The core of the New York Liberty team that won the WNBA championship two seasons ago — forward Breanna Stewart, center Jonquel Jones, and guard Sabrina Ionescu — remain the cornerstones of the franchise.
The team added three-time All-Star forward Satou Sabally this past off-season in free-agency after she averaged 16.3 points per game last season for the Phoenix Mercury, the squad that eliminated the Liberty in the opening round of the playoffs last September.
With a star-studded squad, the Liberty came into this season as the favorites to win another title, having the best betting odds. While they still have the third highest odds to win another championship behind the new favorite Minnesota Lynx and the Las Vegas Aces, the reigning league champions, the Liberty go into tonight’s game versus the Aces on the road as only the WNBA’s No. 7 overall seed. The top eight seeds of the league’s 15 teams advance to the postseason.
The Liberty are showing signs of rising to contender status. They won their first game after this past weekend’s All-Star Game festivities, defeating the Los Angeles Sparks 113-109 on the road Tuesday for their third straight win. But the jury is still out on new head coach Chris DeMarco.
The 40-year-old DeMarco, a former Golden State Warriors assistant from 2012-2026, was hired in December to replace Sandy Brondello, now the head coach of the expansion Toronto Tempo. The 57-year-old, who guided the Liberty from 2022 until her departure, was at the helm when the franchise won their first-ever title two years ago.
So did Liberty owners Clara Wu Tsai and her husband Joe Tsai, along with general manager Jonathan Kolb make the right decision?
“We not only evaluate throughout the season our own team, but we also evaluate the league and where this league is,” said Kolb at a September press conference addressing the separation from Brondello. “This decision comes after a thorough examination of what the New York Liberty need as we move forward into a future of an ever-evolving WNBA.”
At his introductory press conference in December, meanwhile, DeMarco discussed his approach to the game.
“It starts with the player relationship,” he said. “They have to believe in me. They have to believe in our staff, and we’ll get there.”
It is a philosophy informed by winning four championships as a member of the Warriors staff under their head coach Steve Kerr.
“We’re going to decide how we want to do this together and I’ve always found that player-driven teams have more success,” DeMarco continued. “And it can’t just be coaches all the time coming in and being like, ‘Hey, we’re not playing hard enough. … It’s got to be players who [are] holding each other accountable if it’s something we all agree on together.”
Despite navigating player injuries that have plagued the Liberty since the start of this season, they won the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Championship in June and had an eight-game winning streak from May 27 to June 17. With 16 games remaining in the regular season, eight of them at home, DeMarco has a chance to turn things around with a very talented roster.
New York will face the Mercury on Saturday in Phoenix and then return to Barclays Center in Brooklyn to host the Seattle Storm in back-to-back games on Monday and Wednesday.
