Subscribe
Follow Us
The New York Liberty have been surprisingly inconsistent since losing Breanna Stewart to a knee injury. The latest slide for the reigning WNBA champions came on Sunday in an 83-71 loss to the Minnesota Lynx, whom the Liberty have been defeated by in both meetings the teams have had so far in the 2025 WNBA season. New York's newest addition Emma Meesseman didn't mince words when describing where the Liberty's on-court issues stem from, and she doesn't think it has anything to do with Stewart's absence.
“Just the discipline, attention to detail,” Meesseman gave as an answer to the team's problems. “Pass to the open side, or cut with purpose, play with purpose, stick to plays, pay attention in timeouts, I feel like it’s just that.”
Since the Liberty convinced Meesseman to return to the W two weeks ago due to Stewart's injury after she spent three years away, she's only taken the court without “Stewie,” Nyara Sabally, and Kennedy Burke being in the picture. For Meesseman, that's no excuse for the production coming from the players who are out there battling.
“No matter who we have on the court, no matter what level, players, [or] what league, it’s all about hustle. I don’t think you can practice that. So we just have to go out there and fight,” Meesseman said.
The Liberty were simply out-hustled by the Lynx, but they also gave the game away down the stretch. They committed 13 of their 20 total turnovers in the last 20 minutes of the contest, with many of those errors being self-inflicted. Meesseman used that mark as an example of which areas New York can tighten up in its game, regardless of who is in the lineup.
“The ones that definitely could be avoided was just, again, attention to detail — pass to the open side, or we were not always on the same page,” Meesseman said. “It’s fundamentals, really. Maybe it’s not bad to just get back to the basics and how you learn as a kid.”
Meesseman has only played four games with the Liberty, but she has plenty of experience in elite-level basketball competition. The European phenom won a WNBA championship in 2019 with the Washington Mystics, on top of six EuroLeague titles, a 2023 EuroLeague MVP award, and, most recently, a 2025 EuroBasket MVP award after hoisting the trophy with her native Belgium.
Ultimately, the 32-year-old's constructive critiques come from a place of experience, care, and wanting her new squad to play at the highest possible level.
“I’m still new to the team, so I’m kind of still looking from the side [at] really, how is everybody reacting? What does everybody need individually?” Meesseman said. “But I think I have a lot of experience in different cases like losses, wins, championships, lost championships … so just trying to be a good teammate for everybody.”
