Liberty seek 1st WNBA title: The tortured franchise history

Rebecca Lobo was at Sunday Mass in a cathedral close to Madison Sq. Backyard in 1997, the primary season for the WNBA and her New York Liberty. It was time for the Signal of Peace ritual.

“I flip round, I shake this man’s hand and say, ‘Peace be with you,'” Lobo instructed ESPN. “And he says, ‘It is advisable be harder on the boards.'”

There’s religious religion, after which there’s the Liberty devoted. Some true believers have been members of the crew’s congregation for all 28 WNBA seasons. They’ve seen 19 playoff appearances, Corridor of Fame gamers, movie star followers courtside, some unbelievable video games. However they have not seen a WNBA championship.

The Liberty are one in all three unique WNBA franchises nonetheless within the metropolis the place they started. The others — the Los Angeles Sparks and the Phoenix Mercury — every have received three WNBA titles. Not the Liberty. 5 occasions, they’ve performed for a WNBA title. 5 occasions, they’ve misplaced.

New York is hoping that is the 12 months that modifications.

After falling brief to the Las Vegas Aces final 12 months, the Liberty rolled to a 32-8 regular-season report and No. 1 seed within the 2024 playoffs. Then they avenged final season’s WNBA Finals defeat by taking down the Aces within the semifinals.

But heartache has all the time been a part of the Liberty legacy: coming near the last word prize, but by no means fairly getting it. Thursday’s opening recreation of the 2024 WNBA Finals was the most recent instance of falling brief in Liberty lore: A stinging overtime loss on their dwelling court docket after main by 15 factors with simply over 5 minutes left. New York evened the series Sunday because it shifts to Minneapolis for 2 video games.

The WNBA has drawn unprecedented attendance, viewership and rankings this season, with many new followers tuning in. However the brand new followers may not know the tortured historical past of the Torch — that the Liberty have been the WNBA’s most star-crossed franchise. Teresa Weatherspoon’s half-court heave to win on the buzzer in Sport 2 of the 1999 WNBA Finals is a signature shot for the Liberty and for the league itself. However the subsequent day, New York misplaced the sequence.

After dropping within the 2002 Finals, New York did not return to the championship sequence till final 12 months, after a two-decade hole. ESPN spoke to Weatherspoon, different present and former Liberty gamers, executives and homeowners, plus gamers and coaches across the league about New York’s historical past, and why this season is likely to be totally different.

Now with a crew together with two former MVPs in Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones; the league’s energetic profession help chief, Courtney Vandersloot; the franchise’s most up-to-date No. 1 decide, Sabrina Ionescu; a championship coach in Sandy Brondello; and the WNBA’s most glamorous mascot, Ellie the Elephant, the Liberty are once more chasing their long-awaited glad ending.

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Liberty bounce again, take Sport 2 from the Lynx

Breanna Stewart and the Liberty defeat the Lynx 80-66 in Sport 2 to even up the WNBA Finals at 1-1.

THE NBA LAUNCHED the WNBA in 1997 with eight franchises — New York, Charlotte, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Sacramento and Utah — affiliated with NBA groups. The NBA was a billion-dollar enterprise. The WNBA — although it had community tv contracts, sponsorships and the NBA’s backing — was a startup.

New Jersey native Carol Blazejowski, one of many greats of Seventies faculty basketball and the short-lived Ladies’s Skilled Basketball League, was the Liberty’s first common supervisor. She was employed in January 1997 with an infinite to-do listing forward of the inaugural recreation in June.

Carol Blazejowski, Liberty GM, 1997-2010: “We had no employees, no gamers, no uniforms, no title, no brand, no coach. My first workplace at Madison Sq. Backyard was a closet proper off the freight elevator. Individuals can be making deliveries day by day, they usually’d say, ‘Hey, woman, have you learnt the place so-and-so’s workplace is?'”

Rebecca Lobo, Liberty ahead, 1997-2001: “Blaze was in every single place. She was at practices. She was in any respect the video games. She can be within the locker room. I would see her and assume, ‘There’s the boss.'”

Blazejowski: “I used to be working on the NBA on the time in licensing [when] they stated, ‘Would you prefer to be a GM?’ And I had no thought what these duties included. Whereas I used to be getting gamers, I used to be juggling one million balls.

“We had a number of names [to consider], however ‘Liberty’ made probably the most sense. I used to be logos and bear in mind not being proud of any of them. A designer was exhibiting me mock-ups and was prepared to go away. And one truly fell out of the jacket pocket of a type of large portfolios. It had the colour inexperienced in it. I picked it up and stated, ‘How did we miss this one?’ It was good.”

