There's no denying that the beginning of the 2026 WNBA season was rough for the New York Liberty, or that the team's head coach Chris DeMarco, who is in his own rookie season in the league, was fighting for his life. Fan expectations are exceedingly high, which is justified: the Liberty is an enormously talented team that boasts an incredible roster, and their 2024 WNBA Championship is still in very recent memory.
But when they aren't met, high expectations often result in very steep tumbles, and DeMarco has found himself on the negative end of fan ire and media scrutiny for a lot of this season. But, somehow, the Liberty have clinced their 2026 WNBA playoffs berth, and DeMarco might just end up surprising a lot of people who weren't sure about him.
To be fair, the Liberty's path in the playoffs won't be easy. The team officially secured a spot thanks to a Portland Fire loss, and is ranked sixth in the league with a 23-15 record. They're just behind the Indiana Fever (who have a 25-14 record) and above the Washington Mystics (who are sitting at 23-15 as well). That's not as good as it could be, but it's also not that bad — and considering everything the Liberty has overcome this season, it's pretty remarkable.
The Liberty have won their last 10 of 13 games. If that's not an example of a team that's starting to make a lot of threatening noise, I'm not sure what else it could be. Breanna Stewart is shooting 46.8% from the field, which is her best since 2022. Sabrina Ionescu, who spent much of the season's beginning injured, has been fully back for a while now and is averaging 15.9 points, 4.8 assists and 4.0 rebounds right now. Jonquel Jones, who had her own injury scare recently that could have derailed the whole mission, is having a strong season.
The Liberty will have to play without a few players as they prepare to head overseas for the FIBA World Cup in Berlin, Germany, but that's something they can handle. They're also in the playoffs no matter what, and they'll be (hopefully) firing on all cylinders when those begin. There's no doubting the Liberty has the talent the team needs to go as far as they want to — but a key part of navigating the offseason will be keeping everyone healthy enough to get there.
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