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The New York Liberty have endured a comical stretch of injuries as they try to repeat as WNBA champions. As a result, they are 21-13, locked in a battle with the Atlanta Dream for the 2 seed despite having, on paper, the best roster in the league.
Head coach Sandy Brondello knew 2025 would be a challenge — for a variety of reasons — but even she couldn’t imagine prolonged stretches without Jonquel Jones, Breanna Stewart, Leonie Fiebich, Kennedy Burke, Nyara Sabally and Isabelle Harrison.
“I wouldn't have imagined [in] my worst nightmare that we'd have so many injuries here,” she said before the Liberty lost a hard-fought battle to the Minnesota Lynx on Saturday, 86-80. “It is what it is. That’s sport.”
Not that she expects any sympathy.
“I always say the hardest thing to do is go back-to-back,” Brondello said. “I have a lot of head coaches from various fields all around the world, and that's what they say.”
The challenge is both internal and external. The Liberty haven’t exhibited complacency this year, but they have played with a lack of urgency at times. Is it possible that the team just knows that when they are healthy, they can win a championship, no matter what their seed is? Maybe. It’s a long season and the team must navigate it all before playoff time.
From the outside, the Liberty are now the team every opponent circles on their schedule. The reigning champs get everybody’s best shot, injuries or days between games be damned.
The Liberty insist they have enough despite injuries
The Liberty, to a player, continue to insist that they have enough in their locker room, even through the injuries. If their recent stretch, which has included three losses to the Lynx, shows anything, it’s that they’re probably right.
No, they have not played consistently well for the last two months, and the Stewart's lengthy absence is a big reason why right now.
In three games against the Lynx, who have been the best team in the WNBA for most of the season, they’ve shown they can still compete. They just haven’t won. Not against the Lynx and not against anyone with consistency.
But as Brondello — and anyone who regularly watches the team, really — has said, the team’s biggest problems are within their control.
Take their 83-77 loss to the Las Vegas Aces last Wednesday, for example. The two teams went toe-to-toe the entire way but New York couldn’t grab a rebound in the closing minutes, giving up seven o-boards to the Aces in the final 2:07. Brondello said that if they had been able to grab one or two, they could have won that game.
“We haven’t been consistently great. We’ve had moments,” Brondello said. “I talked about the Achilles heels. At the moment, it's too many turnovers and too many missed block-outs, and it's a fundamental of the game.”
Getting those fundamentals under control are essential, because as Saturday showed, there are elements the Liberty can’t control. New York shot eight free throws to the Lynx’ 33. While one can quibble with individual calls after the game, the players can’t blow the whistle for the referees.
“We'll continue to focus on what [we can control],” Sabrina Ionescu said. “There are so many things outside of our control, like the players we don't have and the free throws we didn't get.”
New York will have one more crack at the Lynx on Tuesday night on Brooklyn. The game will tip at 7 p.m. ET.
