ARIEL ATKINS NAMED TO ALL-DEFENSIVE SECOND TEAM

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The WNBA announced today that Ariel Atkins was named to the All-Defensive Second Team. This marks Atkins’ fourth consecutive All-Defensive Team nod. She is the only player in WNBA history to make an All-Defensive Team in each of their first four seasons in the league.

Atkins joins Alana Beard as the only players in franchise history to make an All-Defense team at least four times. She is also the only player in franchise history to do so consecutively and is one of 13 players in league history to accomplish this feat.

The fourth-year guard averaged a team-high 1.6 steals per game, tied for the fourth most in the WNBA during the 2021 season, and the second consecutive season she has finished top-five in steals per game. Over the past four seasons, she has totaled 175 steals, the most in the WNBA. Atkins also joins DeWanna Bonner (CON), Jewel Loyd (SEA), Nneka Ogwumike (LAS), Jasmine Thomas (CON) and Courtney Vandersloot (CHI) as the only players to average 10 or more points and at least one steal per game in every season since 2018.

Atkins comes off a career-best year, averaging 16.2 points (12th most in the WNBA), 2.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 30 games (all starts). She totaled nine 20+ point games, seventh most amongst guards and second most amongst Mystics players. Atkins was named to the 2020 U.S. Olympic Women’s Basketball Team, where she won a gold medal in Tokyo, and made her WNBA All-Star Game debut this past summer.