Have We Even Seen the Liberty's Best Yet?
New York spent the early weeks waiting on its stars. Now that everyone is finally on the floor together, the most exciting version of this team may still be ahead of us.
The New York Liberty are on a roll.
Wednesday's 96-95 win over the Chicago Sky extended their winning streak to eight games and came just days after they clinched a spot in the Commissioner's Cup Final with a dominant victory over the Washington Mystics. They continue to climb the WNBA standings and are starting to look every bit like the championship contender many expected them to be.
But what makes this stretch even more impressive is how much of it happened before the Liberty were fully healthy. When Sabrina Ionescu checked into Sunday's game against Washington midway through the first quarter, the Barclays Center crowd erupted. She finished with just five points in 26 minutes, but that wasn't really the story. For the first time all season, New York had its entire roster available.
It's easy to overlook that detail when a team is winning this consistently. The Liberty have spent the last few weeks finding ways to win despite missing key pieces, rattling off eight straight victories while still waiting for the roster to come together. Which raises an interesting question: if New York has looked this good while working players back into the lineup, what happens now that everyone is finally on the floor together?
A Slow Start That Didn't Last Long
It feels strange to say now, but New York's season didn't begin the way most people expected.
The Liberty opened the year 3-4 and dropped three straight home games for the first time since 2022. For a team entering the season with championship expectations, it was an unfamiliar position to be in. But there was always more to the story than the record.
New York spent much of that early stretch trying to piece together lineups without several key contributors. Sabrina Ionescu missed time with foot and back injuries, Satou Sabally's debut was delayed as she worked her way back from a concussion, and Leonie Fiebich was still overseas finishing a championship run with Valencia Basket.
Looking back now, the surprising part isn't that New York stumbled out of the gate. It's how quickly everything turned around once the roster started coming together.
Stewie Set the Tone
If the Liberty's early-season struggles felt understandable, Breanna Stewart's response felt familiar.
While New York worked through injuries and lineup changes, Stewie simply kept producing. She averaged around 23 points per game through the opening stretch of the season and remained the steady presence the Liberty needed while the rest of the roster worked its way back.
There were plenty of standout performances along the way. She dropped 30 points in a comeback win over Indiana and recorded a career-high seven blocks against Washington, adding 14 points and 12 rebounds in the process. But what impressed me most wasn't any one game, It was the consistency.
No matter who was available around her, Stewie gave New York a chance every night. She helped keep the Liberty afloat during a stretch that could have easily gone the other way, and now that the roster is finally healthy, they're beginning to reap the benefits of that foundation.
The Luxury of Depth
I had a chance to watch New York in person at Mohegan Sun on June 8, when the Liberty visited Connecticut. Even then, they weren't at full strength. Ionescu remained sidelined and Jonquel Jones was a late scratch because of illness. On paper, that felt like an opportunity for the Sun to take advantage, and to their credit, Connecticut hung around and kept it close for stretches.
Instead, the Liberty found another way. Stewart scored 28 points, Han Xu made her first career start, and New York walked out with an 89-80 win. What stood out wasn't the final score. It was how comfortable the Liberty looked navigating adversity. Different players stepped into larger roles, the rotation adjusted, and the overall level of play barely seemed to change.That's when it really hit me just how deep this roster is.
Depth can sometimes feel like one of those buzzwords that gets thrown around during a season, but it matters. Injuries happen. Players miss games. Rotations shift. Teams that can absorb those moments tend to survive the long summer schedule a little better than everyone else, and they tend to be the ones still standing deep into the playoffs. The Liberty have already shown they can do exactly that.
A Reunion Years in the Making
For the first time since their days at Oregon, Sabrina Ionescu and Satou Sabally are teammates again. Both were stars for the Ducks before entering the WNBA in 2020 and taking different paths through the league. For years, fans wondered what it might look like if they ever shared the floor again. Now, they're finally getting that chance in New York.
The basketball fit makes plenty of sense. Ionescu's ability to create offense and stretch the floor pairs naturally with Sabally's versatility and all-around game. But the story is what really draws me in.
For anyone who followed those Oregon teams, it's hard not to smile seeing them back together. Ionescu and Sabally helped build one of the most exciting programs in the country, and for years the idea of them sharing a WNBA court again felt more like a "what if" than a realistic possibility. Now they're teammates again, this time on a roster with championship aspirations. It's one of those storylines that reminds you how small the basketball world can be sometimes.
And they're not the only pieces finally falling into place.
For the first time all season, first-year head coach Chris DeMarco is getting a chance to work with something close to the roster he envisioned back in training camp. With Ionescu back on the floor, Sabally healthy, and Fiebich settling into the rotation, the Liberty are beginning to look more like the team many expected to see from the start.
Still More to Discover
What makes the Liberty so fascinating right now isn't simply that they're winning. It's that there still feels like another level to reach. Ionescu is working her way back into form. Sabally is continuing to build chemistry with her new teammates. Fiebich is still settling into her role after arriving from Europe. And DeMarco is finally getting an opportunity to see what this roster looks like with all of its pieces available.
Eight straight wins and a trip to the Commissioner's Cup Final would be enough for most teams to feel good about where they are. But for the Liberty, it feels more like a starting point than a finished product. For all they've accomplished over the last few weeks, it still feels like we're watching a team come together in real time. The talent has never been the question. Now, the continuity is starting to follow.
And if that's the case, the most impressive version of the New York Liberty may still be ahead of us.
