Satou Sabally is officially a member of the New York Liberty. On Friday morning, the franchise introduced their newest star across the street from Barclays Center at Brooklyn Basketball Training Center, where she hosted a clinic for some lucky youth that got to spend Friday hooping with a 3-time All-Star instead of going to school\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cJust like, getting people to run that usually don\u2019t run, it really \u2014- sports liberates you. And I just love to bring that to the youth and show them and be an example for that,\u201d said Sabally before diving into why she decided to join the Liberty, her vision for the loaded squad, and the pain of missing her sister Nyara in New York by just one season.<\/p>\n
The 2023 All-WNBA First Team selection admitted that she heavily weighed an opportunity to win a championship in her free agent decision, and it\u2019s obvious from the two-year, $1.67 million contract she signed: \u201cI can be a superstar and single myself out in a different team and get that 1.2 or 1.4 (million dollars) but what I really wanted to do is win a championship. I think that is missing on my resume.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sabally was a free agent before the 2025 season as well, and even after signing with the Phoenix Mercury (and subsequently getting to but losing the WNBA Finals) she admitted she came \u201cvery close\u201d to signing with the Liberty instead. So what changed this time around?<\/p>\n
\u201cPhoenix was very far away from home for me as an international player,\u201d she explained. \u201cLike, a nine-hour time difference. I could only talk to my little brothers before practice at 6 am. After 2pm, it\u2019s over. So I think it was also a personal decision just to get closer to my own home \u2026 I\u2019ve been in New York a lot in off-season, and I love New York so much, so I think I wanted to combine private life and business a little bit more than I previously did in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019d also posit that signing a below market-rate contract is a bit easier to stomach when it\u2019s $825k and not, say, $150k.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think I still have unfinished business with Sab,\u201d said Sabally, referring to her collegiate career at Oregon next to Sabrina Ionescu, which ended with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ducks would have surely been a #1 seed in that spring\u2019s NCAA Tournament, and Ionescu and the elder Sabally sister were the first two picks in that year\u2019s WNBA Draft.<\/p>\n
Of course, a reunion in New York is a joyous occasion for the friends: \u201cWe were both, like, just squeaking on FaceTime, I think, for like two minutes. Just like, \u2018Oh my God!\u2019 So that was the initial conversation, but obviously we had conversations before that. And she, you know, she actually told me \u2018Well, I don\u2019t truly know everything that the front office is doing, but I know they\u2019re doing the right thing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
That sums up how many players feel about New York\u2019s ownership and front office, constantly lauded as the league\u2019s best. It\u2019s tough to argue with the results, though there is one player missing from the picture. Nyara Sabally, 2024 WNBA Finals hero, celebrated with Satou at the championship parade\u2026<\/p>\n