Why Liberty Made Moves Despite Championship Chase
Over the past two seasons, the New York Liberty has opted to buy real estate on the WNBA playoff bracket, rather than its in-season transaction log. This time around, they figure they'll do both.
As the Liberty seek to successfully defend their first postseason championship, they're undergoing a bit of an in-season makeover: the team added lasting veteran Stephanie Talbot and is set to host Emma Meesseman's return to the WNBA, per ESPN's Alexa Philippou.
"[Signing Meesseman and Talbot) is not about plugging leaks," Kolb said this week at Barclays Center. "It was really about growing them and finding out. When we get this team fully healthy, they go into their roles and they've got confidence at an all time high. So that's what it's about."
Since the Liberty put the Sabrina Ionescu era in maximum overdrive by acquiring three unarguable WNBA legends in 2023, in-season additions have mostly been limited to welcoming back in-house talent from medical or international duties. Last year's big move at, or at least near, the trade deadline was rewarding preseason heroine Jaylyn Sherrod with a series a temporary contracts that eventually turned permanent.
This time around, New York has repeat aspirations that were tested with a dangerous stretch that lost Finals MVP Jonquel Jones and international breakout Leonie Fiebich. In losing six of nine, New York was getting beat defensively and missing out on hustle plays, issues that the leftovers were quick to assume responsibility for.
That dragged the Liberty 3.5 games behind the Minnesota Lynx, last year's Finals foe, for the top seed on the active WNBA playoff bracket into the runner-up logjam on the current leaderboard: second and tenth-place are separated by seven games, with two through five apart by only three.
Kolb noted that the negotiations with Meesseman and Talbot, the latter released by the Golden State Valkyries earlier this month, were done not in response to the early summer swoon, but conducted with familiarity being the primary emotion.
Talbot's early WNBA days were overseen by current Liberty boss Sandy Brondello, who also supervised her in victorious endeavors with the Australian national team. Meesseman has played with several New Yorkers, the primary link being Natasha Cloud, a championship collaborator with the 2019 Washington Mystics.
Despite the views from abroad, trust, in turn, persisted between Kolb and his group. Kolb said he consulted with the team before pursuing Meesseman, an accomplished veteran that has racked up her share of individual and team hardware. Amidst the speculation and discussion, the Liberty (16-6) have formed the WNBA's longest active winning streak at four games.
Kolb was thus pleased enough with the progress, particularly with the Liberty's depth stars, to make the moves, convinced by a melding of basketball minds would push things forward.
"When we got the news that JJ was out four to six weeks, there was no panic at all from anybody," Kolb said. "We looked at it as opportunity to learn about ourselves. I think that in a season like this, I understand the emphasis that every game matters, and there's truth to that, but it matters in different ways. It can matter in wins and losses, or can matter about what you learn."
"For us, it was an opportunity to understand more about Izzy Harrison, an opportunity to learn about Marine when Sabrina was down for a minute there and was going through her neck injury. I thought that [Rebekah] Gardner gave us great minutes. Obviously, [Kennedy Burke] has continued to ascend, so it's more about pouring into those players and them discovering confidence and growth."
That could be particularly dangerous when a player like Meesseman comes in: the multi-faceted Belgian standout has thrust her national team, the Cats, up the FIBA leaderboards, culminating in back-to-back EuroBasket Women titles. She's a player that could likely start for a good number of the W's 13 teams and has the resume to back that up, joining Jones as a Finals MVP during the Mystics' triumph over Connecticut.
While unable to fully speak on the Meesseman signing due its unofficial nature, Kolb hinted that she was impressed enough with the current setup, as well as the plethora of familiarity, to come aboard and end her lengthy WNBA hiatus.
"I think from my purview, she wants to win, she wants to win a championship. That's her number one goal," Kolb said. "I think it's something where, when you're coming in in-season like this, you want to be where you want to be, you want to hit your stride as quickly as possible. I think that was also part of this as well for her, in terms of the WNBA and why now that's that's [the time] for her."
Meesseman will make her debut at a later date as her visa issues are resolved prior to taking the floor. Talbot, on the other hand, made her metropolitan debut in Tuesday night's win over the Indiana Fever, playing four minutes in the 98-84 decision.
Geoff Magliocchetti is a veteran sportswriter who contributes to a variety of sites on the "On SI" network. In addition to the Yankees/Mets, Geoff also covers the New York Knicks, New York Liberty, and New York Giants and has previously written about the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Staten Island Yankees, and NASCAR.