August 26, 2024
Self-proclaimed ‘daredevil’ Kennedy Burke has acquired even more moxie in New York
Back in the WNBA, the wing is embracing her role and turning heads
NEW YORK — New York Liberty wing Kennedy Burke loves roller coasters. On Aug. 12, just days before the WNBA season resumed post Olympics, she sat in the second to last row of the 230-foot blue and yellow coaster Nitro at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey.
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She dragged Kayla Thornton, another Liberty wing, onto the ride with her. While the pair went up and down, and up and down on the ride, Burke turned to Thornton to get her attention. There was no response. Thornton had passed out. Her eyes were closed and her body leaned to one side. Shocked by what happened to Thornton, Burke then diverted her attention back to what was in front of her. She put her hands up and enjoyed.
“I’m a daredevil, I love roller coasters,” Burke told a group of reporters during a practice a week later. “If you tell me, let’s do this thing, I’m like, let’s do it. You only live once, so I’m ready for it, and I don’t go to amusement parks a lot. So when I get that chance, I’m going on every single ride if I can.”
That approach, going on every physical or proverbial ride she can, is the same she took when the New York Liberty expressed interest in her this past winter. Potentially joining her fifth WNBA team in her sixth year of playing professional basketball created a difficult decision for the 27-year-old UCLA grad.
Signing with the Liberty came with a set of sacrifices for Burke. She was playing in France for the second year in a row for a team that had aspirations to win the French league and make some noise in the EuroLeague. The French league famously doesn’t conclude its postseason until the middle of May, two weeks after WNBA training camps begin. And since Burke had three years of WNBA service from her two years in Indiana, followed by another in Seattle as a result of a trade, she couldn’t arrive late. Under the prioritization rules, which require players with 3 years or more of WNBA service to be at training camp on time, Burke would have been suspended from the league.
But, there was a workaround. It meant leaving France around a month early and missing the French league playoffs to learn a whole new playbook and begin training camp in New York.
“For me it was a very selfish decision,” Burke told The Next back on April 28. “Usually I want to stay for my teammates. I’ve built such great friendships and relationships in France. I had a lot of fun interacting with the fans, everything. But you know what, I think I want to do what’s best for me and if I want to grow as a player, I think this is the best decision I can make.”
But after four months in New York with the Liberty, Burke’s “selfish decision” to take another chance on the WNBA has worked out not only for her, but for all involved. Her French club team Villeneuve-d’Ascq won the French League even in her absence, and Burke currently sits in a position to contend for a WNBA championship and play a meaningful role in the journey to get there.
What New York saw in Burke
New York Liberty General Manager Jonathan Kolb began scouting Burke when she was a senior at UCLA and when he was in his first full season as a team executive. In 2019, Burke was drafted No. 22 overall by the Dallas Wings and was waived prior to the start of the season. Kolb considered putting in a claim to grab her off waivers, but the Indiana Fever, the team with a worse record in 2018, struck first.
In Burke, Kolb saw a young player with a lot of athleticism, excellent basketball instincts and the ability to playmake not just for herself but for her teammates, all while standing tall at 6’1 with a 6’3 wingspan.
Eventually, Burke made her way to Seattle, where she averaged just 7.7 minutes of playing time on a team trying to make a deep playoff run. The Storm waived her just weeks before the start of the 2022 season and the Washington Mystics signed Burke to a hardship contract shortly thereafter.
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In 16 games played for Washington, Burke averaged 13.9 minutes and 5.4 points, but simple stats don’t tell her whole story for the Mystics. Burke was brought in that season to fill in for Alysha Clark, who was recovering from a serious foot injury she suffered a year before. While then-Mystics head coach Mike Thibault praised Burke’s ability to make an immediate impact, Washington couldn’t keep her due to the WNBA’s hard salary cap and previously injured players returning to health.
But Burke’s potential and exponential growth didn’t stop, it only accelerated. In September 2023, she went overseas for her second season with Villeneuve-d’Ascq. By November, just a month after the Liberty lost the 2023 WNBA Finals, she was on New York’s radar again. Kolb got a text from Dustin Gray, the team’s Director of Player Personnel. “Check out KB when you can,” was his message.
