Inside the Liberty’s emotional reunion with Kayla Thornton and Ohemaa Nyanin

Kennedy Burke knew exactly who was going to be coming. She asked both the team’s photographer and videographer to let Burke know when Kayla Thornton, her former teammate, close friend and partner in comedy was going to appear.

Burke initially wanted to scare Thornton just like Thornton would often prank her former Liberty teammates. Instead, Burke opted just to pop out from behind the backboard rather than a full-on spooking. It was going to be an emotional moment, and so Burke didn’t want to disrupt that. When Thornton first walked out of that tunnel, her emotions rained on her. She had her hands in her face before Burke popped out to greet her.

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Thornton’s tears fell to her face as she hugged Burke first, and then as Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart hovered around the two in line to also hug Thornton, a group hug formed. Sabrina Ionescu was next in line, and then came Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb to greet Thornton and show her the team’s new championship banner that’s now high in the Barclays Center rafters. He pointed up with his right arm to point to the fact that her name will be enshrined in the building forever.

It was the first time that Burke or any of the members of the 2024 Liberty championship team had seen Thornton since the team paraded down Manhattan and celebrated for an entire week in late October. It’s the first time they’ve seen her since Thornton was drafted by the WNBA’s newest team, the Golden State Valkyries, over a month later.

“It’s been emotional ever since we got here,” Thornton said hours later during pregame. “I think about two days ago. It was very tough for me.” [Kolb] had stuff set up in my room with my white [championship warmup] jacket, and my picture and stuff like that. So that really hit hard. I’m just so glad to be back.”

Since head coach Sandy Brondello was fulfilling her media requirements during shoot-around, Brondello decided to come out to the court during pregame warmups to make sure she had her own private moment with Thornton. There were multiple hugs and smiles from both Thornton and her former coach.

Around an hour later, Thornton was welcomed back publicly to an area filled with 14,774 people. The jumbotron featured a one-minute-long video paying tribute to Thornton’s two years in seafoam and black that was adorned by the text: “Once a Liberty Always a Liberty.”

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Kolb, the entire team, the coaches and basketball operations staff surrounded Thornton at center court to create the spectacle that they believed their former teammate, and as Jones says: “sister for life” deserved. Thornton hugged Kolb, took the giant box the championship ring was stored in and received a large bouquet of white roses from Burke.

Jones, Stewart and Ionescu dabbed her up as she took photos with a wide open smile with both her flowers and ring in her hands. Thornton then backed up to make sure she got a photo with the entire team, including the staff. Kolb and Ionescu took the ring box from Thornton to put it in a safe place while she was still giving huge hugs to all the people she used to see every day. Once she gave all of her hugs, Kolb returned to let her know exactly where he put the box so that after the game, she knew where she could retrieve it.

“The ring ceremony was so special for us, and she wasn’t able to be a part of that obviously,” Jones said during the Liberty’s postgame presser. “And so we just wanted to make her feel special and also just allow her to be able to take the moment in and just understand that when the game is being played, we are opponents, but other than that we’re sisters for life. And it’s an experience and something that nobody will be able to take away from us.”

Moments later, it was time to play the game and try to lock in and remain focused. With Thornton on the other side and now guarding her former teammates, the love, hugs and smiles were no longer the main focus. It was time to lock in.

Thornton’s main assignment, especially with Tiffany Hayes out recovering from a nose injury, was guarding Ionescu. Thornton stole the ball four times from her former teammates, including twice from Ionescu, in a game that the Liberty would eventually win handily, 95-67 over the Valkyries. Thornton took a hard fall in the first quarter after Natasha Cloud set a hard screen for Ionescu. She took a bit to get up, but after a neck massage from the Valkyries’ athletic trainer, she was back on the floor and ready to go.

There was a moment late in the third quarter when Ionescu asked Thornton if she could stop picking her up 94 feet up the floor. Ionescu was getting exhausted from Thornton guarding her the entire length of the court. Thornton looked at Ionescu, smiled, and pulled Ionescu’s jersey as gameplay continued.

When Burke checked in, there were multiple moments when she and Thornton were guarding each other. It was very difficult for Burke not to break into a smile now going up against someone whom she was always joking around.

“I really couldn’t keep my smile,” Burke told a group of reporters. “I couldn’t be serious. She was looking at me, I was looking at her and I was like ‘[Thornton] we are in the middle of the game, be serious.'”

It felt just like old times, welcoming Ohemaa Nyanin back

During halftime, the Liberty had another ceremony, and this time it was for Valkyries GM Ohemma Nyanin, the Liberty’s former assistant GM and the person responsible for a lot of the Liberty’s build from league bottom dwellers to eventual champions.

Kolb received a familiar text on Thursday morning prior to shoot-around. Nyanin asked if he wanted anything from this particular coffee shop where the two frequently got breakfast. “It was a text I used to get every day,” Kolb told The Next.

It was just like old times. He replied with his order, and once the Valkyries walked into shoot-around, there Nyanin was with his coffee order in an egg carton coffee holder. He gave her a hug, and she gave him his coffee.

Kolb wanted to make sure that Nyanin was honored properly for her years and years of service to the franchise, although she accepted the job of Valkyries GM during last year’s training camp.

“I can only imagine,” he said. “You’d have to ask her what it would have been like to be along for this ride, and then have to step away at that time when you don’t yet have a team. I don’t know what that would be like. And so I think we just have a real human relationship, and we’re really blessed to be in each other’s lives. And I want to make sure that she’s honored and recognized for her contributions, and has to keep sake for that’ll last a lifetime.”

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Once Nyanin got her ring, ring box, and white roses, she made her way to the scorer’s table, where her parents were there to hold her ring while she got back to work as a first-year GM for the WNBA’s newest team. She made her way up into the Barclays Center’s lower bowl to find more family members, and even some Liberty fans wanted to pay their respects to Nyanin as well.

As much as this was a homecoming for Thornton, this was also for Nyanin. The Liberty wouldn’t have won in 2024 without the hours of work she did for the team behind the scenes.

“She helped Jonathan build this roster and so I’ve known her forever,” Ionescu said postgame about Nyanin. “I think everyone here really respects the years she was here and the work she put in. She was with us to start that season for a few weeks or however long it was. She was a part of the players that were here and she helped with [Stewart] and [Jones] and [Courtney Vander]sloot at the time being able to come here and have an easy transition. She was a part of that championship run and obviously I think it speaks volumes of our organization and how they appreciate every single person who helps and is a part of this championship team and pays it forward with a championship ring, because that’s something she’ll have forever.” 

While Nyanin and Thornton are both missed in New York, they are with Golden State for a reason. It was time in both of their careers to stretch their wings and be a part of something new, something they are both creating together. And it’s not like Nyanin and Thornton won’t be able to spend time with the members of the Liberty who meant a lot to them. Kolb and Nyanin still talk all the time, and Jones made sure to hang out and say hello to Thornton’s parents after the final game buzzer sounded. And the two teams play each other once again on Thursday.

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