Gamers who had spent years in skilled leagues abroad had been thrilled to compete in the USA. Sue Wicks, who was 6 years outdated when the Knicks received the 1973 NBA title, New York’s final professional basketball championship, was a Lengthy Island native. However gamers from everywhere in the nation made up the remainder of the roster: Lobo (from Massachusetts, Weatherspoon (Texas), Crystal Robinson (Oklahoma), Vickie Johnson (Louisiana), Kym Hampton (Kentucky) and Becky Hammon (South Dakota). All seven are within the Liberty’s Ring of Honor.

Wicks joked that all of them shortly turned New Yorkers, particularly Weatherspoon, some extent guard from tiny Pineland, Texas, who had received an NCAA championship at Louisiana Tech.

Sue Wicks, Liberty ahead, 1997-2002: “The DNA of the Liberty was Spoon. There are several types of stars. With Spoon, it was about grit, arduous work, ardour, give every part it’s a must to your teammates and to the followers. As a result of the viewers in New York is a part of the entire thing.”

Teresa Weatherspoon, Liberty guard, 1997-2003: “We had the chance to stay within the metropolis then, too, so we received the texture of town, the grind of it. We needed our crew to be like town. We needed New Yorkers to really feel we had been grinding simply as arduous as they had been.”

Crystal Robinson, Liberty ahead, 1999-2005: “Spoon pushed you to knock down the wall that stored you from being nice.”

The Liberty performed at Madison Sq. Backyard, and the environment for his or her dwelling video games was an indicator of the WNBA’s early days.

Sandy Brondello, WNBA guard, 1998-2003: “It was simply an aura, one thing about that area and its historical past and simply the best way it regarded once you walked in. The followers had been actually into it and received actually loud. And I wasn’t used to taking part in in entrance of well-known folks. Particularly being from Australia, I believed, ‘Wow, that is fascinating.'”

Lobo: “Rosie O’Donnell was a season-ticket holder. Tyra Banks can be courtside, Gregory Hines, Joan Jett, Penny Marshall, Billy Baldwin. It felt like a celebration, just like the followers had been there to rejoice and have enjoyable.”

However the Liberty’s on-court id was additionally outlined by close to misses. Within the league’s inaugural season, Houston beat New York within the championship recreation on Aug. 30, 1997. Lobo stated she and her teammates went out after the sport and later returned to their resort to listen to the information that Diana, Princess of Wales, had been killed in a automotive crash in Paris.

Lobo: “That put issues in a special perspective, clearly. However as for the loss itself, none of us at that time had any thought how arduous it was going to be to win a championship.”

Richie Adubato changed Nancy Darsch as coach in 1999. That season, Weatherspoon’s famed half-court shot received Sport 2 of the WNBA Finals, however the Comets received Sport 3 to take their third championship. Weatherspoon stated that for years she could not stand to see footage of The Shot: It reminded her not solely of the sequence loss but additionally of the demise of her nephew in a automotive crash earlier that 12 months. She had devoted that season to him.

Houston once more beat the Liberty within the 2000 Finals. Then within the 2002 Finals, the Los Angeles Sparks defeated New York. It could be the Liberty’s final journey to the Finals till final 12 months.

THE LIBERTY ADVANCED to the Japanese Convention finals in 2004, 2008 and 2010. They misplaced every time.

Pat Coyle, Liberty coach, 2004-09: “In the event you checked out pure expertise, we perhaps did not have as a lot as another groups. We did have terrific chemistry. However the league was good, it was actually simply so arduous to win.”

Together with losses on the court docket, the Liberty skilled personnel misses, too. They traded guard Hammon to San Antonio in 2007, and he or she subsequently had the very best seasons of her profession with the Stars.

Becky Hammon, Liberty guard 1999-2006: “They thought I had hit my ceiling. However it ended up being the very best factor ever for me personally and professionally, as a result of it linked me to the Spurs and Gregg Popovich, and my path to teaching. I used to be pissed on the time, as a result of I did not comprehend it was coming. I used to be taking part in in Spain, and I had messages on my telephone. I referred to as Blaze, and it was like a 30-second name, ‘Thanks to your providers.'”

Blazejowski: “You have to do what you consider is true on the time. It turned out it was a disastrous transfer on my behalf, nevertheless it labored out completely for Becky.”

New York had the No. 1 decide within the Sacramento Monarchs’ dispersal draft in 2009. The Liberty opted for Nicole Powell, who stayed in New York three years. No. 2 choice Rebekkah Brunson, who’s now a Lynx assistant coach, spent 9 seasons with Minnesota, successful 4 championships.

Rebekkah Brunson, WNBA ahead, 2004-18: “On the time, I bear in mind pondering, ‘Nicely, New York is nearer to D.C., the place I am from. That might be fairly cool.’ However typically issues simply occur the best way they’re speculated to.”

