The New York Liberty are preparing for Betnijah Laney-Hamilton to be at full strength for the season’s stretch run.
The Liberty guard underwent successful surgery on her right knee on Tuesday at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. She’s expected to take 4-6 weeks rehabbing the knee, which coincidentally lines up perfectly with the team’s All-Star and Olympic break.
New York's game Tuesday against the Connecticut Sun was its last until August 15 — that’s four weeks and two days after Laney-Hamilton’s surgery.
“It’s a very minor surgery,” head coach Sandy Brondello explained before the game. “We did it because the Olympic break. She could have kept playing.”
Laney-Hamilton has missed the Liberty’s last four games with the injury. Before that, she was averaging 12.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game.
More importantly, she’s the Liberty’s best defender. Even in a perfect scenario, Laney-Hamilton still may miss a game or two on the other end of the break as she builds back to full strength. For however long she’s out, everyone is going to have to step up defensively.
“She really set the tone as the quarterback on the defensive end,” guard Courtney Vandersloot said. “We have some capable defenders on the roster, but we relied so much on B to be that person. So everybody’s got to step up.”
Earlier in the season, when Laney-Hamilton shut down Caitlin Clark in her home opener, Brondello summed up Laney-Hamilton’s defense presence.
‘We have Betnijah Laney, I mean, what more could you ask?” she said. “One of the best defenders in this league, if not the best, she’s…just committed to excellence.”
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton will have no restrictions when she returns from injury
This isn’t Laney-Hamilton’s first brush with a knee injury. She tore her ACL in her second season in the league, missing most of the 2016 season and all of the 2017 season. She then had an arthroscopy in her left knee in 2021 and an arthroscopic partial meniscectomy on her right knee a year later.
It's a lengthy injury history, but Brondello does not believe her surgery on Tuesday will be cause for concern in the second half.
“B had some issues with the knee. So I think they are just old, bad knees, but I think most pro ale have the same thing,” she said. “It’s just managing that. So I don't think there's any restrictions when she comes back.”
Vandersloot spoke with Laney-Hamilton shortly after her surgery.
“The surgery went well and she's resting,” Vandresloot reported. “I told her just, the comeback starts now.”
Liberty's Leonie Fiebich steps in
Liberty rookie Leonie Fiebich has gotten the bulk of Laney-Hamilton’s workload while she’s been out. In that time, Fiebich has taken a step forward in her game — she isn’t near the level of Clark or Angel Reese in Rookie of the Year discussion but could make a case for All-Rookie consideration.
After a quiet first month of the season, Fiebich has gradually come into her own as a WNBA player. She entered Tuesday’s game coming off of consecutive 13-point efforts against the Chicago Sky, and the game before that dished out five assists against the Sun.
“The more minutes I spend on the court with my teammates, it gets easier and easier,” Fiebich said after the Liberty’s win over the Sky on Saturday. “Getting to know them, their tendencies, where they want the ball… but they do a great job getting me my open shots, so credit to them as well.”
She has now started six games for New York and is quietly becoming a three-point threat. She came into Tuesday shooting 38% from three, and on a team that has struggled from distance over the last few games, Fiebich was 11 for her last 21.
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