1 week Ago
Open Extended Reactions After 28 seasons, the New York Liberty have finally won a WNBA title. And they'll start ESPN's early look at next season on top, too. While the champagne corks are still popping for the Liberty, let's look at how things could stand in 2025, which will include the league's first expansion team since 2008.
New York should have the bulk of its core back next season. Starters Jonquel Jones, Sabrina Ionescu and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton are under contract through 2025. Breanna Stewart is an unrestricted free agent but said last week she will sign a one-year deal with New York.
Courtney Vandersloot is also a free agent, and we'll have to see how that works out. "Continuity helps in this league," said coach Sandy Brondello, who finished her third season with the Liberty. "The league keeps getting better and better, and going to a new team, it takes time to put your philosophy on a team.
Every team changes somewhat every year, but I think we've got a really good core base." It will be a busy WNBA offseason. The draft lottery is Nov.
17, and the Golden State Valkyries' expansion draft is Dec. 6. Both will be televised on ESPN.
Free agency is in early 2025, plus four coaching jobs are vacant: Dallas, as of Friday, is the latest, joining Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles. Teams that already have locked down key parts of their rosters were given weight in the rankings. (Also, because of the potential that the players can opt out of their collective bargaining agreement after the 2025 season, you won't see a lot of contracts past 2025 until a new CBA is in place.
) So much will happen between now and next spring, but the top two teams will likely stay put in ESPN's Way-Too-Early Power Rankings. 2024 rankings: Preseason | May 20 | May 27 | June 3 | June 10 | June 17 | June 24 | July 1 | July 8 | July 15 | Aug. 19 | Aug.
26 | Sept. 2 | Sept. 9 | Sept.
16 2024 finish: Won WNBA championship Final 2024 regular-season ranking: 2 The Liberty's goal...
Michael Voepel.
