A three-game losing streak put the Liberty below .500 for the first time in three seasons.
It’s an area not familiar in Stew York City — the Liberty spent just one game with a negative record since the 2023 roster overhaul that brought in Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones.
But under the tutelage of new head coach Chris DeMarco, the Liberty are showing growing pains.
It’s very early in the season, but the slow 2026 start reminds Liberty fans of the rough 2022 season when the team hired a new head coach — Sandy Brondello — and spent most of the year under .500.
And those growing pains are coming at the wrong time as the Phoenix Mercury, the team that upset the Liberty in the 2025 postseason, return to New York for a rematch.
“I just feel like every time it’s a new coaching staff, it will take time,” said Marine Johannes, who played for Brondello throughout the coach’s tenure in New York. The French guard added the team isn’t going to “win easily” just because they are the New York Liberty and labeled as one of the best teams in the WNBA.
“It takes time. Again, new coaching staff, new players. Chris is not asking the same [things as] Sandy, for example, on offense and defense… It’s only the beginning of the season.”
The 2026 Liberty, of course, projects to be better than the Brondello-led 2022 squad that finished 16-20.
The issues are mounting, though.
Some rotations deployed in games weren’t fine tuned in training camp due to injuries and some away on overseas commitment. The offense is a work in progress. The defense isn’t good enough for a team that loves to create opportunities on that end and convert on easy buckets in transition.
Absences due to Sabrina Ionescu’s ankle — now appearing on the Liberty’s Tuesday status report for back soreness — and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton’s personal reasons don’t help the cause.
And Satou Sabally (illness) is still on the mend after most recently exiting Monday’s loss to the Portland Fire after just four minutes of action.
“No definitely not,” Stewart said when asked if this is what she expected to start the season.
“But it’s a learning experience for everyone. My message to the players in the locker room is like ‘Nobody expected this. Not to say that we thought it was going to be easy, because we definitely didn’t. But it’s going to take time, and there’s going to be highs and lows, and while it seems like we’re in the lows right now, eventually we’ll get to a place where everybody’s really confident and comfortable in what’s going on.’”
The most recent Fire loss displayed the same issues that existed since the season opener. Players cited a better showing before they coughed up an eight-point lead going into the fourth quarter. The Liberty turned the ball over seven times in the final period and lost those 10 minutes 32-15.
Following the loss, a Tuesday film session was on the books, which likely included some hard truths.
“Film sessions after a loss are never fun, especially after a few losses, but they’re important for us to learn from it,” Rebekah Gardner said. “So we’re definitely gonna have, I’m sure, a lot on the film where we can learn from.”
The beauty of basketball is you don’t have to wait long to prove yourself against an opponent.
The ugly part ? They’ll have to do so against MVP candidate mainstay Alyssa Thomas and the Phoenix Mercury — twice.
The Mercury are in town for matchups on Wednesday and Friday at the same arena they stole Game 2 of the 2025 first-round playoff series.
The team later went on to eliminate the Liberty, 2-1, in the best-of-three series.
The good news is Phoenix is going through its own struggles to start the season.
They enter New York on a three-game skid and a 2-5 record after last season’s WNBA Finals appearance.
After shouldering a bit more scoring load with the departure of former teammate Sabally, Thomas is averaging a career-high 18.0 points while logging 7.9 rebounds and 8.0 assists.
But a playoff rematch is enough to wake up any struggling team. Perhaps, at least one will rise to the occasion.
“I think we don’t forget what happened last season,” Johannes said. “They have a great team. I think they are also struggling right now. It’s going to be a challenge, a battle. They are always playing hard.”