In 2023, Breanna Stewart changed the WNBA landscape when she left the Seattle Storm and signed with the New York Liberty in free agency. New York also drafted Sabrina Ionescu first overall in 2020 and traded for Jonquel Jones earlier in 2023.
With this new big three, the Liberty were ready to bring New York its first WNBA championship. They got off to a great start, making the finals in their first season together. However, they ultimately lost to the Las Vegas Aces. The next year, they beat the Minnesota Lynx for the 2024 WNBA title.
Things went downhill pretty quickly after that. No one was truly healthy in the 2025 season, and the Liberty lost to the Phoenix Mercury in the first round. This season has been much the same despite a new head coach and Satou Sabally coming in. Several players, including Sabally, who is out for the rest of the season, missed significant time, and the team has been inconsistent on both ends of the floor.
New York is once again in the lower half of the playoff picture. If the Liberty lose to the Lynx, Valkyries, or Aces in the first round—which is not at all unlikely—they will have to have some uncomfortable conversations about the future of the big three.
Another early playoff exit may signal the time for a change
Championship rosters don’t have an endless shelf life in the WNBA, and the Liberty are learning that lesson the hard way. They have tried smaller changes, like bringing in Emma Meesseman last year, signing Satou Sabally this year, trusting Pauline Astier with a big role, and letting Betnijah Laney-Hamilton go to the Mystics.
And yet, they still face the same problems. Eventually, they will have to make big changes or risk being stuck in mediocrity for years. If the Liberty suffer another early playoff exit, it should be the end of the big three as currently constructed. They can always hope that the next season will be better, that everyone will be healthy, but it just seems like this big three’s time has run its course.
Ionescu, Stewart, and Jones are all under contract through the 2028 season, and several teams in the league would give up a fortune to trade for a proven championship veteran this offseason. So, the Liberty will have options to reshape the roster around whoever they decide to keep as a building block.
Of course, this whole conversation looks very different if they get it together and go on a deep playoff run.
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