New York Liberty’s championship protection was meant to be a victory lap; as a substitute, it led to a disastrous first-round collapse. The Liberty suffered a disastrous first-round playoff setback in what turned out to be Sandy Brondello’s ultimate season with the group, dropping to the Phoenix Mercury, a group CBS Sports didn’t even contemplate a title contender earlier than the season. Now, veteran group member Breanna Stewart has shared her two cents on the group’s struggle-laden season.
In her interview, Stewart provided an attention-grabbing perspective, stating that the group couldn’t attain the ‘Flow State’ that that they had reached within the championship-winning season.
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“I don’t this it’s a huge issue for me. You call it like a flow state,” Stewart stated. “So, when you’re in that flow state where you’re reading and going off with your teammtes now, you have to have a chemistry, and you have to like keept that. So, we had a lot of changes between our Championship to our 2025 season. In trying to kind of course correct and create that flow state again very quickly, it just didn’t work.”
Now, stream state within the sports activities area refers back to the part of a group when all its actions are completely in sync and rhythm. That’s exactly the time period you may affiliate the NY Liberty with in 2024, the place each sequence of play had a stamp of dominance. The Big Three of Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, and Jonquel Jones, together with veteran Courtney Vandersloot, simply dominated any group that they confronted.
After all, sweeping Atlanta led by Rhyne Howard within the first spherical of the playoffs or dominating the Las Vegas Aces led by A’ja Wilson, 3-1 within the second spherical, is not any simple feat. The Liberty did it fairly convincingly with their skilled coach, Brondello, on the helm, calling it a “special time.” But instantly subsequent season, the tide modified, and the group obtained a bit decoupled.
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First, they misplaced one in every of their key gamers in Vandersloot, who returned to the Chicago Sky. Additionally, Jones, who offers an edge to the group on the glass, additionally sustained a proper knee damage and missed fairly a number of video games. The group did herald Natasha Cloud earlier than the offseason to deal with Vandersloot’s absence, however the chemistry the group had in 2024 by no means materialized below Sandy Brondello final 12 months, with inconsistency relating to accidents and stagnation on the court docket at occasions.
On high of that, the Liberty weren’t clear on the court docket, particularly on the boards, the place the group noticed a serious drop-off from north of 36 rebounds per sport in 2024 to round 33 final season. Stewart had additionally hinted that the group doesn’t have a Championship-level mentality within the locker room halfway by the season.
After a loss to the Phoenix Mercury within the common season, Stewart stated, “This is not championship-level basketball at this point, and everybody needs to recognize that and understand that we need to get there.”
Jun 27, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; New York Liberty ahead Breanna Stewart (30) appears to be like on in opposition to the Phoenix Mercury through the first half at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
While the 2025 season was marked by all these exterior elements and a level of desynchronization, the NY Liberty has assembled a bunch of Avengers heading into the following season. And veteran Stewart is sort of optimistic for the instant way forward for the group in that regard.
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Breanna Stewart Sounds Positive About Her Team’s Depth and Chemistry Going Into the Upcoming Season
For the NY Liberty, most of their worries obtained eased straight away within the free company. Liberty’s entrance workplace performed a masterclass, bringing again its Big Three. On high of that, the group additionally signed star ahead Satou Sabally so as to add extra firepower to their frontcourt. Speaking in an interview after a number of days within the coaching camp, Breanna Stewart has emphasised that the depth and physicality of gamers like herself and Jones could be their ace heading into the season.
“It seems like we just have a lot of length,” Stewart stated. “Anywhere you look. We’re long and we’re tall, and we’re gonna kind of use that to our advantage. I’m sure some people are gonna think that, ‘Oh, we’ll be too big.’ But [it] seems hard to stop.”
The three-time WNBA champ additionally doubled down on group bonding throughout camp, particularly with an array of recent gamers on the roster. “So far, it looks like the team has really gelled and gotten the hang of it quickly,” she stated. “I was able to be in for most of practice today, which I was happy about, and then ramp up for Saturday.”
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All in all, it will likely be attention-grabbing to see how this physicality and group bonding play out for them this season. After all, additionally they had the identical core and fairly a considerable firepower, however the outcomes didn’t prove for them. With a brand new coach, Chris DeMarco, Breanna Stewart, and the Liberty hope to see their on-paper power materialize into one other championship-winning season, beginning in a number of weeks.
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