Latasha Byears was gone. But the Washington Mystics did not forget her.
After a three-year absence from the WNBA, the Mystics signed the seven-year veteran forward in February, hoping to rekindle her career in the United States while improving their frontcourt. At the time, Byears was playing overseas and leading the Turkish league in scoring.
And Byears has wasted little time in carving out a role in D.C. That was evident Saturday when she came off the bench to score 20 points and grab 14 rebounds in a 90-75 win over the Minnesota Lynx.
Byears was waived by the Los Angeles Sparks early in the 2003 season while being investigated by the Los Angeles County sheriff’s office regarding allegations she sexually assaulted another teammate (no charges were filed).
General manager Linda Hargrove said Byears was a player she’s had her eye on for some time. Signing Byears in the off-season could have been viewed as a risk for the Mystics (2-1). Still, Hargrove approached Mystics President and Managing Partner Sheila Johnson and Chief Operating Officer Curtis Symonds about adding Byears.
“The one thing that I love about working for this franchise is that the ownership is willing to take chances and give people second opportunities and when I went to Sheila and Curtis and talked to them about the possibility of bringing Latasha in they were very, very supportive,” Hargrove said. “She’s just doing a great job. Our players love playing with her.”
Byears said she is “just excited to be playing” in the league.
For Mystics coach Richie Adubato, the move was overdue. Adubato joked he “wished we had signed [Byears] last year. We would have made the playoffs.”
That praise stems from his first-hand knowledge of competing against her. As coach of the New York Liberty, Adubato got a taste of how effective Byears can be during the 2002 WNBA championship series.
“I played L.A. in the finals and they beat us for the championship when I was in New York,” Adubato said. “They gave Lisa Leslie the MVP but Byears should have been the MVP because she was 12 for 18 from the floor and she had 10 rebounds in every game. And of course, Leslie was great. But Byears was the one that beat us and every time we threw the ball in the low post, she stripped us.”
That low-post presence is even more remarkable considering Byears is just5-foot-11. But she has made a career out of battling bigger opponents and has the WNBA’s sixth-best career field goal percentage (51.6 percent).
“It’s been like that my whole life,” said Byears, who is averaging 10.7 points and 7.3 rebounds after three games. “It isn’t about how big you are but how big your heart is. So it is heart and also mind over matter.”
