Exploring the New York Liberty’s many paths to a title-defending roster

“We’re not done yet, but we are going to appreciate the shit out of this moment for sure,” Breanna Stewart said, stuffing both directives into one 18-word sentence. 

Since the celebrations died down, the Liberty’s front office has been working to ensure the roster they put on the floor in 2025 won’t just be in position to run it back after winning in 2024, but will also have the key ingredients to sustain that high-level play for seasons to come. There hasn’t been a true New York Sports dynasty since the New York Yankees of the late 90s through the early 2000s, and the Liberty have their sights on becoming the next one.

For the Liberty to be able to position themselves for a run that lasts several seasons, they will need to find creative ways to improve a 2024 roster that already won a championship. That process begins with 2025’s winter free agency period. 

Look for the Liberty’s core qualifying offer to Breanna Stewart and their reserved qualifying offers to Marine Johannès, Rebekah Gardner, Ivana Dojkić and Jaylyn Sherrod to go out today. This will be the 2nd + final time Stewart can be cored in the current iteration of the CBA. @thenext.bsky.social

— Jackie Powell (@classicjpow.bsky.social) January 14, 2025 at 10:27 AM

The first step to any free agency season is to administer qualifying offers (QOs), which New York has already done. Stewart has been given a core QO, a negotiating tool that general managers typically use on star players to ensure exclusive negotiation rights.

Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb has also administered reserved QOs to Marine Johannès, Rebekah Gardner, Ivana Dojkić and Jaylyn Sherrod. Reserved QOs are extended to players with three or fewer years of service and guarantee that a team can maintain their exclusive negotiation rights with that player. Both Sherrod and Gardner have already signed their QOs, so their training camp contracts won’t count until opening day, and will only count if they make the final roster.

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But following the first administrative steps in any free agency period, success for the Liberty in free agency rests upon the front office taking big swings, and being ready with an in-house plan B if they do strike out. If these risky moves are successful, it could result in the departure of franchise staple players. 

Don’t expect the Liberty’s big three of Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu or Jonquel Jones to be on the table in any potential trades. Although she has been cored, Stewart shows no signs of wanting out, and she made it clear that she and the Liberty aren’t done yet. The youthful German duo of Leonie Fiebich and Nyara Sabally likely won’t be on the table either. But could others? It’s not certain, but don’t rule it out. 

When the official negotiation period opens up on Jan. 21, New York is expected talk to current unrestricted free agent Courtney Vandersloot about a return. New York will need to determine what role they could offer her following a postseason run where she became the first person coming off the bench in favor of Fiebich. It remains to be seen the full-season vision Brondello and her staff would have for Vandersloot, following the lineup change. 

A New York and Vandersloot reunion would be especially surprising after she explained during a Jan. 7 media session for the 3×3 league Unrivaled that she’s looking for “the best situation” that allows her to “have the ball in her hands and create” in the way that she believes she can.

Meanwhile, Johannès prefers to return to New York according to a source familiar with the situation. But, both she and her representation understand that a trade could be a possibility if the Liberty succeed in landing their top external targets. 

If New York strikes out, however, they can rely on players they have existing relationships with to fill roles. Particularly, they’ll need to cover for the departure of Kayla Thornton, who was picked up by the Golden State Valkyries in their recent expansion draft. In an ideal world, New York would welcome back Kennedy Burke in a role similar to Thornton’s. Burke quickly made an impression on the Liberty’s coaching staff and built trust with Brondello quicker than most who are new to her system and rotational philosophies. 

Expect New York to make big swings

The Liberty’s big swings for winter of 2025 are familiar faces, players that the team’s front office has existing relationships with.

Satou Sabally has been in connection with the Liberty ever since the world got to see her making TikToks on a parade float with her sister Nyara. Satou followed the Liberty on their entire postseason run in support of her sister and was even seated with the team’s celebrity fans on the road during New York’s semifinal series against the Aces.

Back in December, Nyara was asked about the prospects of her sister joining her in New York. While Nyara noted she’ll support her sister through whatever decisions she makes, she admitted to wanting to pitch her sister in some way come free agency. Did part of the pitch include both Nyara and Satou spending time with their other siblings in New York throughout the holidays? Nyara captioned an Instagram post with the humorous phrase: “Sabally’s und Co machen NY unsicher” which generally translates to “Sabally’s and Co. making NY uneasy” in German. 

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A post shared by Nyara Sabally (@nyarasabally)

Following the new year, Satou was asked all about her free agency during a media availability for Unrivaled. She revealed she would be officially leaving the Dallas Wings and is going to work with Dallas to find her next home. Satou also was asked if she would like to play with her sister Nyrara. “Yeah, of course, in the future, I would love that,” she said. Does ‘the future’ mean years ahead or in a few months? 

