The New York Liberty were supposed to be a dynasty. After five consecutive seasons finishing under .500, the team added Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones in 2023, winning 32 games and losing to Vegas in the Finals. One year later, the team won 32 games again and won the 2024 title, but in the two years since then, things have gone awry. The team lost in the first round in 2025, then in 2026, made the playoffs as the No. 8 seed. A first-round upset of Minnesota was a good story, but the team was then swept by Atlanta in three games in the semifinals.
As players get older and the team appears to be getting worse each year, it might be time for the Liberty to radically rethink their path forward.
Fire Chris DeMarco
Men's basketball and women's basketball are the same sport on the surface, but there are so many nuances that make it hard to translate between the two. This is why I tend to be suspicious when a team hires a head coach whose experience is entirely on the men's side. But that's what the Liberty did when they replaced Sandy Brondello with Chris DeMarco, and I don't think it's a coincidence that after doing that, New York had its worst season of the Stewart era.
DeMarco's in-game decisionmaking was an issue, especially during the playoff sweep against the Dream. He didn't adjust personnel to take advantage of mismatches. He didn't use timeouts correctly. He looked like...well, like someone who lacked head coaching experience.
And that's the big issue with the DeMarco hire. You can hire someone from outside of women's basketball if you know that they know what they're doing. It's worked before. But to hire someone whose only head coaching experience was with the Bahama men's national team to lead a roster that was supposed to be a contender? That's not going to work. It would have been much better to go the route that the Dream or Wings went by hiring an underrated women's college basketball head coach, and that's what the team should do this offseason.
Trade Satou Sabally
Bringing in Satou Sabally was supposed to be the thing that put this roster over the top. Sabrina Ionescu's college teammate has been hit or miss in the WNBA, but when she's been at her best, she's been really good. In 2025 with the Mercury, Sabally averaged 16.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. Her 3-point shooting has been inconsistent, but in 2024, she shot 45.2 percent from deep on a high volume.
But injuries have also plagued Sabally's career, and in 2026 she played in just 13 games, with her season ending early due to a concussion. Sabally played well in those 13 games, but it was also clear that she wasn't a great fit for this roster, which needed a more athletic wing to play the three. Breanna Stewart's recent shooting regression means you really need to play her at the four, and a frontcourt of those two and Jonquel Jones just didn't really mesh together.
Does Sabally have much trade value at this point? Ehh, we'll see. But she's owed $855,750 next season, so if the Liberty can get off of that contract, the team can use that additional space to go after a wing who better fits this roster construction.
Trade Sabrina Ionescu
Alright, here's the big one, the move that would signal major change in New York in the way these other moves don't necessarily do: trade Sabrina Ionescu.
The No. 1 overall pick in 2020, Ionescu is a four-time All-Star, but her efficiency has taken a major hit over the last few seasons. For example, she just shot under 30 percent from deep for the second season in a row, and that coupled with Stewart's struggles from deep has made it a lot easier to guard this Liberty team. Her turnovers were up in 2026 and her scoring average was down to 14.6 points per game, her lowest mark since 2021. For a few years, Ionescu looked like she was developing into a true superstar, but that doesn't really appear to be the case now.
She's also making the max right now, which is a financial impediment to New York getting better. Why not at least gauge the market? Would Portland give you Carla Leite and a pick for her? Could you convince Washington to part with Sonia Citron? (The former feels more likely than the latter, IMO.) If you can move Ionescu for a guard, you can then free up cap space to sign another guard. What if you can offload her for Leite, and then you sign Kelsey Plum or Jackie Young in free agency? That might require letting Pauline Astier walk to save cap space, but it might be worth it.
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