Two-Time WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne Announces Retirement

As the WNBA welcomes a new generation, it says goodbye to the old. Elena Delle Donne, who was twice named the WNBA Most Valuable Player (2015, 2019), said her farewell to basketball on Friday.

“One of my favorite children’s books asked, ‘How did it get so late so soon?’ I have asked myself that over and over again in the process of coming to the decision to retire from playing basketball,” wrote Delle Donne.

Delle Donne was drafted by the Chicago Sky with the second pick overall in 2013. She played four seasons with the Sky, including her first MVP season, before being traded to the Washington Mystics in 2017.

She was the first player in WNBA history to shoot more than 50% from the field (220-of-427), 40% from 3-point range (52-of-121) and 90% from the foul line (114-of-117), and still leads the all-time WNBA free throw percentage by a staggering 3.12%. The same season Delle Donne became the first-ever 50-40-90 WNBA player, she would bring the Mystics their first and only WNBA title, breaking records while playing with three herniated discs.

“She put us over the top,” former Mystics coach Mike Thibault said. “We were trying to build to where we could have a team that somebody like her would want to play with and we could win the championship that she was seeking and that we were seeking.”

In the five seasons since, though, back, hip and ankle injuries have limited Delle Donne to just 55 games, including playoffs. After playing 25 and 23 games in 2022 and 2023, she didn’t play at all in 2024, despite the Mystics offering her their core designation.

“My body seemed to make this decision before my mind accepted it,” Delle Donne said in her announcement, “But I now truly know this is the right thing for me at the right time.”

In retirement, she’ll remain with the Mystics, serving as special advisor to their parent company Monumental Basketball.