Blazejowski’s final main acquisition, by way of commerce, was guard Cappie Pondexter in 2010. Blazejowski was fired after that season. After 14 seasons with one GM, the Liberty entered an eight-season interval with three GMs. Two of them — John Whisenant and Invoice Laimbeer — additionally coached the crew.

New York traded for one more star, middle Tina Charles, in 2014. However the Liberty by no means discovered the suitable mixture to win all of it.

Sue Hen, Seattle Storm guard, 2002-22, and Lengthy Island native: “Later in my profession once I was in free company, it is honest to say I thought of New York. I might have completed my profession in a Liberty uniform. I would not have gone wherever else. However I made a decision to remain in Seattle.”

In 2015, Isiah Thomas controversially was appointed Liberty president regardless of his involvement in a sexual harassment lawsuit the Knicks had misplaced whereas he was the crew’s president. Nonetheless, the Liberty had the league’s greatest report and superior for the eighth time to the East finals. They took a 1-0 lead within the best-of-three sequence in opposition to the Indiana Fever and held an 18-point lead in Sport 2. However they misplaced that recreation after which scored a season-low 51 factors in a Sport 3 loss, one other crushing finish to a season.

Tina Charles, Liberty middle, 2015-19: “What occurred? Tamika Catchings is what occurred. [Catchings scored 16 of her 25 points in the second half to lead Indiana to a 70-64 win.] She dominated, being the skilled participant with the killer intuition she had.”

Tanisha Wright, Liberty guard, 2015-16, 2019: “I do not know if we had been simply gassed [for Game 3] or it was simply coming off the unhealthy loss and dropping momentum. All of the issues that would go fallacious went fallacious for us.”

IN 2016, THE WNBA went away from splitting the conferences for the playoffs and as an alternative seeded the highest eight groups by report, with the primary two rounds being single-elimination video games. New York misplaced within the second spherical in 2016 and 2017. However rumblings in regards to the franchise’s future had began even earlier than then.

Kiah Stokes, Liberty middle, 2015-21: “My rookie 12 months after being drafted by the Liberty (2015), I heard folks saying, ‘If we do not do properly, they are going to shut this franchise.’ It was simply whisperings, nevertheless it was nonetheless sort of a shock. I imply, that is New York.”

In November 2017, proprietor James Dolan introduced he needed to promote the Liberty, which he and his household had owned because the WNBA launched. Laimbeer left to teach Las Vegas, which had moved from San Antonio.

Throughout the 2011, 2012 and 2013 seasons, the Liberty had been displaced from the Backyard whereas it was being renovated, and performed on the Prudential Heart in Newark, New Jersey. Then, whereas ready for brand spanking new possession, the Liberty had been exiled in 2018 and 2019 to the Westchester County Heart, which was 90 years outdated and held fewer than 3,000 followers. The Liberty went from averaging almost 10,000 followers per dwelling recreation in 2017 to 2,239 in 2019. Stewart, then a visiting participant with the Seattle Storm in 2018, referred to as it “a quiet environment, bizarre for a basketball recreation.”

Lobo: “The ‘forgotten’ years. I by no means noticed a recreation in Westchester. It was like, ‘What the heck is occurring with this franchise?’ I might bear in mind when the Liberty had been recurrently getting 12,000 to fifteen,000 folks a recreation and town actually, actually cared.”

Courtney Vandersloot, Liberty guard, 2023-present; then with the Sky: “We had been pondering, That is insane. That is s—ty, to be very frank. I understood that, hopefully, it was non permanent.”

Breanna Stewart, Liberty ahead, 2023-present: “My recollections of that place had been, ‘Why do we now have to go up three flights of stairs to get to the locker room?’ Pregame and likewise halftime and likewise postgame.”

Brondello, then coach of Phoenix: “I used to be sporting excessive heels, and I used to be like, ‘Simply go away my flip-flops on the backside of the steps. I am not doing that in heels.'”

Katie Smith, now a Lynx assistant, was a Liberty assistant from 2014 to 2017, after which head coach for the Westchester seasons. The gamers lived close to the Westchester Heart in 2018 however in Brooklyn in 2019, which introduced its personal logistical challenges.

Katie Smith, Liberty head coach, 2018-19: “The commute, all of the driving … simply dealing with enterprise. Not supreme, however everyone understood the place we had been at that second [as a franchise.]”

The Liberty’s trajectory modified dramatically in January 2019 when the homeowners of the Brooklyn Nets, Joe and Clara Wu Tsai, purchased the crew and vowed to improve every part in regards to the franchise.

