After Early Playoff Exit, the NY Liberty Face a Coaching Vacancy and Tough Offseason Questions

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Janae Pierre: Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for what's happening in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Janae Pierre. Happy Saturday. It's been a week since the New York Liberty were eliminated from the WNBA playoffs by the Phoenix Mercury. The loss stings a little less now that a few days have passed, so let's talk about it. This is the first time in years the Liberty have been ousted from the playoffs in the first round. Then, just days after that loss, the Liberty announced the team is parting ways with head coach Sandy Brondello. There's certainly a lot to unpack here. Joining us to talk through it all is sports reporter Jackie Powell. Hey, Jackie.

Jackie Powell: Hi, Janae. How are you?

Janae Pierre: I've seen better weekends. The Libs got off to a franchise-best start this season, but they struggled with some injuries. Right? Star players Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, and even Sabrina Ionescu all went down at some point. What role did that play in how this team finished the season?

Jackie Powell: Oh, it played a giant role. This team had 18 different starting lineups throughout the season, and there wasn't a ton of practice time. It was incredibly difficult for the coaching staff to be able to work out what they had to work out while their stars were out. Also, besides Nyara Sabally missing between 17 and 19 games, these injuries were not season-ending. A coaching staff really struggles to make adjustments. You don't want to make too many because you know that a player like Jonquel Jones, a player like Breanna Stewart, is coming back.

Janae Pierre: Let's turn to coach Sandy Brondello right now because team leaders decided not to renew her contract even though she led the Liberty to its first championship title last season. Was her firing a surprise?

Jackie Powell: It wasn't a surprise, but that doesn't mean I agree with it. There had been issues in the past when it came to player rotations, and there were some irreconcilable differences between the philosophies of the front office and the coaching staff. Part of what this season was about was evolving the team and transforming it from a four-out, one-in-motional offense to a full-fledged five-out offense, which you mostly see in the NBA. While during that nine-game winning streak, it seemed like this new system was working. When the injuries started happening, it was just really hard for this team to continue to play in that system.

Janae Pierre: Jackie, what are you hearing in terms of possible replacements?

Jackie Powell: What I've heard is that the Liberty are going to be targeting candidates with NBA experience. These could be people who have also coached in the G League that have been NBA assistants. Becky Hammon had a ton of NBA experience before becoming a head coach in the WNBA. There have been some rumblings about taking a similar path to the New York Knicks in trying to call Dawn Staley, engage her interest. Dawn Staley is the head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks. It's a wild concept, but the point is the Liberty are taking a very big swing. They're aiming high.

Janae Pierre: Aside from hiring a head coach, what do the Libs need to focus on this offseason? Can we expect maybe a reshuffling of the team roster?

Jackie Powell: Yes. A backup center for Jonquel Jones is imperative, and we really saw that was an issue throughout the season, and the fact that Nyara Sabally just was not available. What would end up happening was Kennedy Burke would come on and play the power forward, then that would shift Stewie to the five once again, or it just meant Jonquel Jones playing more minutes.

Janae Pierre: I mentioned that this is the first time the Libs have been eliminated so early in the postseason. Is this one of the bigger collections in WNBA history? Not only are the Libs defending champs, but they have a super team with a stellar roster in JJ and Breanna Stewart, and Sabrina Ionescu.

Jackie Powell: I think it would be a bigger collapse if they had an over 30-win season and then they just lost in the first round. The writing was on the wall because there were all of these injuries, and as a result of the injuries, this roster did not have the chemistry it needed. That's integral. Sandy Brondello's second year coaching this team and the first year with the full super team that included Sabrina, Stewie, and JJ, Brondello essentially played the starters so many minutes in order to build chemistry with this team and get it up to speed. It wasn't what Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb wanted because he wanted Brondello to really lean in and use her bench.

How could she when she had to develop chemistry with her stars and they had so limited time to do so? The Las Vegas Aces had years to build chemistry with their core.

Janae Pierre: I think fans sometimes forget how hard WNBA players have to work, both during the season and also in the offseason. They're not making millions of dollars like the men in the NBA, so they got to keep it moving, looking for business opportunities and some other ways to get their names out there. To what degree does that affect a team's ability to be successful in the WNBA postseason?

Jackie Powell: If you were referring to players on this roster being burnt out for giving their all in 2024, in addition to their different offseasons, that's absolutely part of it. Success in the playoffs is all about health. A lot of the time, it's about which team has had the best injury luck. I think Breanna Stewart, the fact that she played in all of Unrivaled, which is her new startup league, I think that really hurt her health during the 2025 season. She was just so worn down.

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Janae Pierre: That's sports reporter Jackie Powell, who covers the New York Liberty. Jackie, thanks so much for your time.

Jackie Powell: Thank you.

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Janae Pierre: Thank you for listening to NYC Now from WNYC. I'm Janae Pierre. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. We'll be back on Monday.

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