Although this WNBA offseason has been full of surprises, perhaps the most unexpected one came yesterday, when two-time WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne announced that she'll be stepping away from basketball.
This news (which was first broken by ESPN's Ramona Shelburne) was especially shocking, because it was known that the Washington Mystics — whom Delle Donne has been playing with since 2017, and won a WNBA championship with in 2019 — had presented her with a one-year supermax contract earlier in the offseason.
Yet, after Delle Donne thought more about her basketball future, she decided it would be best for her to take a break from the game in 2024 and perhaps return to the Mystics in 2025 — if she does decide to return.
While we haven't yet heard from Delle Donne about exactly why she has decided to step away from basketball, it's safe to assume that health issues are a major factor.
Delle Donne won the 2019 WNBA championship while playing with three herniated discs in her back. Unfortunately, her back issues have persisted ever since — which limited to her playing just three games in the 2021 season, then 25 games in 2022 and 23 in 2023.
In addition to her back problems, Delle Donne — who turned 34 years old in September — was diagnosed with Lyme disease after being bitten by an infected tick in 2008.
Due to this disease — which Delle Donne has said she combats by taking "around 50 supplements a day" and maintaining healthy eating — the Mystics' superstar also elected to sit out the 2020 COVID-19-shortened season in order to limit her exposure to the virus.
While Delle Donne is a certain future WNBA Hall of Famer and has nothing left to prove to anybody, it would be a shame to see health issues cut her career short.
As for the Mystics, losing out in Delle Donne next season is a devastating blow to their playoff hopes — especially after they placed the core designation on Delle Donne, which meant that Delle Donne couldn't leave the team in free agency.
Since teams can only place the core designation on one player, doing that with Delle Donne meant the Mystics couldn't do so with Natasha Cloud — who then signed with the Phoenix Mercury as a free agent.
Yet, the biggest hope for both the Mystics and all basketball fans is that Delle Donne can address whatever it is that is prompting her to step away from basketball, and return to the court come 2025.
