Liberty Star Sabrina Ionescu Among City's Top Athletes
A dash of New York Liberty seafoam peppered SNY's ranking of the top metropolitan professional athlete rankings.
Ionescu placed ninth on the top 10 curated by the regional sports network, a list headlined by New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge. She's one of three hardwood reps on the list, joined by Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns of the New York Knicks in second and fifth, respectively.
And now, we present 🥁🥁
— SNY (@SNYtv) July 16, 2025
SNY's Top 10 New York Athletes Right Now pic.twitter.com/dIqymvEtll
"Ionescu was a big reason why New York City saw its first professional basketball title since 1973 as she helped the franchise win its first-ever WNBA championship last year," the accompanying analysis reads. "The former first-overall pick is the most recognizable star on the team, thanks to her regular season performances, four-time All-Star selections, setting the WNBA record with 37 points in 2023's three-point contest, and taking Steph Curry to the limit in the "Sabrina vs. Stephen" competition last year."
The undisputed homegrown franchise face of the Liberty since her arrival as the top choice of the 2020 draft, Ionescu has flipped seafoam fortunes in less than six seasons. She was one of the headliners of the Liberty's first postseason championship run last fall, notably sinking one of the most famous shots in WNBA history with a game-winning buzzer-beater in Game 3 of the Finals against the Minnesota Lynx.
This time around saw Ionescu become the Liberty's all-time leader in three-pointers and she was recently invited to her fourth WNBA All-Star Game, where she'll look to reprise her role as champion of the 3-Point Contest. She's averaging a career-best 18.8 points a game in her first 19 showings this year, which has also featured noticeable improvements to her mid-range and defensive games.
Judge headlined the list amidst another dominant season in the batter's box, which has seen him hit 35 home runs by the MLB All-Star break. Two more baseball stars, namely Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto, are in between the Knickerbockers at third and fourth, while Ionescu's fellow Liberty All-Star Breanna Stewart was listed as an honorable mention.
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.