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)
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Unprecedented turnout led to ballot shortages in Wisconsin's largest city Tuesday as voters cast ballots in “historic” numbers to decide a Supreme Court race pitting one candidate backed by President Donald Trump against another aligned with Democrats.
The race for control of the court, which became a proxy battle for the nation's political fights, broke records for spending and was poised to be the highest-turnout Wisconsin Supreme Court election ever.
Republicans including Trump and the world’s wealthiest person, Elon Musk, lined up behind Brad Schimel, a former state attorney general. Democrats including former President Barack Obama and billionaire megadonor George Soros backed Susan Crawford, a Dane County judge who led legal fights to protect union power, abortion rights and to oppose voter ID.
The election is considered a litmus test of how voters feel about Trump’s first months back in office and the role played by Musk and his controversial cost-cutting agency, the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk traveled to Wisconsin on Sunday to make a pitch for Schimel and personally hand out $1 million checks to two voters.
Early voting was more than 50% ahead of levels seen in the state’s Supreme Court race two years ago, when majority control was also at stake.
Seven polling sites in Milwaukee ran out of ballots, or were nearly out, due to “historic turnout” and more ballots were on their way before polls closed, said Paulina Gutierrez, the executive director of the Milwaukee Elections Commission.
Clerks all across the state, including in the city's deep-red suburbs, reported turnout far exceeding 2023 levels.
In the final minutes before polls closed, Schimel and his classic rock cover band entertained his supporters, opening with the candidate taking lead vocals on The Allman Brothers song “One Way Out.”
The court can decide election-related laws and settle disputes over future election outcomes.
“Wisconsin’s a big state politically, and the Supreme Court has a lot to do with elections in Wisconsin,” Trump said Monday. “Winning Wisconsin’s a big deal, so therefore the Supreme Court choice … it’s a big race.”
Crawford embraced the backing of Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights advocates, running ads that highlighted Schimel’s opposition to the procedure. She also attacked Schimel for his ties to Musk and Trump, who endorsed Schimel 11 days before the election.
Schimel’s campaign tried to portray Crawford as weak on crime and a puppet of Democrats who would push to redraw congressional district boundary lines to hurt Republicans and repeal a GOP-backed state law that took collective bargaining rights away from most public workers.
Voters in Eau Claire seemed to be responding to both messages. Jim Seeger, a 68-year-old retiree, said he voted for Schimel because he's concerned about redistricting.
Jim Hazelton, a 68-year-old disabled veteran, said he had planned to abstain but voted for Crawford after Musk — whom he described as a “pushy billionaire” — and Trump got involved.
“He’s cutting everything,” Hazelton said of Musk. “People need these things he’s cutting.”
The winner of the court’s open seat will determine whether it remains under 4-3 liberal control or reverts to a conservative majority.
The court will likely be deciding cases on abortion, public sector unions, voting rules and congressional district boundaries. Who controls it also could factor into how it might rule on any future voting challenge in the perennial presidential battleground state.
Last year the court declined to take up a Democratic-backed challenge to congressional lines, but Schimel and Musk have said that if Crawford wins, the court will redraw congressional districts to make them more favorable to Democrats.
Musk was pushing that message on election day, both on TV and the social media platform he owns, X, urging people to cast ballots in the final hours of voting.
There had been no major voting issues by midday Tuesday, state election officials said. Severe weather prompted the relocation of some polling places in northern Wisconsin, and some polling places in Green Bay briefly lost power but voting continued. In Dane County, home to the state capital, Madison, election officials said polling locations were busy and operating normally.
The contest is the most expensive court race on record in the U.S., with spending nearing $99 million, according to a tally by the Brennan Center for Justice.
Musk contributed $3 million to the campaign, while groups he funded poured in another $18 million. Musk also gave $1 million each to three voters who signed a petition he circulated against “activist” judges.
Schimel has leaned into his support from Trump while saying he would not be beholden to the president or Musk. Democrats have centered their messaging on the spending by Musk-funded groups.
“Ultimately I think it’s going to help Susan Crawford, because people do not want to see Elon Musk buying election after election after election,” Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler said Monday. “If it works here, he’s going to do it all over the country.”
Crawford benefited from campaign stops by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, last year’s Democratic vice-presidential nominee, and money from billionaire megadonors including Soros and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
After casting his ballot Tuesday, Schimel told reporters he's felt strong grassroots support and downplayed the national attention on the race. “It's the Wisconsin voters that matter,” he said.
Crawford told reporters on Tuesday she doesn't think it's democratic for a billionaire to spend on a race the way Musk has in Wisconsin, but was confident that “voters are going to see through those tactics.”
At a polling place in Waunakee near Madison, 39-year-old Iraq War veteran Taylor Sullivan said he voted for Schimel for no reasons connected to Trump or Musk, but rather “because I support the police as much as Schimel does.”
In Milwaukee, 22-year-old college student Kenneth Gifford said he feels that Trump has done damage to American institutions and that Musk is trying to buy votes.
“I want an actual, respectable democracy,” he said.
Wisconsin has a long history of razor-thin presidential votes, but in the last court race two years ago, the liberal candidate won by 11 points. Both sides said they expected a much narrower finish this year.
The winner will be elected to a 10-year term replacing retiring Justice Ann Walsh Bradley.
If Crawford wins, the court stands to remain under liberal control until at least 2028. If Schimel wins, the majority will once again be on the line next year.
Associated Press writers Ali Swenson in New York; Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta; Thomas Beaumont in Green Bay, Wisconsin; and Mark Vancleave in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.
Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel, center, warms up with his band "4 on the Floor" early at his election night party April 1, 2025, in Pewaukee, Wis. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)
Maximillian Marquez marks his ballot while voting at the Milwaukee Academy of Chinese Language in the state's Supreme Court election, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Mike Rohleder marks his ballot while voting at Waters Edge event venue in the state's Supreme Court election, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Signs supporting Brad Schimel for Wisconsin Supreme Court and Brittany Kinser for Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction adorn the lawn of a farm along County Road A on Election Day Tuesday, April 1, 2025, near Tibbets, Wis. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Josette Baublitz marks her ballot while voting at Waters Edge event venue in the state's Supreme Court election, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Voters mark their ballots while voting at Waters Edge event venue in the state's Supreme Court election, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Christopher Bravata, right, marks his ballot while voting at the Frank P. Zeidler Municipal Building on Election Day, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
A voter enters Centennial Hall at the Milwaukee Central Library to vote on Election Day Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Signs supporting Judge Susan Crawford, voting and election officials adorn the front yard of a home on South Sixteenth Street on Election Day Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Tainesha Johnson (CQ), center, marks her ballot while voting at Centennial Hall at the Milwaukee Central Library on Election Day Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Olivia Hansen carries her unmarked ballot to the voting booth while voting at Centennial Hall at the Milwaukee Central Library on Election Day Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Voters mark their ballots while voting at Centennial Hall at the Milwaukee Central Library on Election Day Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford has her photo taken with supporters Saturday, March 29, 2025 at a campaign stop at a field office for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)
Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel addresses a rally Saturday, March 29, 2025 on a campaign stop at the American Serb Memorial Hall in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)
Elon Musk speaks during a town hall Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford addresses a crowd Saturday, March 29, 2025 at a campaign stop at a field office for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)
Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel, center, speaks with supporters as former Gov. Scott Walker, left, watches on Monday, March 31, 2025, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)
FILE - This combination of file photos shows Brad Schimel, former Republican attorney general Brad Schimel, in Madison, Wis., Jan. 5, 2015, and Susan Crawford in June 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Manis, Susan Crawford for Wisconsin, File)
