Why the Washington Mystics are title contenders, travel woes and other observations from the first week of the 2022 WNBA season

Natasha Cloud watched her Washington Mystics teammates defeat the Las Vegas Aces from her apartment on Tuesday night after entering health and safety protocols due to testing positive for COVID-19. Cloud live tweeted the game, in which the Mystics trailed by 15 before rallying after halftime to come away with the 89-76 victory and becoming the first team to start the 2022 WNBA season 3-0.

“I hope y’all know I’m running around this apartment flexing,” she tweeted. “YALL BETTER START TALKING ABOUT THEM MYSTICS.”

She isn’t wrong. What was arguably most impressive about Tuesday’s outing was that Washington was able to assert its will over a team most expected to win, and do it without multiple game-changing players in Cloud, Alysha Clark (foot injury) and Elizabeth Williams (competing overseas). Once those three are back in the fold, and assuming two-time MVP Elena Delle Donne continues to progress in the right direction physically as she returns from a back injury, the Mystics won’t just look like they’ll return to the playoffs after missing the cut last season. They’ll look like serious championship contenders.

At times over the past two years, Washington’s 2019 title run felt like another eon ago. Coming into 2022, Delle Donne had played just three games across the last two seasons, and a slew of other player opt-outs and injuries left the Mystics without its expected core or otherwise shorthanded most of that stretch.

With questions about Delle Donne and Clark’s availability, expectations surrounding the team were, understandably, fairly tempered. Our own ESPN rankings slotted them at No. 7 in the preseason, before they rose to No. 3 following the league’s opening…