Tag: New York Liberty

USC’s Kaitlyn Davis selected by New York Liberty in 2024 WNBA draft

Kaitlyn Davis played college ball in New York before coming to USC. She’ll feel right at home with the Liberty.

The USC Trojans were able to get two WNBA draft selections this year. There are only 36 draft picks. McKenzie Forbes managed to become a top-30 pick, going to the Los Angeles Sparks at No. 28. Kaitlyn Davis, a teammate of Forbes this past season with USC women’s basketball, went at pick No. 35 to the New York Liberty.

The neat part of this story is that while Forbes stays in Los Angeles, Davis goes back to New York, where she played at Columbia University before transferring to USC. Davis should feel right at home with the Liberty, where she can become a role player on a talented roster. Davis is a willing rebounder and defender. She loves doing the kinds of things which don’t show up in a box score. Davis’s hard work and high basketball IQ helped JuJu Watkins, Forbes, and the rest of the Trojans go to the Elite Eight this past season. Davis got key rebounds late in victories over Arizona and then against UCLA in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals. Those rebounds set up huge 3-point baskets which rescued the Trojans helped them get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Everyone got to see how valuable Davis was to the Women of Troy. Now we’ll see if those same winning qualities can boost the Liberty in the WNBA. We wish Kaitlyn Davis the very best in the pro game.

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Fans roasted Kenny Smith after he said Sabrina Ionescu should have had shorter 3-point line vs. Steph Curry

Kenny Smith embarrassed himself with these comments.

Stephen Curry in a one-on-one 3-point contest against WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu was the highlight of NBA All-Star Weekend.

Curry managed to narrowly defeat Ionescu, who was shooting from NBA range during the competition a Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. It was a competitive battle between two of the greatest shooters in the sport and it was thrilling to watch for the fans.

That is why it was especially disappointing when TNT’s Kenny Smith suggested that Ionescu should have shot the ball from the WNBA 3-point line.

Ionescu performed extraordinarily well, she just had the impossible task of going against Curry. Few people on the planet could have made it even half as competitive as she did.

So naturally, hoops fans roasted Smith for his immediate commentary about the shooting distance in the competition.

Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu will have a 3-point contest at NBA All-Star and it’s such a great idea

Curry vs. Ionescu. Who you got?!

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry wants to have a 3-point shootout with New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu.

Ionescu is the NCAA’s all-time leader in triple-doubles and was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft after enjoying a successful collegiate career at Oregon.

The two-time WNBA All-Star also won the WNBA’s 3-point contest last season, shooting 37-of-40 (92.5 percent) in the process. She had a record-setting final round. She challenged Curry to a shootout afterward and five months later, the Golden State sharpshooter did not forget.

Curry, who is one of the best to ever compete in the NBA’s 3-point contest and holds the record for the most 3-pointers made in league history, said he officially wants a chance to go one-on-one against her.

While he was mic’d up for a game, here is what Curry said to rookie teammate Brandin Podziemski:

“Do you know who holds the record for the most points in a 3-point competition? … I think I gotta bring her out and be like, we gotta settle this once and for all. … I think I gotta challenge her. It’d be lit.”

Podziemski said that he could potentially help set it up because he shares an agent, Bill Duffy, with Ionescu. Duffy (like Podziemski) attended Santa Clara University and he also resides in Walnut Creek in California (which is where Ionescu was born and raised).

Curry, however, may not need Podziemski’s help to make this happen.

According to Shams Charania, this is already more than just an idea for Curry. Charania said that there was an “exciting competition planned” between Curry and Ionescu at the NBA’s All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis.

Ionescu, who grew up in the Bay Area watching the Warriors, has said that Curry has a mentorship role in her life (via Uproxx):

“I talk to [Steph] regularly,” Ionescu tells Dime. “It’s always a full circle moment to be able to grow up watching them on TV and on a court, and then be able to pick up the phone and call them if you need to. I know what that feels like, and I want to be that for younger athletes as well, using that experience that I have to want to be that mentor for a lot of others as well. I never want to take those moments for granted.”

Although it maybe didn’t always sit well with the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA Finals, Ionescu will occasionally hit the “night night” celebration on the court as a tribute to Stephen Curry.

Whoever wins the shootout between Curry and Ionescu, though, we can probably expect to see the celebration used against the other.

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Nuggets’ Michael Porter Jr. admires Breanna Stewart’s game and her shoes

Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. recently signed a shoe deal extension with Puma, and wants to continue to push the brand forward.

There have only ever been 12 players with their own signature shoes bearing their name. With the WNBA finished with its 27th season, that is roughly .44 shoe deals per season.

The first shoe deal in WNBA history was the Nike Air Swoopes in 1995, named after legendary player Sheryl Swoopes. In 2021, New York Liberty’s Breanna Stewart signed a deal with Puma and was the 10th player in WNBA history to have a signature shoe.

“Hopefully, Puma and I will set the standard and the bar for many more WNBA players deserving a signature shoe,” said Stewart.