“It kind of hit a crescendo this past off-season when she was in France playing and just did tremendously well with her team over there,” Kolb told The Next. “We felt, okay this is a player that, if she’s willing to come over … she can make a major impact on our team in a way that can help get us to a level that we didn’t hit last season.”
What stood out to Kolb and Gray were the plays she made on the defensive end. Burke would use her excellent hand-eye-coordination to get into passing lanes, bat the ball down and push it in transition either for her or her teammates to score. Kolb envisioned how that same type of play would translate to a rowdy group of fans at Barclays Center.
Burke’s ability to create a mismatch at the four position also caught their eye. While in Indiana, she played mostly the small forward, but Burke is also long and strong enough to guard and play the power forward position, the spot she played in France. She’s deceptively quick, a guard in a forward’s body — the kind of player the Liberty could use another of.
Breanna Stewart was overplayed during the 2023 regular season, and by the time she reached the postseason, there wasn’t a lot left in the tank. Could Burke be part of the solution that helped Stewart pace herself? And could Burke’s athleticism and knack for defensive play making help the Liberty guard the most lethal offenses?
The answer, to Kolb and Gray, was yes, and the courting began. When Burke was back home in her native California during the French league’s winter break, she got a call from her agent that shocked her. New York had communicated their interest.
“New York, are you sure, New York?” Burke replied to her agent.
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Burke had a first phone call with Gray and then a separate chat with Kolb on Zoom. What impressed her was how often New York’s front office would be in contact with her following her winter break. They would check in and chat about her most recent games overseas and just see how she was doing personally. That meant a lot to Burke, and it showed her the Liberty were dedicated to finding a way to bring her to New York.
“I was like, if I want to go as a person and as a player, New York would be the best fit for me,” Burke said about making her decision to return to the WNBA after not playing in the league in 2023.
In the end, Burke was in. Even though the Liberty briefly flirted with bringing on Nneka Ogwumike to help in their quest for a first championship, Burke took on the role the Liberty needed from her, and her personality fit the team too.
“She seemed shy, but she seemed very appreciative and respectful,” Kolb said about his first zoom call with Burke. “She’s going to fit us really, really well.”
Adapting to her role
At the beginning of this season, it looked like the issues the Liberty had with their bench last year were going to continue. Aside from Thornton, who was in year two in New York, the Liberty’s bench didn’t get much time on the floor. Burke didn’t play more than 11 minutes per game during the first month of the season.
But there was a reason for this. Burke arrived at training camp from France with a minor injury, so she didn’t participate in a lot of camp or preseason. When she took the floor for the first time in her new sea foam and black threads, Burke was playing catch up, applying a new play book on the fly and needing more reps alongside her teammates in practice. But with a tight 40-game schedule during an Olympic year, practices were tough to come by early on.
Come late June, when the Liberty were defending their 2023 Commissioner’s Cup Championship, head coach Sandy Brondello’s reluctance to use her bench continued.
Burke had shown some flashes of the player Kolb believed she could be in New York. During the Commissioner’s Cup final against Minnesota, she hit a critical three, blew by Napheesa Collier on a drive and a score, and facilitated and earned two assists. Following that loss to the Lynx, Brondello admitted Burke’s productive minutes probably should have yielded more than just 8 minutes of playing time.
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While Burke was finding her way, Brondello had a chat with Burke to reaffirm why the Liberty wanted her in New York in the first place. Burke was in a “slump” early on in the season, but praised Brondello for her honesty and communication when the transition to the Liberty got tough.
“Just having that conversation with her, she’s helped a lot because she said that she believed in me, and that flipped a switch in my mind, saying, ‘Oh, I can do this,’” Burke told reporters.
Two weeks later, on the road against a gritty Chicago Sky team, Burke proved just that. With Stewart out for extra rest prior to the Olympics and Nyara Sabally on limited minutes due to a back injury, Brondello started Burke in Stewart’s place. She was thrown right into the fire.
