The season ending injury to Tayler Hill may have cost the WNBA a contender this year.

In the same game, Tayler Hill and Elena Delle Donne went down with leg injuries. Fortunately for the WNBA, Delle Donne is back and the game she played against the San Antonio Stars says she is back in a big way.

However, as I was watching the dominance or Delle Donne and the continued emergence of future superstar Kelsey Plum I was struck by a bit of sadness. Just imagine if Tayler Hill had not gone down with a season ending injury.

The Mystics are now set up in such a way, they are a very hard match-up. Their starters are Delle Donne, Emma Meesseman, Krystal Thomas, Tierra Ruffin-Pratt and Kristi Tolliver.

This is a fearsome starting five. The front court of Delle Donne, Meesseman and Thomas are all 6-foot-4 or above. Delle Donne is 6-foot-5 with the skills of a guard. Most front courts are only able to match up with two players over 6-foot-4  so this is giving Washington an edge to start games.

Delle Donne is having another top-five MVP type season. She is first in free throw percentage (96.4%), seventh in points per game (19.3) and blocks per game (1,5), 14th in rebounds per game (6.4).

Meesseman is continuing to pour in the points (11.7), collect the rebounds and this year, is blocking 1.6 shots per game. Her rebounding is complementing Krystal Thomas and her efficiency is off the charts. Which second round pick (from 2013) has a slash line of 46/35/94.

Krystal Thomas is showing the WNBA she is a force on the glass with 8.2 rebounds per game which is good enough for sixth in the league. She is almost doubling her career numbers for the season.

Toliver is showing her skills with 10.6 points and 3.0 assists per game and simply cannot be ignored.

Unfortunately, this is normally where I would be listing Hill’s 13.3 points and 2.6 assist per game as a highlight for the Mystics. With her injured, it is Tierra Ruffin-Pratt who is starting. Yes, she is averaging 7.0 points and 6.0 rebounds but that is taking away from the second unit.

If Hill was starting, Ruffin-Pratt could come in an spell both Delle Donne and Hill, also helping to cover for Ivory Latta’s lack of size when she is on the court.

Washington have every piece needed to contend for a Championship. If they did not have Delle Donne i would say they would have to wait until next year due to the injury to Hill.

Fortunately, Delle Donne is leading this team to greater heights, and they are following. Look out WNBA, it is not just the Sun rising in the East.

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