Liberty Player Preview: Rebekah Gardner
The trophy is stored, the confetti is cleared, the rings have been sized, and the banner will be raised. Now comes the question: what can the New York Liberty possibly do for an encore?
The Liberty's roster is set for its first postseason championship defense, which gets underway this week as the WNBA prepares to tip off its 29th season. Fresh the famous five-game win over the Minnesota Lynx in last fall's Finals, the Liberty now seek to bring another parade to Manhattan and Brooklyn after ending the long wait for the original.
With the season quickly approaching, New York Liberty on SI will go through each player's 2025 outlook on a case-by-case basis.
Player: Tebekah Gardner
Height/Position: 6-1, Guard
From: UCLA
Experience: 3rd season (1st with Liberty)
2024 Stats: N/A
How Acquired: 2024 trade with Chicago
The Story So Far
Perhaps no onein the WNBA has had to personify the concept of "delayed, not denied" better than Gardner.
After a strong SoCal showcase, culminating in four years with the UCLA Bruins, Gardner became a globetrotter, spending a decade fight for chances overseas in between futile attempts to cling onto WNBA ledgers. She finally made it back to domestic courts at age 31 in 2022 and corralled a roster spot for the Chicago Sky's championship defense, serving as a spell option to then-reigning WNBA Finals Kahleah Copper.
While the Sky's repeat effort went for naught, Gardner broke out as one of the most intriguing stories of the 2022 season. Proving to be a formidable two-way star, Gardner averaged 8.4 points (4th among rookies, top 20 among bench players) and 1.4 steals while eventually joining Rhyne Howard on the season's All-Rookie team.
That made her a shoo-in to return for the 2023 season, but injuries, alas, have interrupted Gardner's chance to build on her initial surprise: she injured her foot three games into her follow-up in the Windy City and was lost for the season and a return overseas proved equally unfortunate, as she tore her Achilles while reprising her role for Uni Girona Club de Basquet.
Such misfortune didn't deter the Liberty from sending a pair of second-round pick in exchange for her services in the late stages of last offseason, citing her defensive prowess as worth the potential rise. New York is well-versed some of her most recent WNBA work, as she previously partook in a shutdown of the seafoam offense during a first-round clash in 2022. Gardner kept working behind the scenes but made a surprise appearance at the Liberty's championship celebrations last fall.
They Said It
"I was super, super excited to get Bec back. She's come back from a tough injury, but she's worked really hard in the offseason ... she's gritty. There's really a lot of things that she can add to our game, that she's going to bring and she plays so hard, and it's just great to have it back. She's always smiling."-Sandy Brondello
"I would say I feel like I'm very versatile. Whenever I come to a team, I just try to see what the team needs and then give where I can in those areas. For example, we have a lot of shooters, so I like to slash or cut, go backdoor, cut things like that. Defensively .. I don't like getting scored on so that helps also create offense, sometimes extra possessions."-Gardner on what she brings to New York
2025 Outlook
The top-heavy Liberty certainly garner attention for their opening lineups but the way they've been able to stock name-brand talent in almost every nook and cranny (i.e. Olympic heroines, international MVPs) has been equally vital to their championship cause. Gardner may be the latest example, as not every team carries a seasonal sensation packed with potential on its roster.
It might take a little while for Gardner to establish herself considering her lengthy time away from the game and the Liberty's packed backcourt picture behind Sabrina Ionescu and Natasha Cloud. But she'll no doubt come up big when Leonie Fiebich and Marine Johannes go back to Europe to compete in EuroBasket.
Gardner has a potential immediate impact as an ace-in-the-hole capable of filling the Liberty's lost firepower on the second unit. Her defensive prowess will be particularly well-valued now that Kayla Thornton is in the Bay Area after December's expansion draft.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
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.