Since then, Washington Mystic’s Elena Delle Donne and New York Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu have had shoe deals. However, Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. is looking to change that.

“You have guys wearing women’s shoes, and it’s usually the other way around,” Porter told Boardroom. “We want to bring more awareness to the WNBA and give those women the flowers that they deserve. I just think it’s cool for me to be able to represent that.”

Porter recently signed a shoe deal extension with Puma, and he wants to continue to push the brand forward along with shining a spotlight on the players of the WNBA.

“I’ve always admired Stewie’s game since back at UConn,” Porter said. “She’s broken tons of records, and ever since her rookie year in the WNBA, she’s done some amazing things. She’s always been a hooper to me.”

He sports Stewart’s signature shoes, the Puma Stewie 2s, on the court and continues to do what he can to support his fellow ballers.

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The New York Liberty released their 2024 schedule by comically torturing Breanna Stewart with hot wings

“Is this what it feels like when other teams play us?”

The New York Liberty’s 2024 schedule is HOT. Literally.

The WNBA dropped its 2024 schedule Monday, and it’s got some spicy matchups during opening night, including games featuring the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty, who just met in the 2023 WNBA Finals.

Teams get really creative in announcing their schedules. The Atlanta Dream invited Clark Atlanta University’s band to help reveal their slate. The Phoenix Mercury had Brittney Griner and Sophie Cunningham play Chubby Bunny with marshmallows to tell fans their opponents.

However, New York Liberty quite literally wanted some extra flavor for their schedule release content. With the help of Hot Ones and women’s sports advocate Arielle Chambers, the team got 2023 MVP Breanna Stewart to walk through a tortuous gauntlet of wings.

WNBA introduces new format for 2024 Commissioner’s Cup

The WNBA Commissioner’s Cup, an in-season competition launched in 2021, will have a new format for the 2024 season.

The WNBA Commissioner’s Cup, an in-season competition launched in 2021, will have a new format for the 2024 season. Instead of 10 games counting toward selection into the tournament, teams will each play just five games during the two-week period from June 1-13, one against each of its in-conference rivals.

“After crowning three Commissioner’s Cup champions since 2021, we believe it is time to introduce a new, streamlined format for the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup,” said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. “The newly designed, concentrated structure for this in-season tournament adds an increased sense of urgency and excitement as we place a particular spotlight on Eastern and Western Conference Commissioner’s Cup play in a two-week window near the tip off of our regular season. The focus is on making the Commissioner’s Cup presented by Coinbase even more engaging for all our stakeholders, including fans, teams, players and the community organizations that collaborate with our teams during the designated games.”

The inaugural Commissioner’s Cup was won by the Seattle Storm in 2021 (Breanna Stewart, MVP). The Las Vegas Aces won in 2022 (Chelsea Gray, MVP). This past season, the New York Liberty (Jonquel Jones, MVP) took home the Commissioner’s Cup.

The team from each conference with the top record in Commissioner’s Cup games will compete for a $500,000 prize pool in the Commissioner’s Cup championship. The championship game will be played on June 25 at the arena of the team with the best record in Cup play.

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Liberty GM Jonathan Kolb responds to Aces’ Kelsey Plum’s superteam dig: ‘This is a team personified’

Don’t tell the New York Liberty they’re not a team.

New York Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb says he respects Las Vegas Aces guard Kelsey Plum but took her recent comments personally.

Kelsey Plum will speak her mind if you haven’t figured it out. You could be Tom Brady, part of the group that signs her checks, and Plum will still give you hell.

On October 6th, two days before the WNBA Finals started, she was asked her thoughts on the recent conversations about the Aces and the Liberty being superteams. Both teams have been mentioned because of the talent their rosters have.

Plum didn’t think the narrative fit her team.

The star guard rejected the superteam label, saying, “Those of us who are homegrown players, every year, we’ve seen growth.”

Yet, Plum wasn’t done. She had more to say after the Aces won their recent title over the Liberty: “You can’t build a superteam in a couple of months. It takes years.”

Then, Plum doubled down again. Per Alex Smith of Yahoo Sports, Plum drove a message home:

“We also knew that, as much as they’re a team, they’re not a team, if that makes sense. They’re really good individual players, but they don’t care about each other. And you can tell in those moments. They revert back to individual basketball.”

Whew.

During the Liberty’s exit interviews Friday, Kolb was asked about Plum’s comments. He delivered a subtly fiery but ultimately measured response.

“The fact of the matter is that this is a team,” Kolb said. “If you’re around these players day in and day out, they truly care about one another.”

He continued but clarified his point: “This is absolutely a team. It’s a team personified.”

The Liberty are fighting hard to defend their reputation, but with a Finals loss and a new fine from the WNBA, the off-season might not be moving fast enough for them to get to the healing they need.

The WNBA rightfully fined the New York Liberty for ducking the media after finals loss

This is quite literally the definition of loser behavior. You cannot be serious, New York Liberty.

Losing sucks, but the New York Liberty have to be better.

After the Las Vegas Aces won another title, this time on New York’s home court, the air went out of the building. The Liberty lost at the highest possible levels — the WNBA Finals — and the last thing they likely wanted to do was answer questions about how and why they lost.

