Liberty Hires Unrivaled Coach

The New York Liberty have hired a coach from Unrivaled, the new project from current star Breanna Stewart.

Jan 17, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Players warm-up before the game between the Mist and the Lunar Owls of the Unrivaled women’s professional 3v3 basketball league at Wayfair Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images / Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

The New York Liberty found Andrew Wade's prowess to be unrivaled in Unrivaled.

New York announced the hiring of Wade, one of the six head coaches in ongoing Unrivaled activities, on Friday, as he will now serve as the defending WNBA champions' director of player development. Unrivaled is the new 3-on-3 league partly co-founded by Liberty star Breanna Stewart.

Wade is currently the head coach of the Laces, who are the active runners-up on the Unrivaled leaderboard behind the undefeated Lunar Owls. The Laces (4-2) feature elite WNBA talents such as Kayla McBride, Alyssa Thomas, and Jackie Young, as well as former New Yorker Stefanie Dolson.

Wade played college ball at Catholic University of America and carries previous WNBA experience with the Washington Mystics, where he served as a player development assistant coach. He has also worked in the video and player development departments of the NBA's Washington Wizards and their G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go.

In addition to his coaching work, Wade is the founder of Prism Basketball, a "data driven basketball consulting company that aims to simplify the world of basketball analytics" like based in Washington D.C.

“In the WNBA right now, you’ll see a lot of the teams in our league right play through the elbow, still play through the post,” Wade said of his modern basketball analysis, per Noa Dalzell of SBNation. “You’ll see bigs handling and pick and rolls, which is starting to come into the NBA. Team to team, there’s so much more of a diversity in personnel. Every single night you’re practicing, you’re scripting, for something different. That’s the beauty and the challenge of it — that’s what I enjoy so much.”

The Liberty will open their first championship defense on May 17 against the Las Vegas Aces. In the meantime, Wade potentially faces Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu when the Laces face Phantom on Tuesday night (8:30 p.m. ET, TNT).

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