![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/drives-around-phoenix-mercury-forward-128900651.jpg\")
New York Liberty guard-forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (44) drives around Phoenix Mercury forward-guard DeWanna Bonner (24) during the second half at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, on Wednesday, May 27, 2026. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\nLiberty fan favorite Betnijah Laney-Hamilton\u2019s time in Brooklyn has come to an unceremonious end.<\/p>\n
The Liberty released Laney-Hamilton, the team announced Thursday.<\/p>\n
The writing had been on the wall for weeks.<\/p>\n
Laney-Hamilton hadn\u2019t set foot on the court since she was ejected after throwing a shoe in the Liberty\u2019s July 12 loss to the Toronto Tempo, racking up eight consecutive healthy scratches since.<\/p>\n
The Liberty explored moving her before Sunday\u2019s trade deadline but were unable to find a deal that made sense for all involved.<\/p>\n
Laney-Hamilton\u2019s recent benching coincided with French guard Marine Fauthoux\u2019s injection into the rotation. Fauthoux, the Liberty\u2019s third-round pick in 2021, has played in 11 of the maximum 12 games allowed as a developmental player.<\/p>\n
With Laney-Hamilton gone, the Liberty intend to sign Fauthoux to a multiyear contract, a source told The Post.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb said the decision to cut Laney-Hamilton was \u201cincredibly difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe this will give Betnijah the best opportunity to pursue a larger basketball role,\u201d he said. \u201cWe wish her nothing but success moving forward, and she\u2019ll always be a member of the Liberty family. As a key contributor to the first championship in franchise history, Betnijah\u2019s legacy with the Liberty is forever cemented.\u201d<\/p>\n
Laney-Hamilton, a former All-Star and starter on New York\u2019s 2024 championship team, signed a one-year, $400,000 contract in April. It was essentially a prove-it deal, with Laney-Hamilton hoping to earn a major pay raise next offseason.<\/p>\n
But the season turned into one of the biggest challenges of her career.<\/p>\n
New York Liberty guard-forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (44) drives around Phoenix Mercury forward-guard DeWanna Bonner (24) during the second half at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, on Wednesday, May 27, 2026. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n
Despite entering this campaign the healthiest she had been for quite some time, Laney-Hamilton never fully established herself. Her role fluctuated. She went from starter to coming off the bench to not playing at all.<\/p>\n
She missed time for personal reasons early on and then again after having an injection in her surgically repaired knee.<\/p>\n
Laney-Hamilton appeared in 17 of the Liberty\u2019s 32 games, averaging 4.7 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists. She averaged her fewest minutes and lowest scoring output since 2018.<\/p>\n
Laney-Hamilton was the second-longest-tenured player on the Liberty, having signed with the team ahead of the 2021 season.<\/p>\n
![\"Betnijah](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/dallas-wings-vs-new-york-133694566.jpg\")
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton of the New York Liberty warms up prior to a game against the Dallas Wings on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, at Barclays Center. Michelle Farsi\/New York Post<\/p>\n
She came to Brooklyn before the Liberty became the WNBA\u2019s standard-bearer and before championship expectations replaced hopeful optimism.<\/p>\n
The 32-year-old established herself as the team\u2019s two-way heartbeat when the franchise was trying to rediscover relevance. She served as the team\u2019s glue during the championship run, committing to the dirty work that rarely receives headline attention.<\/p>\n
Laney-Hamilton gave her all to the organization. During the 2024 WNBA Finals, she told Ros Gold-Onwude that she was playing \u201ctill the wheels fall off.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCovering the Liberty like never before\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Madeline Kenney’s Inside the Liberty, a weekly Sports+ newsletter.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
She helped end New York\u2019s 51-year professional basketball title drought.<\/p>\n
But championship windows have little room for sentimentality.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to thank Betnijah for everything she has given to this organization,\u201d Kolb said. \u201cShe has been an instrumental part of our success since 2021 and has made a lasting impact on our team, both on and off the court. We\u2019re incredibly grateful for her professionalism, leadership and the commitment she brought to the New York Liberty every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fauthoux, 25, has provided a spark off the bench recently, averaging 4.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists while shooting 40.5 percent from the field and 32 percent from deep.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s been important to this team,\u201d coach Chris DeMarco said of Fauthoux before Wednesday\u2019s win against the Seattle Storm. \u201cShe gives us a different look offensively and with the competition. \u2026 We really like her and we\u2019re playing well right now, so we\u2019re gonna keep going to her.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liberty fan favorite Betnijah Laney-Hamilton\u2019s time in Brooklyn has come to an unceremonious end. The Liberty released Laney-Hamilton,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[99758,9,11,8915,10,319,11452],"class_list":["post-315677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-betnijah-laney-hamilton","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-new-york-news","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315677","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=315677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}