Adam Silver, NBA commissioner: “Joe and Clara Tsai embraced the chance to put money into ladies’s basketball in New York Metropolis and jumped in with monumental enthusiasm and keenness. The outcomes converse for themselves each by way of the gifted rosters they’ve assembled and their dedication to taking part in all dwelling video games on the Barclays Heart.”

Clara Wu Tsai, Liberty proprietor, 2019-present: “We noticed the enterprise potential of an expert ladies’s basketball crew, particularly one in New York Metropolis. There was already a passionate Liberty fan base originating from the early days of the league. We believed we might construct a championship-caliber crew that will convey again the unique supporters and entice new, passionate followers.”

The Liberty received new possession, a brand new common supervisor (Jonathan Kolb), a brand new coach (Walt Hopkins) and the No. 1 decide within the 2020 draft (Ionescu).

However issues did not flip round in a single day. The 2020 season within the COVID-19 “bubble” in Florida noticed New York hit all-time low, as Ionescu suffered a season-ending ankle harm in her third recreation and the Liberty completed 2-20.

That’s the fewest victories for a crew in WNBA historical past, and it’s the second-worst successful share behind Tulsa’s 3-31 season in 2011.

Sabrina Ionescu. Liberty guard, 2020-present: “It was the expectation and the load of the world being a 1 decide. Wanting again, it actually formed me into who I’m. However throughout that point, it was powerful. I did not even watch a number of the video games. I attempted to show the TV off and hope that the season would go by faster so I did not must really feel like I used to be lacking out on a lot.”

Ionescu is the one participant from 2020 nonetheless with the Liberty. That was Stokes’ final full season in New York; she was waived halfway via 2021 and picked up by Las Vegas, the place she has received two titles.

Stokes: “I bear in mind speaking to Jonathan Kolb, and particularly after we drafted Sab, he had all these items he needed to perform and gamers he needed to convey to New York. To see him full that roster a couple of years later, I am actually impressed. It is unlucky they needed to ship everybody out and principally usher in a brand new roster. However it’s a must to do what’s greatest for the group.”

With Ionescu again in 2021, the Liberty went 12-20 and misplaced within the first spherical of the playoffs. On Dec. 6, 2021, Hopkins was let go by the Liberty and Phoenix parted with Brondello, inside a couple of hours of one another.

Brondello: “I would identified I used to be leaving Phoenix earlier than that, and had heard via the grapevine New York is likely to be open. I believed, ‘That is the job I would like — within the largest metropolis, with a younger crew and actually nice possession.'”

Issues absolutely got here collectively earlier than the 2023 season in probably the most explosive free agency in league historical past. Stewart and Vandersloot signed with the Liberty, and Jones requested for a commerce to New York, becoming a member of Ionescu and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton to kind probably the most gifted beginning 5 the Liberty has ever had. New York now has gone 32-8 in back-to-back seasons and is in its second WNBA Finals in a row.

Jonathan Kolb, Liberty GM, 2019-present: “You set collectively what you’ll be able to whereas realizing a special set [of circumstances] will current themselves sooner or later. We met with Stewie a 12 months prior, when she was an unrestricted free agent. It did not work out at the moment, however we preserved cap flexibility within the occasion that we might have one other swing to take, which luckily we did.”

Ionescu: “I really feel like I have been in a position to assist do right here sort of what I did in faculty at Oregon: turning a crew round and constructing it again from the bottom up.”

Jonquel Jones, Liberty ahead, 2023-present: “With the Liberty, I really feel like I’ve realized quite a bit about myself. I’ve actually been examined by way of how a lot are you keen to sacrifice for a championship?”

Via almost three a long time, the Liberty have chased the championship dream. It is Barclays and Brooklyn now, not Madison Sq. Backyard and Manhattan. Some totally different celebrities sit courtside lately, similar to Spike Lee, Alicia Keys and Jason Sudeikis. However the spirit of the followers and the Liberty’s pursuit stay.

Hammon, Aces coach, 2022-present: “As a lot as I wish to beat them after we play them, it is essential for the league that New York do properly. It simply is. It is an enormous market, and they should put an amazing product on the ground. Which they’re.”

Lobo: “Being at a Liberty recreation now, I am reminded, ‘That is what it felt like within the early days on the Backyard.’ That is the way it feels now in Brooklyn. You by no means know what might occur. However this actually might be their 12 months.”

It will not be simple. With the Liberty, it by no means is. After Sport 1’s intestine punch, Vandersloot was blunt.

Vandersloot: “There is not any method round it: We come into the locker room, and we really feel prefer it was a missed alternative for us. That hurts. Very first thing I say in there’s, ‘We have now to discover a option to transfer on from this. We nonetheless have an amazing alternative in entrance of us.'”