press in Crans-Montana on Friday, recounting how he rushed to the bar to help the injured. “There was one of our friends: She was struggling to get out, she was all burned. You can’t imagine the pain I saw.”
— “It was hard to live through for everyone. Also probably because everyone was asking themselves, ‘Was my child, my cousin, someone from the region at this party?’” Eric Bonvin, general director of the regional hospital in Sion that took in dozens of injured people, told AP on Friday. “This place was very well known as somewhere to celebrate the new year,” Bonvin said. “Also, seeing young people arrive — that’s always traumatic.”
— “I have seen horror, and I don’t know what else would be worse than this,” Gianni Campolo, a Swiss 19-year-old who was in Crans-Montana on vacation and rushed to the bar to help first responders, told France's TF1 television.
—“You will understand that the priority today is truly placed on identification, in order to allow the families to begin their mourning,” Beatrice Pilloud, the Valais region's attorney general, told reporters Friday during a news conference in Sion.
Pope Leo said in a telegram Friday to the bishop of Sion that he " wishes to express his compassion and concern to the relatives of the victims. He prays that the Lord will welcome the deceased into His abode of peace and light, and will sustain the courage of those who suffer in their hearts or in their bodies.”
— “We have numerous accounts of heroic actions, one could say of very strong solidarity in the moment,” Cantonal head of government Mathias Reynard told RTS radio Friday. "In the first minutes it was citizens — and in large part young people — who saved lives with their courage.”
— “Switzerland is a strong country not because it is sheltered from drama, but because it knows how to face them with courage and a spirit of mutual help," Swiss President Guy Parmelin, speaking on his first day in the position that changes hands annually, told reporters Thursday.
People bring flowers near the sealed off Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, where a devastating fire left dead and injured during the New Year's celebrations. (AP Photo/ Antonio Calanni)
A woman holding a stuffed animal, whose daughter is missing, gather with others near the sealed-off Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, where a devastating fire left dead and injured during the New Year's celebrations. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
People light candles near the sealed off Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, where a devastating fire left dead and injured during the New Year's celebrations. (AP Photo/ Antonio Calanni)
