The 2023 WNBA season is right around the corner, which means it is time for some New York Liberty basketball—and this year, that’s going to look a lot different. Depending on who you think is better out of Stefanie Dolson and Kayla Thornton, four of the Liberty’s six or seven best players were not on the team last season. Gone are players like Natasha Howard and Rebecca Allen and in are players like Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot.
That’s right: the Liberty are a superteam now. Now, the question is if that superteam will work out, or if it will end up like the “superteam” formed by their Barclays Center counterparts, the Brooklyn Nets.
Just like last season, I’ll be here every week with a column recapping the past week and looking ahead at the upcoming week for the Liberty.
Let’s start by looking at last Saturday’s preseason game (though “look” might not be the right word, since the game wasn’t streamed).
The Liberty get their first look at the Aces
New York got a chance to face the other superteam in the W on Saturday and it… wasn’t pretty. But it is also worth remembering that it was a preseason game, so fans should not read too much into it.
The final score was relatively close, as the Liberty lost 84-77, but that does not tell the entire story. The Aces led 73-52 after three quarters, and the Liberty got things closer in a fourth quarter where neither team played its starters.
But hey—maybe that is a good sign. The Liberty are deeper than the Aces, and Saturday’s game helped showcase that. Han Xu and Jocelyn Willoughby in particular were key down the stretch, pairing together for the final 8:31 of the game with Willougby scoring eight points in that span. The team was a plus-nine during those minutes.
And if fans are worried that the Liberty did not look particularly good when the starters were in, then here are two things to reassure you:
- Courtney Vandersloot did not play, as she was in concussion protocol. While it is not clear yet if Vandersloot will be good to go for the opener, she can be expected back soon; fans saw last year with Crystal Dangerfield how helpful it was to play a true point guard beside Sabrina Ionescu. There is not a true point guard in the WNBA better than Vandersloot.
- Yes, every Liberty starter was a minus-six or worse. And yes, most of those minutes were against the Aces starters. And yes, when it comes down to it at the end of the season, an Aces-Liberty playoff series would be mostly reliant on the starters. But let’s also not forget that most of these players have not played together before. Of the five players who started this game plus Vandersloot, just two—Ionescu and Betnijah Laney—were on this team last year. It takes some time to figure out how to play with new people. Maybe if things still look like this when the teams meet for the first time in the regular season on June 29, fans will have more reason to worry.
Next Week in Seafoam
The opening week of New York Liberty basketball features two games.
Friday, May 19 at 7 p.m.: @ Washington Mystics
The race to be the third-best team in the WNBA is wide open, but if the Mystics have a healthy Elena Delle Donne, they likely have the early edge in the battle.
That makes the season opener a real test. New York has the talent edge over Washington, but the Mystics won’t be trying to fit as many new pieces in, and the addition of Brittney Sykes adds some perimeter defense to the equation.
New York went 2-1 against the Mystics last season.
Sunday, May 21 at 2 p.m.: vs Indiana Fever
The Liberty home opener should be a fun one, as New York gets its first look at No. 1 overall pick Aliyah Boston.
On paper, the Liberty should be heavy favorites here, but the Fever might be a feisty team this year. The Boston-NaLyssa Smith frontcourt pairing could cause some issues for New York, and Kelsey Mitchell does not get enough credit for her play at guard. New York’s talent should win out here, but the Fever are not going to be nearly as bad as they were last season when they went 5-31 and ended the season on an 18-game losing streak.