Mystics Rookie Shares Wild Story of How She Found Out She Was a WNBA All-Star

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert may have made an embarrassing mistake.

Washington Mystics guard Sonia Citron (22) chats with guard Brittney Sykes (20) after a time out against the Las Vegas Aces during the second quarter at EagleBank Arena. / Rafael Suanes-Imagn Images

Forget about a "Welcome to the WNBA" moment for Washington Mystics rookie Sonia Citron. She's still waiting for her "Welcome to the All-Star Game" call from commissioner Cathy Engelbert.

Each year, Engelbert usually calls WNBA players to tell them they were named an All-Star. That wasn't the case for Citron, who found out she made the cut through a pretty wild sequence of events.

Citron joined Lisa Leslie's Between the Lines podcast this week and shared that a player from a different WNBA team broke the All-Star news to her accidentally. Seattle Storm's Gabby Williams apparently received a call from Engelbert, who thought Williams's number was Citron's number. Engelbert then left Williams a voicemail explaining her mistake and that she meant to call Citron to tell her she was an All-Star.

"Before our game against Minnesota, I was checking my phone," Citron said. "I saw that Gabby Williams had followed and DM'ed me. I was like, 'This is super random because I've never met her, never talked to her.' ... And then I looked at her DM, and it was a screenshot of a voicemail from Cathy [Engelbert] to her. And in the DM she was like, 'Hey, Cathy called me thinking that this number was your number. I hope this isn't how you found out, but congrats.'"

LOL not gabby williams being the one to tell soni she is an all-star because cathy called the wrong number 😭💀 pic.twitter.com/FBYxIfJsbs

— 🗣️ (@screenrambles) July 10, 2025

Citron can hopefully put that awkward moment behind her in a week's time, when she takes the court as part of Team Caitlin Clark in the All-Star game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on July 19. Citron, who was selected third by the Mystics in the 2025 WNBA draft, played with Clark years ago, when they both made the USA Basketball team that won the U-19 FIBA World Cup in 2021.

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