{"id":319457,"date":"2026-08-12T13:06:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T13:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/319457\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T13:06:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T13:06:24","slug":"new-york-liberty-continue-to-make-high-stakes-moves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/319457\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Liberty continue to make high-stakes moves"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BetnijahNew York Liberty guard-forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton<\/a> (44) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Aug. 5, 2026. (Photo credit: Wendell Cruz | Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Welcome to Basketball Insider, presented by The BIG EAST Conference. Expectations are a funny thing in professional sports, something best exhibited by the New York Liberty and the Washington Mystics.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Mystics are 19-12. The Liberty are 20-13. Both teams are on extended winning streaks<\/a>. And yet: the fans and observers around the league are enthusiastic about the D.C. season so far, while Liberty head coach Chris DeMarco is facing postgame questions about getting booed by the Barclays Center faithful.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all a reminder of what I pointed out back in the spring<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The Tsai-era Liberty do not accept mediocrity as an outcome in any element of what they do, with an attitude that does cause some enmity from others around the sport. Depending on who you\u2019re asking, it is either jealousy or a real-time accounting of their trophy case, which still has, for all the star power and the best efforts of Ellie, a single championship parade to show for it.<\/p>\n

Essentially all of the team\u2019s actions serve as simultaneously a public acknowledgement that previous heights were not good enough and an elimination of any public safety net. Firing Sandy Brondello<\/a>, a coach who led the team to a championship in 2024 and a fifth seed in 2025, suggests that anything like a 2025 season revisited isn\u2019t acceptable.<\/p>\n

Similarly, moving on from Betnijah Laney-Hamilton after giving her just 285 minutes and five starts in 2026 is an implicit argument<\/a> that the team feels it can do better by playing Marine Fauthoux<\/a> more and riding her production into the future, as they signed her to a multi-year deal.<\/p>\n

Both decisions carry significant public baggage.<\/p>\n

Replacing Brondello with a first-time WNBA head coach in Chris DeMarco isn\u2019t, in a vacuum, an indefensible decision. Far from it. But it means, if Jonathan Kolb is to make that call, he better be right. The growing pains that come with a learning curve in the WNBA cannot be sufficiently problematic to keep the New York Liberty from reaching its championship aspirations.<\/p>\n

That might still happen. But right now, the team is checking in beneath the 2025 performance that led to a change. And New York is not in the long-term development mode that the Mystics are. Beyond the record, New York\u2019s net rating is 4.7 so far this season. It was 5.2 in 2025, and that came with significant injuries to all three of Breanna Stewart<\/a>, Jonquel Jones<\/a> and Sabrina Ionescu<\/a>. The trio has logged 449 minutes together<\/a> already in 2026. In all of 2025? Just 234 minutes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And perhaps most concerning is that in those 449 minutes in 2026, New York\u2019s net rating is just 0.2. In 2025, Brondello\u2019s staff leveraged those three to a net rating of 21.2. Put simply: if DeMarco and company can\u2019t turn that trio into an elite powerhouse by playoff time, it\u2019ll be difficult for New York to win another championship.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s time, just as there is time now to see whether the team\u2019s slow-motion decision to excise Laney-Hamilton will pay off in 2026 or not. She was claimed this past weekend by the Mystics. Considering the way in which Laney-Hamilton\u2019s exile from New York happened \u2014 with a lack of public communication, weeks and weeks of fan frustration over seeing a favorite marginalized in the rotation and ultimately a release for no compensation \u2014 this is another example of a decision that could turn out to be the right one, but with vastly higher stakes than a typical end-of-roster move.<\/p>\n

Listen now to The IX Sports Podcast and Women\u2019s Sports Daily
We are excited to announce the launch of TWO new podcasts for all the women\u2019s sports fans out there looking for a daily dose of women\u2019s sports news and analysis. Stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or anywhere you listen to podcasts, and make sure to subscribe!<\/p>\n

Laney-Hamilton concluded her New York career with 3,658 minutes played in a Liberty uniform, 17th in franchise history. That\u2019s more than Sue Wicks<\/a>, Sophia Witherspoon<\/a> or Kym Hampton<\/a>. It also understates how long she\u2019s been a critical part of the franchise\u2019s identity, since she missed all of 2025 due to injury and has played sparingly here in 2026, much to the chagrin of a crowd which has repeatedly called for DeMarco to bring her into the game.<\/p>\n

This is how DeMarco explained the chronology to our Jackie Powell:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started her at the beginning of the season, she played well. She took some time away from personal reasons. Got back, coming off the bench a little bit, and then she had the injection in the knee. So some games off, and then there\u2019s a third time, we played her in the rotation for a few games, and then she\u2019s out of rotation. So it\u2019s just a tough, tough year all around for her.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last part is the one where DeMarco uses the passive voice. And that\u2019s silly. She wasn\u2019t taken out of the rotation by an act of God. The Liberty made the decision that they\u2019d be better without her playing regularly.<\/p>\n

And perhaps the Liberty will be right. But Laney-Hamilton ending up in Washington means that not only is there a chance she will prove that decision wrong regularly down the stretch, or even power the Mystics further into the playoffs than the Liberty, there\u2019s every possibility the two teams will meet in the first round. Just two losses separate the No. 3-No. 7 seeds entering Tuesday night\u2019s games, so there are a significant number of outcomes that lead to D.C.-N.Y. in Round 1.<\/p>\n

And if that happens, well, it\u2019s hard to imagine a scenario in recent sports history featuring one team with all of the pressure on it. But that\u2019s life for the New York Liberty. Their decisions have exacerbated it. And as I said back in April: they better be right about those calls.<\/p>\n

Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the group that owns the Washington Mystics, holds a minority stake in The IX Sports. The IX Sports\u2019 editorial operations are entirely independent of Monumental and all other business partners.<\/p>\n

This week in women\u2019s basketball<\/p>\n

Terrific as always from Matt Brown on the Oregon State women\u2019s basketball unionization push.<\/a><\/p>\n

Excellent emergency podcast on the Laney-Hamilton move for the Mystics by Tyler Byrum and Jenn Hatfield.<\/a><\/p>\n

Really loved this from Maggie Hendricks on developmental contracts.<\/a><\/p>\n

Australia is going to be a tough out at the World Cup.<\/a><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss Michael Waterloo on the DPOY conversation.<\/a><\/p>\n

Toronto did some good business here, adding Aneesah Morrow.<\/a><\/p>\n

Five at The IX: Kelly Graves, Oregon<\/p>\n

Rep The IX Sports at your next game!<\/p>\n

Shop the logo collection or special \u201cWomen\u2019s Sports are Front Page News\u201d collection now on Shopify.<\/p>\n

Soccer: Annie Peterson,\u00a0@AnnieMPeterson<\/a>,\u00a0AP Women\u2019s Soccer
Tennis: Joey Dillon,\u00a0@JoeyDillon<\/a>,\u00a0Freelance Tennis Writer
Basketball: Howard Megdal,\u00a0@HowardMegdal<\/a>,\u00a0The\u00a0IX Sports
Softball: Maren Angus-Coombs, @Maren-Angus<\/a>, The IX Sports
Golf: Marin Dremock,\u00a0@MDremock<\/a>, The IX Sports
Hockey:\u00a0@TheIceGarden<\/a>,\u00a0The Ice Garden
Gymnastics: Jessica Taylor Price,\u00a0@jesstaylorprice<\/a>, Freelance\u00a0Writer<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

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