Golden State Valkyries Expansion Draft Speculation Series: New York Liberty

After assembling their new core last season and making it to the finals, the New York Liberty took the last step this season and won their first championship this year. They will certainly be in a position to repeat next season even taking into account losing a player in this process. Due to the rights that they have collected over the years, there will be a very long list of unprotected players for the Valkyries to choose from during the draft. Given that Golden State GM Ohemaa Nyanin previously worked for the Liberty, this process will be a big strategic battle between the teams when it comes to protection and trade offers.

Salary and contract status for 2025 from Her Hoop Stats as sourced by Richard Cohen:
https://herhoopstats.com/salary-cap-sheet/wnba/team/2024/new-york-liberty-11eaecc7-356f-5524-b611-2362f5011b0b/

Hypothetical Protection Priority Order

1. Breanna Stewart (unrestricted free agent)
2. Sabrina Ionescu ($208,060)
3. Jonquel Jones ($195,000 guaranteed)
4. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton ($185,400 guaranteed)
5. Leonie Fiebich ($68,595, 2nd year rookie scale)
6. Nyara Sabally ($79,999, 3rd year rookie scale)
7. Kayla Thornton ($112,000 guaranteed)
8. Marine Johannes (reserved)
9. Han Xu (exclusive negotiating rights)
10. Courtney Vandersloot (unrestricted free agent)
11. Rebekah Gardner (reserved)
12. Ivana Dojkic (reserved)
13. Jaylyn Sherrod (reserved)
14. Raquel Carrera (draft rights)
15. Marine Fauthoux (draft rights)
16. Marquesha Davis ($71,753, 2nd year rookie contract)
17. Kaitlyn Davis (draft rights)
18. Kennedy Burke (unrestricted free agent)

Locks for Protection

Breanna Stewart may be an unrestricted free agent, but the Liberty are going to make sure that they protect their star forward so that they can use their core designation on her for the second straight season. Sabrina Ionescu is a Bay Area native and the team’s drafted star who will also be an easy protection decision as the starting point guard. Jonquel Jones was acquired in a trade as a part of building this core and the starting center won the MVP award in the championship series, making her another easy protection decision.

Coming into the season, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton was expected provide critical perimeter defense for the team, which she did again while healthy. As one of the starters on the wing, she should also still be clearly on the protection side of the list. Leonie Fiebich was drafted back in 2020 since she qualified as an international player, but after two trades, was finally making her WNBA debut this year, still only slightly older than some of the college players who were picked in this year’s draft class and being younger than one of the Liberty’s picks. She ended up grabbing the other starting wing spot and then provided critical shooting and versatility in the playoffs. There could be concerns about her availability in the future as the German national team continues to reach new heights, but her production on a rookie scale contract is certainly valuable enough to protect.

Tough Team Decisions

The Liberty will likely have their decision for the last spot come down to two players. Backup center Nyara Sabally provided valuable minutes to the team and could be that choice as the younger player who is still in the middle of her rookie scale contract. Kayla Thornton was the other player acquired in their first big trade last year and she has provided excellent versatility on defense during her time with the team. Given that she has a guaranteed contract for next season, leaving her unprotected could give them a chance at still keeping her if the Valkyries prefer flexibility.

New York has had a strategy of assembling international talent and there are a couple of players who did not play for them this season whose rights they retain from previous seasons. There was some belief that Marine Johannes would return to the team to take the last roster spot after her time at the Olympics with France to provide some scoring as a guard off the bench, but that did not happen. She has stated that playing as much as possible in the WNBA is one of her goals at this stage in her career, but there would still be some worry that her strong relationship with New York might not make her as interested in playing with another team. Han Xu’s time with the Liberty, on the other hand, seems likely to be over even if her rights still have to be acquired from them. Her minutes and opportunities dwindled last year after having more backup center minutes the previous season and she opted not to return to the team after national team duty, meaning that her contract expired while being in suspended status.

A player who would have been considered likely for protection before the season, Courtney Vandersloot was the other big free agent signing last year after she had successful seasons as a point guard with Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones overseas, making them want to compete as a group in the WNBA. Unfortunately, family health and injury disrupted her season and she offered to come off the bench in the playoffs, seeing her minutes decrease further. While she is at the tail end of her career, she could very well get back to being the great passer who is not too far away from being setting the league career record for assists. A veteran point guard who can organize the offense would be invaluable to a new team so there has to be at least some consideration that she could be selected as the one free agent who immediate gets the core designation applied to her for next season.

Likely Left Unprotected

The Liberty have so many options to consider that there are just going to be a lot of players who will be moved out of protection contention so that they can focus on the toughest portion of their decisions. They made a small trade during this offseason for the rights to Rebekah Gardner, who could not play after suffering a major injury while playing overseas. The guard was an incredible story during her rookie season, making a roster for the first time after a decade overseas and could still contribute once she finishes her recovery, but will be left unprotected behind other choices.

Ivana Dojkic finagled becoming an unrestricted free agent in the offseason so the Liberty were able to sign her after publicly pursuing the combo guard previously from her time with the Croatian national team. She played a reasonable amount of minutes, but did not get much opportunity in the postseason and is not likely to be a priority for protection. Jaylyn Sherrod will also be on reserved status after filling the team’s last roster spot for the stretch run. She brings a speed dimension to playing point guard, but is also unlikely to be protected.

The Liberty have a pair of recently drafted international players who have never signed contracts with the team and are unlikely to get much consideration for protection. Spanish power forward Raquel Carrera has had a promising start to her career in Europe, but she is currently injured and it is unclear if she will ever try the WNBA. Point guard Marine Fauthoux has also established herself in Europe and the French national team’s plans for more flexibility in allowing players to miss some of training camp to try to establish themselves in the WNBA could mean that she at least tries to make a roster at some point, especially since her spot on the team is more secure now that her father is the men’s national team coach.

Marquesha Davis was the team’s first draft pick this year, but she did not show much in limited opportunities on the wing to make her a strong candidate for protection. Their last pick in the draft was forward Kaitlyn Davis, who did not sign with the team, but instead started her professional career in Mexico. She then continued her journey in Puerto Rico and the Liberty retain her rights for next season. Kennedy Burke was signed to be a backup forward and she fulfilled her tole as expected, but as an unrestricted free agent, she will not be under core consideration and does not need to be protected.

The Valkyries Perspective

There are a lot of options for the Valkyries to sort through when it comes to the Liberty leaving players unprotected, but having a GM who worked for New York should give them a head start in evaluating their options. In terms of players who can contribute right away, the likely decision to either leave Nyara Sabally or Kayla Thornton as the first unprotected player could provide an easy choice. Barring unexpected protection choices, it seems unlikely that Golden State will use their ability to pick an unprotected unrestricted free agent to apply the core designation to, but Courtney Vandersloot might be the closest to a player who gets that consideration. There will also be a mix of international and young players that could be riskier picks. New York would like a little more protection ability so they could offer a small trade to try to make that happen.