With the 2024 WNBA season set to begin next week, the New York Liberty have been preparing to repeat the success of last season.
In 2023, the Liberty essentially overhauled their roster and created one of the league’s “super teams,” resulting in a Commissioner’s Cup victory, a trip to the WNBA Finals and Breanna Stewart winning her second regular season MVP award. Those big moves involved signing Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot in free agency, trading for Jonquel Jones and eventually extending players like Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Sabrina Ionescu.
Going into this year, the Liberty did not make any big changes to last year’s roster. Despite trying to attract free agents like Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins-Smith, they were unsuccessful. But that doesn’t leave them with nothing. As was proved last season, this roster has the potential to dominate this season, ready to go head-to-head with teams like the Las Vegas Aces and Seattle Storm for top seeds.
Roster updates
With training camp well underway, the Liberty have some choices to make before the season officially starts.
The team’s five guaranteed contracts for the year belong to Courtney Vandersloot, Jonquel Jones, Betnijah Laney, Kayla Thornton and Kennedy Burke. Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionecu signed non-guaranteed contracts to open those spots to others, but obviously won’t be cut. That leaves another four or five open roster spots to be filled. As of May 5, the Liberty haven’t started making cuts to camp, but with 11 players competing for those last spots, the cuts will start coming soon.
The remaining players fighting for those spots are Nyara Sabally, Marquesha Davis, Esmery Martinez, Jessika Carter, Leonie Fiebich, Okado Adika, Brianna Fraser, Jaylyn Sherrod, Rita Igboke, Stephanie Mawuli, and Ivana Dojkić. There also is the possibility that the Liberty dip into the free agency market once other teams make their cuts, grabbing a few more players with more experience than their current pool of players.
Maintaining the chemistry of last season
After making it to the WNBA Finals last season, there is definitely a lot to look forward to from the Liberty. Reigning MVP Breanna Stewart is set to lead the team as she continues to play in peak form. She currently has high odds to repeat MVP, and the success or failure of this team surely will be on her back. Jonquel Jones also experienced a boost at the end of last season, and fans have to be hoping that will continue into this year. Jones played the winter season in the WCBA (Women’s Chinese Basketball Association) and will roll right into the WNBA season from there. Most of the other core members of the team—Vandersloot, Ionescu, Stewart—stayed in the United States over the offseason.
The benefit to this season is the chemistry that the team built last season. In 2023, there was a period of team building as the brand-new core found their footing. With an entire season of playing together behind them, this core team will be ready to head into the 2024 season and get going immediately.
They will need to, because Las Vegas is back at full strength this season with their core intact—except for Candace Parker, who announced her retirement last week. On top of the Aces threat, Seattle also bulked up in the offseason, adding Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins-Smith to their roster. New York will have to be back in peak form from the jump to compete with these teams.
Solving the depth problem
If the Liberty have one issue going into the season, it’s their depth. This obviously becomes important down the stretch, when fatigue and injuries can become a thing. Sure, your starting lineup has the reigning MVP, multiple No. 1 draft picks and the talent to take you far, but as you move down the bench, the experience is a little lacking. When you think of the depth of the Aces’ bench, the Liberty’s doesn’t match up as well.
Also, the team lost key bench players like Marine Johannès, who will not play in the WNBA this season as she prepares to play for the French national team at the Paris Olympics. Han Xu also is not coming over to the Liberty this season, and Stefanie Dolson now plays for the Washington Mystics.
The biggest depth problem is definitely in the front court. The team tried, but failed, to get Ogwumike, and several of the lost players are bigs. The Liberty should take a serious look at the free agency market as training camps wind down. There inevitably will be players cut from other teams that end up having more experience than the players the Liberty have in camp right now. Bringing in just a few more players to help address New York’s lack of depth as it compares to Vegas will help out.
Season prediction
The Liberty still are one of the elite teams in the league. With the talent of their core, they will have no problem staying among the top teams in the standings throughout the season, if healthy. It really comes down to two things: how well the core plays and if they can add a few more depth pieces to the team.
Breanna Stewart is in her prime. Sabrina Ionescu is progressing as she enterrs her fourth WNBA season. You have experience with Vandersloot and strength with Jones. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton adds a steady two-way presence to the team. Thornton contributed well last season, earning herself a contract extension. Overall, New York has the pieces to do well. But it’s hard to believe they have the pieces to beat Las Vegas without adding a little something more than they have right now. Still, the Liberty maintain their status of being one of the top teams in the league and will fight hard to make it back to the top this season.