LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Former Louisville women's basketball star Myisha Hines-Allen knew what would be coming. The Washington Mystics were going to be without two-time and reigning WNBA MVP Elena Delle-Donne, plus three other projected starters.
"I knew that my role was going to change," Hines-Allen said. "And basically, what I did the first two years leading up to this moment is what I've been working towards."
Those first two seasons involved a lot of watching. The forward battled her way onto the team through hard work at training camp, but only averaged about nine minutes per game for her first two years, flashing her talent when she could while being buried on a loaded Mystics roster. All of that waiting time taught her what life can be like for a second-round pick in the WNBA.
"I wasn't supposed to be on the team," Hines-Allen said. "My first year was self-doubt in the middle versus like, why am I here? That has always crossed my mind, like what's my purpose? Why am I still on this team? What do you see in me that I'm not seeing right now? That was a teaching moment. I remembered that my mental needed to be a lot stronger than what it was."
So she started listening more during the Mystics' routine meetings with their sports psychologist. From there, Hines-Allen wanted some one-on-one sessions to learn what she could do to sharpen her mental game. The lessons told her to keep working hard at practice, listening to veteran teammates like LaToya Sanders, who still frequently gives her tips on her game while sitting out the season, and looking for small positives.
"I didn't let self-doubt just continue to dwell and push me down because if that was the case, then I wouldn't be able to perform and do things that I'm doing now," Hines-Allen said. "Because I would have been out of the league."
Now, she's applied what she's learned and taken over. The former Cardinal has already hit career highs in points (142), rebounds (80) and minutes (286) in just 10 games. Hines-Allen won the Eastern Conference's first Player of the Week award for the 2020 season and is averaging 14 points and 8 rebounds per game, making her Washington's third-leading scorer and leading rebounder.
She's pleased to start getting notoriety for the journey that's led her here.
"I'm glad that people are recognizing and seeing that," Hines-Allen said. "It's just a testament to hard work and not giving up."
Adjusting to being in the spotlight more has admittedly been a little difficult. But flying under the radar has still helped her.
"The crazy part is, I didn't play those two years, so no one really knows what I was capable of doing," Hines-Allen said. "I can continue to still play my game until someone stops me from doing what I do best. So I'm just going to continue to do what's working for me until someone is able to stop it."
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