{"id":254170,"date":"2026-06-03T19:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T19:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/254170\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T19:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T19:56:08","slug":"nyara-sabally-brondello-return-to-brooklyn-to-face-the-liberty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/254170\/","title":{"rendered":"Nyara Sabally, Brondello return to Brooklyn to face the Liberty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Halfcourt shots at the end of shootarounds are a tradition in the WNBA.<\/p>\n

When Nyara Sabally was with the Liberty<\/a>, she took her heaves underhanded while positioned close to the sideline.<\/p>\n

Many of them ended in not-so-close airballs.<\/p>\n

Sabally \u2014 now back as a member of the Toronto Tempo \u2014 threw her Hail Mary using the traditional shooting form on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

And of course, she nailed the shot.<\/p>\n

Call it luck. Or call it a symbolic of a player thriving in a bigger role after stepping into a new environment.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI made it in Indiana so I was like \u2018once I make it, I\u2019m [going] to start shooting the normal way,’\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only reason I didn\u2019t shoot it the normal way is because I\u2019m so good at it, and I want to give other people a chance,\u201d she joked. \u201cSo I have to switch it up from the side, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of what you think, the halfcourt make was very fitting for Sabally, who returned to Barclays Center for the first time since joining the Tempo this offseason.<\/p>\n

The homecoming included ex-Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello<\/a>, assistants Olaf Lange and Brian Lankton and forward Isabelle Harrison.<\/p>\n

Those familiar faces are \u201creally valuable\u201d to Sabally, who was poached from the Liberty in the first round of an expansion draft<\/a> two months ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially after such a big change, emotional change, it\u2019s always nice to have people that you\u2019re very familiar with and know really well. It just made the whole process easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toronto \u2014 alternating selections with the Portland Fire \u2014 selected Sabally with the fourth overall pick.<\/p>\n

After years of playing behind future Hall of Famers Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones in Brooklyn, Sabally immediately became an important cog on a Tempo roster that includes Kia Nurse, Brittney Sykes (who leads the team with 19.9 points per game) and Marina Mabrey.<\/p>\n

Sabally herself is averaging career-highs in points (11.9), rebounds (5.3), steals (1.6), blocks (1.4) and minutes (25.1).<\/p>\n

Sabally now has the opportunity to start every game after leaving via the expansion draft.<\/p>\n

A lot of emotions, like really emotional,\u201d Sabally said. \u201cI was glad that it was a place like Toronto. I was glad that it was obviously East Coast, closer to home. Small things like that really do matter. So the fact that it was a city that close \u2014 Toronto \u2014 very familiar faces with Sandy, Olaf, Brian really kind of softened the blow. And then after the initial shock, it\u2019s just also a lot of excitement because of all the reasons I just listed, and just being able to like have something new.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TorontoNyara Sabally was stuck behind two future Hall of Famers with the Liberty, but now finds herself starting for the Tempo in Toronto. (AP Photo\/Jeff Lewis)<\/p>\n

Brondello\u2019s arrival in Toronto came after the Liberty fired her days following an early postseason exit<\/a>. The move to oust the franchise\u2019s winningest head coach came a year after she led the team to its first WNBA title in history.<\/p>\n

Yet, she said she\u2019s \u201cexcited to be back in New York,\u201d and it was great to \u201csee familiar faces.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne door closes, another one opens. I\u2019ve enjoyed it here, but I\u2019m embracing my new role too,\u201d the coach said.<\/p>\n

Toronto hired Brondello five months before the team began assembling their roster.<\/p>\n

Aside from Wednesday\u2019s Commissioner\u2019s Cup opener, the Aussie coach\u2019s return to New York included a speaking engagement with the American Australian Association.<\/p>\n

Sabally hung out with former teammate \u2014 and fellow German national team member \u2014 Leonie Fiebich, sister Satou Sabally and other friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always fun to see friends again,\u201d Nyara said. \u201cAt that point, they\u2019re family. I mean, Satou obviously is family.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s Nyara\u2019s first time facing a former pro team, Brondello isn\u2019t new to the game.<\/p>\n

She experienced the same thing in 2022 having to face off against the Phoenix Mercury, a team she coached for eight seasons, including the 2014 WNBA championship season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Halfcourt shots at the end of shootarounds are a tradition in the WNBA. When Nyara Sabally was with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,14282,9,24,99058,63,14283,99059,9419,11452],"class_list":["post-254170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-liberty","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyara-sabally","tag-nyc","tag-sandy-brondello","tag-tempo","tag-toronto","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}