The 2020 WNBA season was not the fresh start that Tina Charles was hoping for.
After six seasons with the New York Liberty, Charles found herself in a rut. Although she was still an All-Star in 2019, she had the worst 2- and 3-point shooting percentages of her career while averaging just under 17 points per game. In April 2020, she was traded to the Washington Mystics and reunited with Mike Thibault, who coached her when she played for the Connecticut Sun from 2010-13.
However, Charles did not get the opportunity to play for Thibault and his 2019 WNBA champion team last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Charles has extrinsic asthma and was medically excused for the 2020 season after the Mystics’ team doctor declared her high risk. Despite the disappointment of not competing, Charles took the extra time off as an opportunity to put in even more work.
“I was going to the gym every single day with my trainer,” she told USA TODAY Sports. “That was literally my day: Wake up, go drive to Brooklyn, and work out. That’s all that I was doing, just trying to stay engaged. Working on my game in the offseason and coming into this year just seeing the way that D.C. plays, I didn’t want to lack anything.”
That extra training paid off because Thibault said he had never seen a player come into training camp at the high level of physical fitness that Charles did for the 2021 season.
“She is somebody who was highly motivated to come in and prove herself to the world that, ‘I’m…
