{"id":284522,"date":"2025-11-15T10:44:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T10:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/284522\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T10:44:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T10:44:10","slug":"wnba-will-kristi-toliver-be-the-libertys-next-head-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/284522\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA: Will Kristi Toliver be the Liberty\u2019s next head coach?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The New York Liberty, the lone remaining WNBA team without a head coach, reportedly have narrowed down their search to three finalists: Kristi Toliver, Will Weaver and Jama Mahlalela.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Mahlalela, currently an assistant with the Toronto Raptors, met with Liberty co-owner Clara Wu Tsai when the Raptors recently were in Brooklyn to play the Nets, <a href=\"https:\/\/marcstein.substack.com\/p\/jake-fischer-latest-trade-talk-and\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">according to Fischer<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">This is Mahlalela\u2019s second stint with the Raptors, having previously served as an assistant coach and the head coach of Toronto\u2019s G League affiliate, Raptors 905, before also working as an assistant with the Golden State Warriors. Mahlalela has no high-level experience in women\u2019s basketball and, <a href=\"https:\/\/marcstein.substack.com\/p\/jake-fischer-latest-trade-talk-and\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">as Fischer noted<\/a>, \u201cIt would be irregular timing for an NBA assistant coach to leave a franchise so early in the season.\u201d (This would be an interesting twist considering former Chicago Sky head coach James Wade left his post to become an assistant with the Raptors at an \u201cirregular\u201d time during the 2023 WNBA season.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Weaver, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swishappeal.com\/wnba\/66210\/head-coach-vacancies-rumors-reports-hire-liberty-wings-storm-tempo-sandy-brondello-nba-g-league-men-candidates\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">whose named emerged early<\/a> in the Liberty\u2019s search, likewise lacks women\u2019s basketball experience, despite an otherwise lengthy resume that includes NBA and international experience. Currently a coaching consultant with the Charlotte Hornets, he previously was an assistant with the Nets, meaning Liberty ownership is familiar with him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Toliver, of course, has bolstered her 14-year WNBA playing resume, which included two championships and three All-Star honors, with assistant coaching experience in the NBA and WNBA, serving on the staffs of the Washington Wizards and Dallas Mavericks before joining Nate Tibbetts\u2019 Phoenix Mercury staff before the 2024 season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Tibbetts, as well as Mercury players, have endorsed Toliver\u2019s candidacy and qualifications. During the WNBA Finals, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/HaydenCilley\/status\/1976841837144093029\" rel=\"nofollow\">Tibbetts suggested <\/a>that Toliver, who served as the team\u2019s acting head coach during Game 4 after Tibbetts\u2019 ejection, is \u201cready\u201d and \u201cdeserving,\u201d while Alyssa Thomas praised Toliver\u2019s commitment to the team and described her as \u201ca phenomenal coach\u201d who is \u201cready for this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Liberty are expected to make the hire as soon as next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Liberty, the lone remaining WNBA team without a head coach, reportedly have narrowed down their&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-284522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}