Coaching camps opened throughout the WNBA Sunday, and the Liberty are the staff to beat this season.
The Libs might be tasked with carrying the load of their 2024 title with them at each cease over the following six months.
However the stress that comes with being the title defenders is a welcomed privilege in Brooklyn.
“The mentality is turning the page,” Breanna Stewart mentioned after Sunday’s observe. “We had a lot of time to celebrate it and now it’s building to be better. We talked about being consistently great night in and night out and that starts with building great habits and training camp.”
Final 12 months’s motivation at coaching camp was retribution from falling brief within the 2023 WNBA Finals. However final October, the Liberty acquired over the hump and captured the franchise’s first championship after besting the Minnesota Lynx in an exhilarating five-game collection.
This time round, the Liberty are honing in on evolving.
“That’s the key thing,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello mentioned. “It’s not about repeating. With this hard thing, we gotta evolve. So that’s what we’re focused on. How do we do that? Individually, collectively, all of us.”
For Sabrina Ionescu, the work began again in November. Her offseason was briefly disrupted after she had a thumb process in December, however she got here to camp feeling like she’s “in the best shape of my life right now.”
Ionescu isn’t glad with one championship ring.
“It’s having that short memory of wanting to be the best and never settling,” Ionescu mentioned. “And I think everyone on the team understands when we came here … when we kind of suit up especially now and not take any of these days for granted because it’s a new season.”
Many groups, together with the Indiana Fever, Phoenix Mercury, Las Vegas Aces and Atlanta Dream, fortified their rosters throughout a busy free company cycle.
In the meantime, the Liberty ran it again with their championship core, that includes Stewart, Ionescu, 2024 Finals MVP Jonquel Jones and Leonie Fiebich, whereas additionally including guard Natasha Cloud and ahead Isabelle Harrison and welcoming the returns of Marine Johannés and Rebekah Gardner.
“We have a lot of our core back and [are] excited with our new additions,” Stewart mentioned. “We’re just going to be ourselves and really keep it going from there. But we know that the target’s on our back.”
There are some issues that the Liberty should determine earlier than their Could 17 season opener.
They’ll need to discover a resolution to fill the massive void from beginning ahead Betnijah Laney-Hamilton’s absence after she suffered a knee damage earlier this 12 months that can trigger her to overlook most — if not all — of the 2025 season.
The Liberty additionally have to shore up their bench and proceed constructing chemistry with the newcomers.
Brondello might inform from that first staff assembly that this group already has the fitting mindset and focus heading right into a title protection.
By the top of Sunday’s observe, Brondello felt the Liberty had been a lot additional alongside than the earlier 12 months.
“To go back-to-back, that’s the hardest thing to do,” she mentioned. “We’ll make sure we stay true to what we want to accomplish this year and win the day as we say. And I thought it was a great start, and look, I always said you can’t bring back the same when you win, and we have a real good, nice freshness about us.”
