The Washington Mystics reached a historic low on Tuesday in their blowout 76-59 loss to the Sun.

Washington fell to 0-9 on the season, its worst record through nine games in franchise history. The team’s previous worst record was 1-8, which it set in 2007.

Washington was held to its lowest point total of the season and shot 31.3 percent, its fourth game shooting below 40 percent in its last five outings.

Despite new depths, the Mystics have reason to celebrate. With every loss, they get one step closer to drafting UConn guard Paige Bueckers, who is the overwhelming favorite to go No. 1 overall.

The Huskies star was named Associated Press National Player of the Year as a freshman in 2020-21. She averaged 21.9 points on 53 percent shooting, 2.2 steals and 1.4 blocks per game last season after a torn ACL forced her to miss the entire 2022-23 campaign.

She’s a former teammate of Washington’s first-round pick (sixth overall) in the 2024 draft, Aaliyah Edwards, and Bueckers cheered on her former teammate while in attendance at Tuesday’s game.

Edwards led the Mystics in scoring with 14 points and finished one rebound shy of her first double-double in the league.

The WNBA Draft lottery works differently than the NBA’s lottery. In the WNBA, lottery odds are determined by the league’s four non-playoff teams’ cumulative records over the past two seasons. After going 19-21 in 2023, Washington has some catching up (falling back?) to do to get on Indiana’s level, which is 15-36 since the start of last season.

The Mystics, like the rest of the league’s teams, would probably prefer Bueckers not end up on the Fever alongside Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston.

With another losing effort on Tuesday, Washington moved closer to blocking that from becoming reality. At the rate they’re going, it won’t be long until the Mystics move into pole position.