The New York Liberty team that walked off the court last fall with the franchise’s first-ever WNBA championship has made some slight adjustments to the roster.
Stars Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu are back. Courtney Vandersloot left in free agency, and Kayla Thornton was lost in the expansion draft.
But the team made one huge roster change with the addition of guard Natasha Cloud, a stalwart defender whom New York had tried to trade for through the years, head coach Sandy Brondello said Friday. It finally happened in March when the Connecticut Sun — who had acquired her from Phoenix the month prior — sent the 33-year-old to New York for first-round draft picks in 2025 and ‘26.
And Cloud, a first-team All-Defensive Team selection in 2022 and a 2019 WNBA champion with the Washington Mystics, is embracing her new role.
“I’m going to continue to study,” she said, per the New York Daily News. “I don’t want to only know what my position is. I want to know where everyone’s supposed to be on the board, the nuances of offense, the options too.
“And once I retain that, I’ll be better handling offense, too. So that’s my main goal right now, is just being able to run our offense with fluidity and knowing it like the back of my hand.”
The Liberty open the regular season May 17 at home against the Las Vegas Aces.
–In Atlanta, Brittney Griner is opening her first season with the Dream after 11 with the Phoenix Mercury. And she’s being tasked by first-year head coach Karl Smesko to move beyond her traditional center position.
Seems you can teach veteran post players some new tricks.
The Dream signed the 6-foot-9 Griner and 6-foot-3 Brionna Jones as free agents in the offseason, putting two longtime competitors and All-Star centers on the same roster. They are venturing away from the post.
“Either one of us, we can interchange, pop in, or going down low,” Griner said on a team video call. “The other team, you’ve got to pick your poison. Definitely don’t want to be them. Yeah, this is going to be a good partnership right here.”
Added Jones, “It’s a lot of fun to be able to have that other post player that I know I can dump it down to and play off of it.”
And if they see an open 3-point attempt, Smesko wants them to take it.
Smesko knows just how he plans to integrate them into his guard-rich offense, even if success doesn’t come overnight.
“I thought these two would work really well together,” Smesko said. “But I thought it would take a little bit of time to jell. They’re just so smart and they’re able to realize their advantages. They really pick things up quickly. They’ve only practiced together a few days and to be as far along and to make as many smart reads as they’ve been doing is really remarkable.”
Griner is grateful.
“Every day I’m just so glad I don’t have to guard (Jones) anymore,” Griner said. “It’s been amazing.”
–The Liberty’s scheme won’t look the same this season, either, as they’ve decided to do something similar to the Dream. Instead of an offense with a big in the paint and four players on the outside, the “five-out” will see some action this season, too.
“It’s good,” fourth-year center Nyara Sabally said, according to the New York Post. “It’s kind of the way the game is developing. If you look at other teams, if you look at NBA teams, that’s kind of how the game has been developing, too.
“Especially in our team, I feel like we have a lot of bigs that can handle the ball that are outside. Our starting center (Jones) can shoot step-back 3s. So it’s kind of like almost fits us really well.”
The 6-foot-5 Sabally said she is ready to move from the post to the outside when called to do so.
“For me, I feel like I’ve always been kind of more on the dynamic side. I like being on the perimeter and being able to drive and stuff, so I think it kind of just opens up the paint a lot,” she said. “Got to get used to actually shooting the 3 and being comfortable with that, but it’s more so just being aware that there’s a lot more space to operate with. It’s a fast-paced offense. We want to run. We want to get out, so I think it’s going to be a good fit.”
–Field Level Media
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