Louisville alum Merissah Russell, a longtime friend and teammate of Aaliyah Edwards, sees a bright future in the second-year forward.
In breaking down Washington Mystics forward Aaliyah Edwards’ game, few are more qualified to weigh in than Merissah Russell. The five-year Louisville product is a member of the informal sisterhood of elite Canadian hoopers, of which Edwards is one of the top dogs.
In fact, Russell is one of Aaliyah Edwards’ closest friends. The two shared the court as members of Canada’s national team from the youth ranks all the way through recent appearances at the senior level in the FIBA AmeriCup.
“I first met Aaliyah when we were both 13 or 14 years old,” Russell said. “I consider her a very close friend. We literally grew up together, played together, played against each other throughout high school, played with each other for the national team.”
Russell recalls first meeting Edwards in the back of a coach’s car traveling across the Canadian province of Ontario. Making a trip from Russell’s native Ottawa to Toronto, they stopped to pick up Edwards in Kingston along the way. According to Russell, Edwards was initially more quiet and reserved but quickly warmed up to Russell’s more outgoing personality, and the two have been inseparable ever since.
Their paths have been intertwined both on and off the court since that car ride, and they even had a chance to face off in college; Edwards’ UConn Huskies rocked Russell’s Louisville Cardinals to the tune of 22 points and seven rebounds from Edwards.
Russell has always seen something special in Edwards. Sure, as close personal friends, there is a shade of rose tint in play, but considering Russell’s decade-long role as an ancillary figure in Edwards’ basketball journey, her up-close-and-personal analysis is incredibly valuable.
“Aaliyah is a competitor,” Russell said. “She has a motor like nobody else I’ve ever seen.”
Beyond pure heart and hustle, Russell sees Edwards’ potential two-way switchability as the bedrock of what is sure to be a long WNBA career. “She’s a matchup nightmare because she’s so versatile at whatever position she’s playing,” Russell said.
Such is true on both ends of the court. Edwards is already a switchable defender with a lot of room to grow, and her improving jumpshot combined with her physical post play give her a deep bag of tricks on offense.
As a rookie, Edwards was a spot-starter and role player averaging 7.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. She attempted just seven total three-pointers the entire season and missed all seven. She proved she had a career ahead of her, but didn’t really blow anyone away.
The blowing away began in Unrivaled, specifically in the league’s midseason one-on-one tournament. Edwards matched up with two-time WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart, one of the most daunting two-way forces in the world, in the first round.
Edwards opened with a stop before running out to the three point line, jab-stepping a couple of times and draining a three, surpassing her career WNBA three-point output on her first attempt.
After shockingly downing Stewart, 12-0, Edwards rumbled all the way to the tournament final before falling to Napheesa Collier.
Russell is currently training with Hall of Fame nominee Tremaine Dalton and trying to launch a WNBA career of her own. Dalton, a world-renowned one-on-one trainer, happens to be another of Edwards’ biggest fans and has a running joke with her about a future matchup.
Russell, like Dalton, sees Edwards’ run through the tournament as both a manifestation of her overall improvement and a proof of concept for the “unicorn” label she bestowed upon her friend. “One-on-one, it’s unpredictable. It’s not luck, it’s skill,” she said. “It’s me versus you, nobody else. No five-on-five, no ball screen, nothing.”
Russell thinks Edwards’ newly-displayed bag will translate seamlessly to five-on-five, a point worth noting considering Russell herself is using one-on-one training as a means to kickstart a professional career. “[One-on-one is] when you get to kind of test out your skills against the best,” Russell said. “You beat the best one on one. Five-on-five is the easy part now.”
So what’s next for Edwards?
“I can see her being an All-Star, one hundred percent,” Russell said. “She has the space to do so with the Mystics. She can take over that team as well and be a leader in that team and a stat stuffer as well.”
Last season, Edwards ranked seventh on the Mystics in minutes played per game. Now, four of the six players ahead of her in that metric — Ariel Atkins, Karlie Samuelson, Julie Vanloo and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough — are all on other teams. Edwards is positioned for a massive second-year jump in Washington with more shots to go around and a new youth movement underway (two of the top four picks in this year’s draft will be sharing the court with Edwards for much of the season).
Edwards is uniquely set up for success in the WNBA. Her ties to UConn award her a built-in level of celebrity in the women’s hoops world, as do her friendships with reigning no. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers and future top pick Azzi Fudd.
If she can marry her tangible on-court improvements to her burgeoning celebrity, Edwards could be one of the WNBA’s next big stars.