The 2024 Liberty training camp roster still features last season’s star-studded starting lineup that lifted the franchise to its first WNBA Finals since 2002. However, the injuries, distractions and lifestyle changes currently aren’t obstacles that face some of the key contributors.
Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot are all settled as incumbent New Yorkers and feel they’ve hit the ground running from Day 1 of training camp.
The same couldn’t be said last year with the trio spending a good portion — if not most — of training camp on the sidelines with injuries.
“A lot of things kind of hit me from different sides,” Jones told the Daily News about her 2023 training camp experience after landing in New York via trade. “I didn’t come in healthy and then I was learning a new offense. Learning how to play with players that I’ve never played in the WNBA with before.”
Jones’ injury and transition contributed to a slow start as new Liberty member. Her foot ailment, which was suffered in the 2022 WNBA Finals with the Connecticut Sun, lingered into the start of the 2023 season while she averaged just 10.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Both numbers were lower than her career marks of 13.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.
After getting familiar with Sandy Brondello’s system and overcoming the foot injury post-All-Star break, Jones took off. She recorded a double-double in seven of the 10 matchups after the break while averaging 14.6 points and 12.4 boards during that span. The center had recorded just two double-doubles before the break.
She hopes the same kind of production will be on display from Game 1 of the regular season with the previous year under her belt.
“So it was a lot of things I was trying to learn and get over in the same time,” Jones said about last season. “And I feel like this year everything has kind of fallen into place and allowed me to come in and transition seamlessly.”
Stewart — the 2023 MVP — was “excited” to pick up from where the team ended last season. She wasn’t granted that continuity after departing Seattle for New York in free agency. She had also been playing for Turkish club Fenerbahçe while the Liberty pursued her in free agency.
“For sure,” Stewart said during Saturday’s media day when asked if this training camp and offseason feels like less of a whirlwind.
“I started training camp with no furniture,” Stewart added. “And now to be like settled. I know where I live, I know my things, I know what my kids are doing. And I can just come here to work with my team and continue to get better.
The Syracuse-born hooper also said she’s gotten so accustomed to New York City that she no longer relies on her car to get around.
“I take the subway. I take the subway a lot,” she said. “I just can’t do traffic. The drivers make me carsick.”
The team’s starting guard had hurdles to get over, too. Vandersloot, who signed a deal with the Liberty last offseason, suffered a concussion and missed key practice time before the start of the 2023 regular season.
Brondello believes that the stars — and the rest of the team — building this chemistry is needed for the franchise to win its first title in team history. She likened the need for the team’s core to stick together like the Las Vegas Aces’ core has.
Aces superstars A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young have been together since the 2019 season. Star guard Chelsea Gray and big Kiah Stokes joined that core group in 2021. The group lifted Hall of Famer Becky Hammon’s squad to back-to-back titles in the 2022 and 2023 seasons after years of early postseason exits.
Brondello and the Liberty look to follow that mold. And getting the core back healthy with less distractions is step one in the yearlong process.
She said getting the squad back healthy for this training camp “is nice because last year Stewie had three days with us, JJ was injured, Slooty got concussed. So it was like ‘OK here we go we’re gonna have a training camp in the first month of the season.’
“And you just see the chemistry. The only way you can build chemistry is time. And Vegas had that. You see the continuity, how they’ve grown over the years and we’re hoping that we can take a huge step this year.”