WNBA DRAFT

April 13, 2026

Cotie McMahon

Washington Mystics

Q. Cotie, you play like a bully-ball style of basketball, Coach Yo's system, I love her, by the way, but I think that your most underrated asset to your game is your passing. Like the way you show great vision when you're passing that ball. How do you plan to balance your scoring ability as well as your facilitating ability on the next level?

COTIE McMAHON: Yeah, I mean, I think it's all just about making the right reads. I feel like this past year has really helped me. Just being at different positions and being guarded different ways. I think my IQ for the game has really developed a lot.

I think it just makes me more of a threat.

Q. Cotie, you were extremely vulnerable in the Andscape article revealing to the world about your PCOS diagnosis. Can you talk about how that experience has helped change or shape your perspective around nutrition and health and how that will carry over into your preparation and training going into the W season?

COTIE McMAHON: Honestly, I think it's really allowed me to explore with the different food options. It's not like I'm just out here eating grass. I still get to eat stuff that I enjoy but just making sure that I'm watching what I'm eating and just making sure that I'm aware of what causes maybe some flare-ups of the PCOS symptoms or little things like that.

So just trying to stay away from foods that, fried foods, for example, high greasy foods, sodium foods and just leaning towards the more natural and raw foods.

Honestly, it's been great. I feel like this is only helping me for the pros. Just making sure that my body is maintaining what it needs to maintain and I'm feeding myself great food.

Q. Can you just walk us through the entire fit, the gloves, the blazers, everything, but especially the slides?

COTIE McMAHON: Okay. So I was styled by my stylist Kiley. I just wanted something different. Wanted something unique. I'm usually a dress girly, but I wanted like a streetwear vibe-ish type of thing. This is what we came up with.

The slides, my feet were hurting a little bit. So that's that.

Q. You're joining a Washington team now that is just full of young players. You had a couple of first-round picks last year that made great strides. Now you've got two other first-round picks this year to kind of be along with. What do you make of that and kind of that opportunity to be alongside so many younger players in this league?

COTIE McMAHON: Yeah, I mean, I think this is just great that we can all build this franchise together. Honestly, it's only up from here. We still have some great vets who have been there, Shakira, and we still have people to learn from. So I think this will be good.

Q. You're the fifth Ole Miss player to ever get drafted in the first round of the WNBA draft. What does that mean to be able to represent your college and to come in here and to really boost your college in that prospect run?

COTIE McMAHON: Yeah, it's been an honor. Me and Coach Yo made a promise to each other that we were going to help each other do whatever it took to succeed. She promised me a successful season. I promised her a successful season.

So everything that I did was not only for me, but for my team and my coaching staff and also the university as a whole, the program as a whole. Coach Yo is wanting to build. And I feel like I'm only helping her continue to build.

Q. Wondering if you could take us through conversations you've had with Washington and just who you spoke to over there, what the role is that they're viewing for you when you guys interacted?

COTIE McMAHON: Yeah, I mean, I talked to head coach. I talked to the defensive coordinator. I feel like the biggest takeaway for me was them instilling what I'm good at and making sure that I continue that and I never lose that.

I have a very strong downhill game, very fast-paced game in transition. So they just wanted to make sure that I knew in my head that to never get away from that and continue to just working on my strengths, continuing to use my strengths. I would feel like that was the biggest takeaway for me. That kind of really gave me security.

And two, the player development, just hearing great things about that. I'm just really excited to build with them and learn and accept a new role.