May 9, 2025
Locked On Women’s Basketball: Expectations for the New York Liberty in 2025
By The Next
Examining the defending champs before the new season tips off
On today’s episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, host Jackie Powell is joined by Madeline Kenney of the New York Post to examine the expectations for the New York Liberty entering the 2025 season coming off of the franchise’s first WNBA title. They discussed what to expect from New York’s big three of Jonquel Jones, Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart, who will snag the final roster spot and more.
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First, they talked about the team’s goals with the season tipping off on May 17 against the Las Vegas Aces.
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“The team goal is to win another championship,” Kenney said. “We don’t know what 2026 is going to bring, and so the championship window is open now. You need to capitalize on it. … Natasha Cloud, you want to see her as a secondary piece to this big three. She needs to be able to complement Sabrina. And I think that bringing a veteran in like her, who has really like hit her stride within the last three or four years … she’s going to be that defensive anchor for them. She’s going to be the vocal leader on that end, and we’re already seeing it in practice. She’s the loudest one in in the practice facility for sure, and I think people feed off of that energy. I think she’s going to be that spark for them in a lot of ways.”
Later, Powell and Kenney discussed what they expect to see from Jones, Ionescu and Stewart.
“I think Breanna and JJ are very similar in expectations, in the sense that you just want to see them sustain that level of excellence that they’ve been playing at,” Kenney said. “You know what that looks like. For Breanna, it’s having another really good season and leading to championship, same with JJ, what she was able to do during the Finals. Sabrina Ionescu is the very interesting one, in my opinion, because she said that this is the best fit that she’s been this offseason, the way that she’s put in work with her trainer, and the conditioning that she’s been, I think that she is potentially due for a really big season and taking another jump in her WNBA career.”
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