It’s painful. It’s ugly. Frankly, it’s gut-wrenching. But it’s the right thing to do. In victory or defeat, you must be accountable and responsible for the product you put on the court.

Those obligations were broken by the Liberty, prompting action from the league for ducking the smoke they created.

Pouring salt in an already festering wound is a new $25,000 fine the Liberty will pay for violating media availability rules. Whew.

Per ESPN’s Terrika Foster Brasby, the league took exception to only head coach Sandy Brondello, Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot making appearances post-game.

Via the WNBA’s social media accounts, fans could see a visibly missing Sabrina Ionescu, Jonquel Jones and Betnijah Laney for New York’s portion of the presser. Those actions came with a $2,000 fine for each missing player. Ouch.

It would have been pretty wild, but the Liberty could have pulled a Marshawn Lynch for any questions they didn’t want to answer — “I’m here so I won’t get fined” — and gone about their evening.

But, altogether, avoiding answering questions does not send a good message to anyone who sees them as upper-echelon athletes.

Pull it together, New York!

10 awesome photos of the Las Vegas Aces celebrating their second straight WNBA title

The Las Vegas Aces are back-to-back WNBA champs!

The Las Vegas Aces rode a second-half surge against the New York Liberty on Wednesday night to win the 2023 WNBA championship — their second consecutive title under second-year head coach Becky Hammon.

Thanks to a dominant third quarter when the Aces out-scored the Liberty, 23-12, and a relentless fourth, Las Vegas won the thrilling Game 4 of the WNBA Finals, 70-69, to claim the title and best-of-five series, 3-1. And they did it without starters guard Chelsea Gray and center Kiah Stokes, who are both dealing with foot injuries.

Aces star A’ja Wilson was named the WNBA Finals MVP, and she finished Game 4 with 24 points and 16 boards with a block and a steal.

The Aces celebrated their second straight WNBA championship afterward at Barclays Center in New York, and here are 10 of our favorite post-game photos.

Liberty set ticket record after Mike Wilbon wrongly said Barclays Center had ‘worst’ home-court advantage

Mike Wilbon belongs on @OldTakesExposed for these comments.

The New York Liberty hosted the Las Vegas Aces for Game 3 of the WNBA Finals on Sunday afternoon and it was a historic event.

There were 17,143 tickets collected for the game, according to the Liberty, which is officially the largest gate attendance in league history. That means no other WNBA game has ever brought in more ticket revenue.

After the game, Liberty star Jonquel Jones credited the fanbase for the crucial victory against the Aces (via ESPN):

“We knew that our fans were going to be behind us and New York was going to be watching and supporting and that’s what we wanted to do, go out there and play with a lot of pride and a lot of heart.”

The victory and the gate record came just mere days after recent comments from ESPN veteran Michael Wilbon, who stated that Barclays Center had the “worst” home-court advantage in the NBA and the WNBA.

https://www.youtube.com/live/ObzEUS7r95A?si=6Cg0eRk3Ck8uDl3k&t=1048

As noted by Nets Daily writer Lucas Kaplan, you can hear Wilbon’s unusual comments around the 17-minute, 30-second mark of the telecast from Friday (via ESPN):

“You need a rabid, Phillies-like crowd in Brooklyn. Oh wait. They’re barely awake in Brooklyn. It is the worst home-court advantage, home-court situation in terms of spirit in the entire NBA — all 30 teams (maybe Washington) — and the entire WNBA — all whatever it is, twelve teams? It’s the worst. There’s nothing to rally the Liberty. […] Brooklyn’s home court situation? It stinks. It’s dark. It’s quiet. It’s like a library. […] You hipsters better get a real arena because you stink right now.”

Disregarding his momentary uncertainty about how many teams play in the WNBA, as there are indeed twelve franchises before expansion to the Bay Area, these comments were all the way off.

The Liberty had the fourth-highest average attendance in the WNBA this past season, per BeyondWomensSports.com. Meanwhile, New York’s year-over-year average attendance increase (2,450) was good for the second-best in the league.

Claire Fahy recently wrote a more accurate description of attending a Liberty game (via The New York Times):

“The Liberty’s success this year has attracted fans from all over the city. They have packed the stands at Barclays in the team’s signature sea foam green, borrowed from the Statue of Liberty herself. The team sold out 11 games this season on its way to a franchise-best 32-8 record. […] Barclays is a different arena on Liberty game days than it is when the Nets are in town. There are free activities, such as a photo booths and a face-painting station, that set the tone early, getting fans ready for a raucous evening.”

Wilbon clearly hasn’t spent much time in Barclays Center to watch the Liberty. But perhaps that is able to change soon so he can have a more accurate perception.

Joe Tsai, who owns the Nets and the Liberty, invited Wilbon to attend the Barclays Center when New York hosts Las Vegas for Game 4 of the WNBA Finals.

New York trails the series, 2-1, but can even it up to force a Game 5 in Las Vegas with one more victory at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

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