New York Liberty notebook: Betnijah Laney-Hamilton’s injury raises roster questions  

The Liberty released a statement to The Next on Laney-Hamilton’s latest injury. “The New York Liberty are in communication with Unrivaled, Betnijah, and her team. We are gathering information and determining [the] best next steps with our medical staff. Further updates will be provided when available.”

While the severity of Laney-Hamilton’s injury currently remains unknown, the timeline to the season is unforgiving: WNBA training camps are set to open on April 27. That’s seven weeks away.

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2024 was a difficult year for Laney-Hamilton. She had minor surgery in the middle of July to remove some loose bodies that caused discomfort in her right knee. Two weeks after her return to play in late August, she injured her right knee again in a collision with teammate Jonquel Jones. Laney-Hamilton struggled to play like herself in the postseason until her herculean performance in Game 2 of the WNBA Finals, when she scored 20 points on 8-for-14 shooting. 

She recently opened up about the state of her health on Ros Gold-Onwude’s podcast Good Follow. The broadcaster asked her if she’s at full strength following the injuries she dealt with in 2024.

“We’re getting there,” she said. “This is a really good measurement for me to kind of just be where I’m at, like how I’m feeling at a much faster pace. Because you know playing pick up and stuff you can kind of control it a little bit more. Me coming, I felt really good. Obviously with the history I feel it, but I feel really good.”

Laney-Hamilton was referring to her arrival in Miami for Unrivaled. She served as a relief player for the Laces Basketball Club, a team coached by new Liberty Director of player Development Andrew Wade. In her debut she scored 23 points on 10-for-17 shooting, had 3 rebounds and 2 assists in 18 minutes of play. 

She explained to Gold-Onwude how being at Unrivaled for the past couple of weeks has been helpful in her preparation for the 2025 WNBA season. 

“I have been able to wrap up workouts and everything, and do all of the things I need to do,” Laney-Hamilton said. “So my regimen has just been me playing pick up, working out, going to the gym, getting up some extra shots and everything and going to do treatment and having treatment come to me. And so now that I’m here, I have access to everything right here at one facility as opposed to having to move around to do things. So it’s just been really good.”

Who steps in for Laney-Hamilton if she misses extended time?

While another injury for Laney-Hamilton is not welcomed news for the Liberty, especially on a team that needs complementary guard play alongside Sabrina Ionescu following Courtney Vandersloot’s departure, New York has built their 2025 roster in a similar fashion to how they’ve built their rosters ever since they were crowned a “superteam” in 2023. 

While it is incredibly difficult to replace all of what Laney-Hamilton can provide, Marine Johannès and Rebekah Gardner are two players who have overlapping skills with Laney-Hamilton. Prior to her achilles tear, Gardner could reliably guard an opponent’s best wing or guard player, including providing stifling defense at the point of attack. She can slash, space and move well without the ball. Johannés, however, is more of a ball handler and secondary distributor who can create more with ease one-on-one. 

The Liberty have historically called on Johannès to step up when Laney-Hamilton has been out with injury. Back in 2022, Johannès returned to New York on a prorated deal after trading AD Durr. Laney-Hamilton had an arthroscopic partial meniscectomy on her right knee on June 1, 2022. Johannés averaged 10 points, 3.4 assists and 43.7 from three in 24 games played in 2022.

While Johannès currently isn’t signed, a league source tells The Next that New York wants her to return. This comes following some trade discussions that went on during the middle of the free agency period in an attempt for New York to move up in this April’s draft. And although the original qualifying offer that was extended to Johannès at the top of the year will expire on March 7, under the current collective bargaining agreement, New York will keep her exclusive rights. 

If Laney-Hamilton misses extended time, Leonie Fiebich will be relied upon even more to play the small forward position, and the shooting guard spot in her absence. Sophomore Marquesha Davis could be called on to take on more meaningful bench minutes as a result. 

But it’s also worth considering that the Liberty’s first round draft pick, No. 7 overall as of now, could be used to draft someone that has similar versatility to Laney-Hamilton, specifically the ability to play make, defend and score at all three levels. “The strength of this draft I think is the depth, the wing depth is pretty exceptional,” The Next’s draft expert Hunter Cruse told me on Locked on Women’s Basketball this past Friday. 

Prospects like Notre Dame’s Sonia Citron and Maryland’s Shyanne Sellers both possess playmaking, defensive tools and three-level scoring ability.  

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Sabrina Ionescu’s busy WNBA offseason continues 

Sabrina Ionescu’s Unrivaled season is also over, but for different reasons. She played her final game on Friday Feb. 28 where she scored 20 points, and had 7 rebounds and 4 assists for Phantom BC in their 88-62 loss to Breanna Stewart’s Mist BC.  

Ionescu will be embarking on a tour promoting her Nike signature shoe across Asia. She’ll make appearances beginning on March 10 and through March 16 in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, Guangzhou, China, and Chinese Special Administrative Region Hong Kong. This was one of the prior commitments that she made before saying yes to Unrivaled, and one of the reasons why it took her a long time to decide to join Unrivaled in the first place. 

Before Ionescu jets off to another continent, NWSL team Bay FC announced that she had not only joined the club as an investor but also as a “official commercial advisor,” a role that will allow her not only to invest in the Bay Area’s professional women’s soccer team, but give her an opportunity to “bring in” relationships and knowledge that she’s gained on the business side in the women’s sports space. Bay FC will begin its second season later this month. 

“I whole-heartedly understand how important investment really is and obviously you can talk about it and be about it, but you really have to want to be committed to it and invest to be able to see what you believe in come to light,” Ionescu told ESPN’s Kendra Andrews. 

Ionescu offseason has been largely about growing her portfolio domestically and globally all before she returns to New York at the end of April to begin preparation for the Liberty’s title defense.

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