Three decisions that will influence the New York Liberty’s 2026 WNBA championship chase

Satou Sabally and Breanna Stewart. | NBAE via Getty Images

Following the 2025 WNBA season, the New York Liberty leadership signaled their dissatisfaction with the season’s results, as their title defense withered away in the first round of the playoffs, by firing head coach Sandy Brondello.

The Liberty’s offseason moves further indicate the team’s intention of returning to the top of the league.

Will New York’s decisions put the team in the best position possible to achieve this outcome? Here’s a closer look at the three most determinative decisions that Liberty have, or haven’t, made thus far. Liberty fans, share all your thoughts in the comments.

1. New York has recommitted to the Stewie-Sab-JJ core

For all of Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb’s talk of “being proactive” and “evolution and innovation” in his press conference after firing Brondello, it seems those principles did not apply to the Liberty’s evaluation of their core of Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones, as there were no rumors that the organization would consider alternative stars in free agency. Stewie and Sabrina even announced their plans before the free agency period was established.

Considering the three were the foundation of the 2024 title, it’s understandable that New York is maintaining the trio. However, the same could have been said of Brondello, and she’s out the door. Furthermore, all three’s performances during the 2025 season raised legitimate questions about whether they can be the foundation of a team with true title viability moving forward.

Stewie was as impactful as ever when she played, but “when she played” is the crucial detail. Although her fully healthy and championship-winning Unrivaled season was encouraging, Stewart is starting to rack up frequent nicks that take her out of the lineup.

That reality suggests it would be smart to surround her with stars who can carry a larger load in her absence, yet neither Ionescu nor Jones proved capable of that last season.

Sabrina’s 2023 season, when she shot almost 45 percent from 3, is starting to look like an outlier. At 33.3 percent in 2024, she shot below 30 percent from deep last season. Although she has improved as an inside-the-arc scorer, she’s better at taking advantage of those opportunities when the defensive attention is directed to another star (hey, Stewie!), rather than generating them herself as the primary option.

When she came to New York in 2023, Jones willing took a step back, sacrificing an MVP-level offensivee role in order to win a title. That all worked out in 2024, and it looked poised for a repeat in 2025, as Jones began the season as the Liberty’s most positive player, despite more modest stats. But when the Liberty needed her to elevate her play and production, she couldn’t quite deliver. That’s an okay outcome for an ancillary player, but a star is expected to rise to the ocassion.

Keeping all of Stewie, Sab and JJ, certainly, wasn’t a bad decision. But, was it the best move, especially for an organization that subscribes to a title-or-bust ethos?

What do you think about the Liberty recommitting to these three? Was it a no-brainer, or does the franchise deserve some scrutiny? Will the years and dollars on the players’ contracts influence how you assess New York’s team-building approach?

2. A new Sabally is now in NYC

Rather that breaking up the Stewart-Ionescu-Jones core, the Liberty looked to boost it, signing unrestricted free agent Satou Sabally.

The Liberty have said goodbye to one Sabally, as Nyara was selected by the Toronto Tempo and Brondello in the expansion draft, and hello to another in Satou, a member of the Phoenix Mercury team that eliminated the Liberty from the 2025 playoffs.

In the WNBA Finals, Sabally subsequently suffered a severe concussion that kept her sidelined for all of the Unrivaled season; it’s unclear if she has been clear to fully return to basketball activities. That injury, plus a number of others that bedeviled her during her time with the Dallas Wings, raise questions about her resiliency. A healthy Satou is a star-level scorer, one capable of easing the burden on Stewie. The health, though, is a concern.

It also appears that the Liberty elected to go with Sabally, and her potential offensive pop, over Alanna Smith, the 2025 co-Defensive Player of the Year who reportedly visited New York.

Do you think Satou could be the perfect piece to take New York back to the top? Are you concerned about the concussion and other injuries? Would you have preferred Smith and a stronger defensive infrastructure?

3. Is Betnijah Laney-Hamilton going to be back with the Liberty?

Before the 2024 WNBA Finals, Zack Ward wrote about how integral Betnijah Laney-Hamilton was to the Liberty, both on the court to culturally.

She was the player the lifted a lifeless Liberty team out of the trenches, with the fact that she has familial roots in New York making her especially appreciated by the Brooklyn fan base.

Is the organization going to sever that connection? Even more critically, are they going to prioritize re-signing the player who was clearly missed last season?

Asked to play a variety of roles in over the course of her WNBA career, Laney-Hamilton embraced being a gritty, physical presence for the superteam iteration of the Liberty, a team that, otherwise, is stacked with players who trend toward finesse over physicality. She introduces elements— fighting for, and through, everything on the defensive end, bullying her way to boards or loose balls and applying her aggressiveness as a driver—that the team lacks when she is absent. Plus, she’s a good 3-point shooter.

As with Stewart and Sabally, the accumulation of injuries is a concern, especially for a player who will turn 33-years-old around the time of the WNBA Finals. Her proven, additive intangibles, however, would seem to outweigh those risks.

The future of Natasha Cloud also remains uncertain. Acquired via trade last offseason, Cloud got off to a stellar start in seafoam before her offensive contributions faded. Since New York still needs a starting-caliber point guard, as Ionescu is best off the ball, retaining Cloud makes sense.

Do you hope Betnijah is back with the Liberty? What about Tash? Among the Liberty’s other role players, who has must-keep status for you? Are there any other free agents who you think would be a good fit?