In 31 minutes of play, Burke notched 7 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals. Burke didn’t replicate Stewart’s scoring, but she didn’t need to. To beat the Chicago Sky without Stewart and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, Burke had to make timely plays, and that she did.
Ever since then, Burke has embraced her role. Brondello is comfortable subbing her in for not just Stewart, but Jonquel Jones as well. Player development coach Brian Lankton, who works with Burke individually, says she understands what needs to be done when either MVP is on the floor.
“She can make those reads and passes,” Lankton told The Next. ” … she’s able to space the floor and shoot, and then she comes in at the four for Stewie, once again, creating, not being the main attention on offense, but knowing where to cut, where to space, and then she does a really good job screening, finding our guards. So she just knows where to turn it on and be aggressive and when not to and find others. That’s more of the role.”
On offense, she makes laser passes to Stewart at the top of the key, while being confident and aggressive enough to put the ball on the floor against power forwards that don’t have her quick first step.
Defensively, what she did in France has translated to Barclays Center. Just as Kolb predicted.
“At the beginning of the season, I was struggling to find my role,” Burke said following the Olympic break. “But now that I know what it is, I feel like I’m playing my best basketball, even though I’m not scoring the amount of points that I usually do. I want to be a defensive player for the team, because I know that’s what I have to do.”
Finding home in New York
In addition to Brondello’s vote of confidence, Burke’s adjustment to the Liberty manifested from her fast friendship with Thornton. The two wings have become almost attached at the hip.
They’ve done TikToks and tasted French Fries together, always finding a way to entertain themselves and their teammates. Their typical dynamic consists of Thornton saying something naturally funny and Burke uncontrollably laughing in response.
People around them assume they’ve known each other for years, but before this season they had only briefly crossed paths during Dallas Wings training camp in 2019.
“We just connect in a different way,” Thornton said of her friendship with Burke. “That’s my girl, you know. I mean words can’t describe her. She brings light to me. She brings me joy. Every time we see each other it’s just laughter. That’s what life is about. Yes, it’s basketball, but it’s also having fun outside and showing that we have another side than just playing basketball.”
Burke’s impact also goes beyond Thornton and into the Liberty locker room, a space she’s only occupied for a handful of months. Jones says Burke is someone who brings an energy “people can feed off of.” And if Burke isn’t in the Liberty’s locker room, her presence is missed.
“[She’s] one of those people that just is really positive, just brings a great energy and just makes the team feel like a family,” Jones said.
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And while Burke herself is new, she’s made sure that no player gets left behind, including rookie Jaylyn Sherrod. Burke has functioned as Sherrod’s “big sister,” helping the rookie through any and all “welcome to the league” moments. Sherrod described Burke as “gracious”, with a “good spirit”.
“She lights up the room when she walks in,” Sherrod said.
Burke certainly lit up the Footprint Center during the Liberty’s Monday morning shootaround in Phoenix. She dribbled the ball three times before hoisting up a half-court shot and banking it in. Jones screamed, calling her ‘K-Bizzel’, before joining Burke and Stewart who were hugging and jumping up and down.
Brondello then alerted Burke that she had another teammate who was looking to celebrate with her following her halfcourt bank shot. “Ah, your friend wants ya,” she said, referring to Thornton.
Burke then ran over to Thornton and the two of them did a handshake, slapping each other’s hands before pinching their noses and making a silly noise. Brondello was cracking up, as was Courtney Vandersloot.
Following the half-court shot, Burke joked around about how her teammates doubted she couldn’t make the shot. “I’m so happy because when people doubt you, that’s when you rise, all right?” she said.
Though she faked tears, Burke was clearly joking. But what she said is indicative of her journey in the WNBA. Her first few years were difficult, as she looked for a team that would embrace her skills. Now, in New York, she’s found a basketball home; a place and a group of people where she can be unapologetically herself. A place that embraces a daredevil.
Written by Jackie Powell
Jackie Powell covers the New York Liberty and runs social media and engagement strategy for The Next. She also has covered women's basketball for Bleacher Report and her work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, Harper's Bazaar and SLAM. She also self identifies as a Lady Gaga stan, is a connoisseur of pop music and is a mental health advocate.
