New York Liberty's search for answers, identity ends in WNBA semifinals as team faces uncertain future, coaching questions

NEW YORK — The headline of the New York Liberty's 2026 season might as well be "missed opportunity." It came to roost in the semifinals, where they fed directly into the Atlanta Dream's game plan in Game 1, failed to use a reset timeout in a controversial end to Game 2 and misstepped multiple times while holding a fourth-quarter lead in Game 3.

It was the exact way veteran two-time MVP Breanna Stewart described it after she was swept for the first time in her illustrious WNBA career. The Liberty wasted another year of an elite winner, and a season of keeping their big three together in an era where it's becoming increasingly difficult to do so. She exited down the tunnel of Barclays Center with a towel over her head after congratulating the Atlanta Dream for moving on to the Finals .

"It's really hard to win a WNBA championship, and I feel like because we did it, we went there twice early on, it was almost like, 'oh, this is gonna be an every year thing,'" Stewart said. "Like you guys know, like, this s*** isn't easy."

The looming question is whether the team's missed opportunities stem from an offseason decision. Her remarks, quite notably, came in response to a question posed to each of Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones: was it their "hope and belief" that first-time head coach Chris DeMarco would retain his job?

It became a season-long question whether DeMarco was the right fit for leading a big three built as a "superteam" that reached the 2023 and 2024 Finals. They lost in the deciding Game 3 of the 2025 first round to the Finals-bound Phoenix Mercury, and parted ways with championship coach Sandy Brondello.

The Liberty slid into the No. 8 seed in the playoffs, the last spot in the field with a 26-18 record. Their 3.6 net rating ranked seventh, marking the first time since 2022 they were not one of the top three. They averaged 20.8 assists, another drop from their three-year run in the top two. The longtime Golden State Warriors assistant took extra heat this week after the reset timeout blunder , his failure to show emotion over it and that Stewart was the one to speak on it after the game.

"That's not our say," Jones, wearing sunglasses and leaning back, said Friday night. "Our job is to go out, play good basketball, and represent the organization well, represent the fan base well, and our families well. I think we do a good job of focusing on that. And it is what it is."

Ionescu also noted DeMarco's future was not their decision.

"I don't know what's going to happen," Ionescu said. "And regardless, [I'm] thankful for him coaching us this year, and obviously giving us a chance, and we just fell short."

Stewart also said the decision was not theirs, and it was "tough to talk or think about that right now."

DeMarco, who took the podium by himself in a shift from many previous post-game press conferences in the playoffs, said he expects to return.

"From as far as I know, every communication I've had, dialogue I've had, the answer is yes," he said.

The Liberty looked a shell of their talented selves in the semifinals, and through much of the regular season. They missed assignments defensively and stalled offensively. There were 15 different starting lineups in the regular season, a partial result of constantly rotating injuries that players described as difficult to navigate.

Their free agent addition, Satou Sabally, played only 13 games due to a concussion. Ionescu missed the first month of the season and dealt with a season-long back injury.

"It was not an easy year for me," Ionescu said. "Physically, mentally, all of the above."

They lacked consistency and couldn't rely on chemistry as much as expected. The four starters from the championship team are the only ones from that roster.

"We started to show some life and peak a little bit towards the end and really in the playoffs, but this is not like cramming for a test," Stewart said. "You got to be ready and ready to go since the jump.

"It takes time and time wasn't really on our side here."

The word "professionalism" popped up a lot in the final week of the Liberty's season in relation to how the players conducted themselves. Their emotions rang louder than DeMarco's in the post-game press conference.

The Liberty front office will have decisions to make not only about the coaching staff, but the roster. Ionescu, Stewart and Jones are signed at about $1.25 million each. Sabally is also under contract, as is Leonie Fiebich. Everyone else is a free agent or reserved.

"Honestly, like, is this team enough to win a championship? Absolutely," Stewart said. "And I believe that, like, 1,000%. At the same time, with the expansion, with the increased salaries and stuff like that, it's hard to keep a good team together because people are gonna go get paid."

She declined in general to say what the Liberty need, but did note the similarities between the two teams that will play for a championship in a season defined by the opposite.

"People say defense wins championships," Stewart said. "It's f****** true. It does. And Atlanta, they have three of the top players in their top three in steals. You know, and it's not to compare and contrast because we're the New York Liberty. But like, we just needed to really understand our identity a little bit better from the jump."