Signing Satou Sabally is a gamble. When she’s healthy, she’s an All-Star and an All-WNBA-level player. Last season, she was the leading scorer on a Mercury team that went to the finals. The problem is, Sabally is rarely healthy. She only played more than 17 games twice in her first six WNBA seasons.
When the Liberty signed Sabally, their star-studded roster became even more loaded. It seemed like the perfect signing to help the Liberty bounce back from a disappointing 2025 season and get them back to title contention—if she can stay healthy enough to make a difference.
So far, that hasn’t happened. Sabally has only played in 13 of the Liberty’s 25 games, bringing the fears that came with her addition to life.
It’s been a rough season for Sabally so far
2025 was Sabally’s healthiest season of her career—until she went down with a concussion in the finals. That concussion also cost her a full Unrivaled season and a stint with the German national team at the World Cup Qualifying Tournament. She hasn’t been able to catch a break since.
She missed preseason action due to reconditioning and then also had to sit out the first few games of the regular season with a cyst. She also missed some time with an illness after finally making her season debut.
Sabally hasn’t played in a game since June 23 because she’s in concussion protocol once again. On Friday, July 17, head coach Chris DeMarco said there was no timetable for her return yet, but she would definitely be out until after the All-Star break.
Even if Sabally returns for the second half of the season and stays healthy, her many absences will impact the Liberty. She hasn’t had much time to build chemistry with the rest of the team, and the Liberty aren’t exactly in a position to deal with growing pains when she returns.
The season has also been rough for the Liberty
A team headlined by Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, and Sabrina Ionescu, with Sabally, Leonie Fiebich, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, and several great bench pieces alongside them, doesn’t scream seventh seed on paper. And yet, that’s where the Liberty aren’t.
They have lost four consecutive games and plummeted to the bottom half of the playoff picture. They are just half a game ahead of the Mystics in the final playoff spot and two games behind the sixth-placed Dream.
Injuries factor into the Liberty’s struggles. Ionescu missed a bunch of time, and Leonie Fiebich is currently out with a foot injury. The team just hasn’t been able to find any consistency even among the players who have been available all season long.
New York won the Commissioner’s Cup Championship to close out June, beat Minnesota in the next game, and then dropped four games against the Wings, Lynx, Tempo, and Fever. It’s like it’s a different team on the floor every game.
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