A source familiar with Satou’s thinking told The Next she definitely wants to be in New York if the Liberty have the money and salary cap space to make it work. Satou has expressed her preference to play in a big city like New York, which is also where she rehabbed the shoulder injury that kept her out of the first half of the 2024 WNBA season.

After watching her sister win a championship under the brightest lights, Satou, going into her sixth season as a pro, could be offered an opportunity to play in a long championship run instead of watching from courtside seats.

But will New York have the money and the role to offer Satou? As of publication, New York has $698,293 in available cap space, excluding the contract that Stewart would sign out of her core QO which can be negotiated down from the supermax. When it comes to potential roles, would Satou be willing to play at the small forward position rather than the power forward? Would she be willing to buy into the Liberty’s canon that winning is done by collective sacrifice? That all remains to be seen. 

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If the Liberty miss out in the Sabally sweepstakes, their eyes could move to Gabby Williams, a player they’ve had their eyes on since at least 2023. Although the Liberty struck out on Williams last August, a source familiar with the situation tells The Next that New York thought they were very close to landing Williams. Expect them to try again. 

What New York loves most about Williams is her versatility and play-making ability. If Vandersloot decides to sign elsewhere, the Liberty’s playbook could continue trending modern, with the option to put the ball in Williams’ hands while other players cut and create space off the ball. 

But to land either Satou or Williams, the Liberty will have to sacrifice players or other assets of their own. Both players have been cored by their 2024 teams in the Dallas Wings and Seattle Storm. This wasn’t the case two winters ago when New York was able to sign both Stewart and Vandersloot away from Seattle and the Chicago Sky, respectively, without giving anything up in return. 

Uncertainty around some of the franchise’s staples 

Vandersloot was immediately embraced by New York following her arrival in 2023. She came in clutch during her first regular season when New York was trying to fit all their pieces together. The Barclays Center fans chanted her nickname Sloot by elongating the ‘oo’s. But could the role the Liberty pitched her two years ago not be the one they can offer her in 2025?

Vandersloot made sacrifices for her team during the Liberty’s 2024 playoff run, but how much more is she willing to give as she looks to continue her storied career as one of the league’s most accomplished point guards? 

“I want to be valued,” she said last week. “I want to be competitive. Obviously that’s why you come into this league. You want to be competing for championships, and a place that takes care of me, wants me to be there and sees what I can bring to the team. That’s most important.”

Two years ago, that sentiment was what allowed the Liberty to snatch her out of Chicago. Now, two years later, the Liberty’s goals are less aligned with Vandersloot’s. New York would allow her to be competitive and they do see her value. But after a season where New York played better with her off the floor during both the regular and postseason, do the Liberty see her the same way she does? Another wait and see. 

A Vandersloot departure, however, could open the door for a Johannès return. After proving she is more comfortable facilitating the basketball during the 2024 Paris Olympics, Johannès could provide the solution for getting Ionescu off-ball. But not even Johannès’ status on the Liberty is for sure. 

While Johannés has been off limits in the trade market ever since New York first signed her back in 2019, her status on the Liberty could change depending on what the trade market demands for cored players like Satou Sabally and Williams. 

But, a source familiar with the situation tells The Next that Johannés would need to approve of any possible trade. Even so, her preference remains to return to New York and compete for a WNBA championship, something she couldn’t do last year while helping France win the Olympic silver medal. 

More opportunities for familiar faces

When New York traded for Rebekah Gardner’s rights last March just weeks after she tore her Achilles overseas, the idea was to have her step in for whomever the team lost in the 2024 expansion draft, following her rehab and recovery. The Liberty admire Gardner’s ability to do a little bit of everything including guarding the point of attack, moving through screens quickly and slashing with or without the ball. 

In 2024, Thornton was shifted toward the perimeter, guarding players off the wing, but it wasn’t always her best fit. Gardner’s defensive diet could take some of the heavy load off Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, who was often screened due to her stronger frame. While Laney-Hamilton can competently guard 1-4, Gardner can reliably guard 1-3. 

Without Thornton on the roster, New York would prefer to have Burke take more opportunities playing the wing, in addition to the forward position. If Burke, who is an unrestricted free agent, is on board and doesn’t get offers that supersede what the Liberty can provide, 2025 could be a year where she takes a jump and gets more opportunity to shine. The 2025 EuroBasket competition will also cause at least Nyara and Fiebich to miss the majority of June while they compete for the German national team, potentially opening up more minutes for Burke.

The Liberty’s journey continues

The Liberty want to be a WNBA dynasty. They also want to be the city of New York’s next great sports dynasty. In or out of house, the Liberty will attempt to build the best roster they can as they pursue these goals, battling against peer franchises to prove that they weren’t a one-hit wonder.

Like the New York Yankees before them, the Liberty are swinging for the fences in the free agency market. But if they miss their top targets, the Liberty’s combination of star power and depth should still make them one of the league’s top teams. After all, they are the defending champs.

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