Mike Thibault looks fondly on his time with the Mystics

Former Washington Mystics General Manager (2013-24) and Head Coach (2013-22) Mike Thibault has been out of a job for about a week after Monumental Basketball President Michael Winger decided to move in a different direction with the WNBA team. To this point, though Winger issued a statement of appreciation for Thibault and his son Eric’s (the head coach’s) services, we haven’t heard much from one of the Thibaults.

Thibault issued a statement to Kareem Copeland yesterday. The statement was posted on X, and the text is also below the X post.

I am super appreciative of what Ted [Leonsis] and Sheila [Johnson] did to empower us for the last 12 years.

We came into a tough situation, they allowed us to run with it. They gave us resources to do it. Those resources were crucial in attracting free agents. They have treated us great. The fact that we were able to win a championship [in 2019], gave excitement to everybody and validated what we were trying to do.

In this business, you move on. After our championship year, we were set up to be good for the next year or two and then the [coronavirus] pandemic happens and it changes everybody and the trajectory and everything else. There’s not anything you can do about that.

I am really happy with my time in DC. I have no ill will. I had the ability to try to put my imprint on an organization and I’m proud about a lot of what we did. I’m doing great because I can look back with good memories on all of this.

Some Mystics fans have been frustrated with Thibault’s team-building strategy since the 2019 WNBA championship season. But overall, I don’t think any fan can complain about Thibault’s entire body of work. As he stated, he inherited a team coming off a franchise-worst 5-29 season and an unlucky 2013 WNBA Draft Lottery outcome. Fans openly wondered whether the Mystics would be sold and relocated or if they would fold at the time.

That said, the rebuild, especially from 2013-19, resulted in a championship. The Mystics would also likely have remained a championship contender from 2020-22 if the coronavirus pandemic had never happened. Are the Mystics championship contenders now? Of course not. But unlike the fall of 2012, fans today look forward to what the next era of Mystics basketball will bring and when they will contend again instead of worrying about whether the team will continue to be in business.

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