NYC NOW - NY Liberty Reloaded: The WNBA Champs Return With a Target on Their Backs

Episode Date: May 17, 2025

The New York Liberty kick off the 2025 season with high expectations and some early hurdles. Host Janae Pierre checks in with sports reporter Jackie Powell on how the defending champs are adjusting to injuries, reshaping their offense, and preparing for another title run.

From WNYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Jenae Pierre. If you're like me, you're happy to see the weekend. It's an exciting one for basketball fans, whether you're rooting for the Knicks or the Liberty. That's right, the champs are back from a celebratory offseason. The New York Liberty are the champions of the WNBA, and the city will be celebrating with a ticker tape parade.

The top dogs of the WMBA start their new season Saturday afternoon against the Las Vegas Aces at Barclay Center. The Liberty entered the year with sky-high expectations and a retooled lineup, but the team has also suffered some early injury setbacks. Meanwhile, they're adjusting their style of play as the league itself gets more competitive and more crowded with talent. Joining me to discuss the season ahead is sports reporter Jackie Powell. So Jackie, the New York Liberty made history last year by finally bringing home a WMBA's

title. What's the energy like around this team right now as they start their title defense? The energy is just really focused. The vibe around the team was we're going to try as hard as we can to repeat. And you had Liberty General Manager Jonathan Colb say at his media press conference that their goal is to become an iconic franchise. And the way that you do that is by winning. You also have some new players on this roster who have a hunger to win a championship themselves. John Quill Jones said to us, she said, you know what, this has probably been one of the best training camps I've ever had. One of the biggest offseason moves was bringing in Natasha Cloud. And for listeners who may not know much about Cloud, how would you describe what she

brings to this team. Natasha Cloud is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. She is a guard who can defend not only guards, but she can defend wings as well. When she was in Phoenix last season playing for the Mercury, there were even some instances where they played her defending power forwards, which wasn't ideal, but she was able to do it just because she's super strong. I bring that up, because you think about the player who she is replacing Benizalini Hamilton, who will be out for the entire season after a meniscus there. Really nasty meniscus injury, yeah. John Quill Jones actually said that Benizalini Hamilton was the team's best one-on-one threat.

So the fact that you're adding cloud in her place, it's going to fill a lot of what she does. Yeah. Johnquell Jones had a huge postseason performance last year, and she was crown finals MVP when the team won it all. So, Jackie, I want to talk about JJ's expectations this year because Brianna Stewart is still recovering from surgery. It seems like the load is going to fall on Jones pretty early this season. What are your thoughts on that?

I think that is a fair assumption to make. I do think Brianna Stewart, they are going to ease her in to playing. They are not going to rush her. The fact that she looked pretty good in that second preseason game. That is a good sign. But I think you're exactly right. While Stewie is still trying to get her legs under her and get back used to playing, John Quill Jones will have much more of a load.

And it's a load that she is more than willing to take. I expect John Quill Jones to be getting even more shots from the perimeter. than she did. In addition to the offense is going to allow John Quill to drive. A lot of the time in the offense last season, she'd be on the block. She'd be posted up. She'd be setting screens on the perimeter. I think they really want to give JJ the space for her to be able to just blow by the less athletic bigs that are guarding her. Yeah. Let's stick with Stewie for a second. I know that she powered through injury last postseason and had this surgery during the off season. And you mentioned that she looked pretty good during that second preseason game. But seriously, how is her recovery going right now?

It's interesting, you ask, because I spoke to an orthopedic surgeon that is not associated with the team. And it was a partial mastectomy. And so what that is is she sort of got her meniscus sort of shaved off. off on that part of her knee. Just started to clean it up because it had been bothering her. And in my conversation with this orthopedic surgeon, she sort of laid out to me, usually it takes around two-ish months for a professional athlete to be at their typical level. And so she got this surgery in mid-March. And so we are coming up on mid-May. So she's very much so on schedule. Now it's just about her feel on the court. She'll also be learning this new system because she was

limited in practice early on. So it's going to be a work in progress for Stewie, you know, but I expect her to be at her full form by early June. There's another off-season move that Maybe out of your will, House, Jackie, but Rihanna has joined the team as well. And I'm wondering, what can you tell us about the beauty partnership between the New York Liberty and Fenty Beauty? And for listeners who don't know, Fenty is Ree-Ree's very popular billion-dollar cosmetics brand. Yeah, so one could argue that it was Ellie the elephant who manifested this. And I say that with all seriousness. I know it. That's why I'm laughing.

There was a video that Pop Sugar took of Ellie last season. It was one of those, or what's in your purse, one of those videos. And she's taken out all the things that were earrings. There was a fenty blush, fenty eyeliner, fenty mascara. And so we've seen this partnership manifest during the team's content and media. a day. And so they got to use the different fenty beauty and fenty skin products to make them look all beautiful and allow their skin to shine. A champion's glow is what I'd call it. Yes. A champion's glow. Yes. What does success look like for the Liberty this year? Is it championship or bust? It is. Sandy Brandello, their head coach, said that, it was going to be their most difficult season yet.

And their goal is to make it back to the WNBA finals and win a back-to-back title, which is one of the hardest things you can do in the WMBA, the Las Vegas Aces, did do it quite recently in 2022 and 2023. But prior to that, it was not done in 20 years. What will you be watching for in this first matchup against the Las Vegas Aces? I mean, surely, Aja Wilson and the team, they're all coming with a chip. on their shoulder, right? Oh, absolutely. I think it was Chelsea Gray, who's the ace's point guard. When she found out what her team's first game was on the schedule, she was like, oh, yeah,

we're going to crash their party. So the New York Liberty better be ready. That's sports reporter, Jackie, Jackie, thanks for joining us. Thank you for having me. Thanks for listening to NYC now. I'm Junae Pierre. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, we'll be back on Monday.