With three seconds remaining in Game 3 of the 2024 WNBA Finals, Sabrina Ionescu rose from 28 feet out to attempt a shot to give the Liberty a 2-1 series lead over the Lynx. As the ball went through the net with just a second remaining on the clock, ESPN's Ryan Ruocco called Ionescu's logo dagger "the biggest shot in Liberty history."
Several nights later, Ionescu, Breanna Stewart and the rest of the Liberty celebrated on that same mid-court logo as they could, at long last, call themselves WNBA champions.
As one of the WNBA's original franchises, New York's history runs deeper than most, and while that history included numerous Finals appearances, it did not include a title before Sunday night.
Here's more on the historic drought that the Liberty have put to an end and how they got it done.
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Liberty WNBA Finals record
With Ionescu's Game 3 winner and Sunday's Game 5 OT thriller at the forefront, the Liberty have been on both sides of some of the most memorable moments in WNBA Finals history.
In 1999, Hall of Famer Teresa Weatherspoon miraculously extended the Finals from beyond halfcourt before the team lost to the Comets in a decisive Game 3. Last year, Courtney Vandersloot misfired on a corner jumper that would have forced a decisive Game 5.
Whether it was on the right or wrong side of these Finals moments, New York always lost the series. That is, until this year.
After losing three of the first four WNBA Finals, the Liberty lost again in 2002 and again in 2023, giving the franchise an 0-5 record ahead of the 2024 series.
| Year | Opponent | Series |
| 1997 | Houston Comets | L, 1-0 |
| 1999 | Houston Comets | L, 2-1 |
| 2000 | Houston Comets | L, 2-0 |
| 2002 | Los Angeles Sparks | L, 2-0 |
| 2023 | Las Vegas Aces | L, 3-1 |
| 2024 | Minnesota Lynx | W, 3-2 |
Like many teams that fall shy of winning a title the year prior, the Liberty entered 2024 on a mission to avenge last year's Finals, something that became evident rather quickly.
Unlike most of those other teams, however, the Liberty were also battling against decades of coming up short. As such, this year's title was years in the making.
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How Liberty broke through to end historic championship drought
It's hard to find a team more motivated than the 2024 Liberty.
After a 4-2 start to the season, New York won 17 of its next 19 games to take a 21-4 record into the Olympic break. They parlayed the hot start into a franchise record-tying 32-8 record, good for the league's top seed and home-court advantage throughout the WNBA Playoffs.
New York's roster is unquestionably one of the most talented in league history as it's led by a former No. 1 overall pick in Ionescu and a pair of former MVPs in Stewart and Jonquel Jones. The playoff lineup was rounded out by Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, who does a little bit of everything for the team, and 24-year-old rookie Leonie Fiebich, who joined the team in 2024 after they acquired her rights last year.
Look closer and you'll see that Laney-Hamilton, Stewart, and Vandersloot were free-agent acquisitions and Jones came in via a big-swing trade. A first-class organization made first-class moves to give their players first-class treatment.
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More than just savvy work from basketball operations executives, the Liberty's ability to acquire — and retain — such talent is a direct product of the franchise's investments into their product.
Since acquiring the franchise in 2019, owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai have made historic investments in the Liberty, including facilitating the team's move to Brooklyn's Barclay's Center and providing their players with a first-class experience, including a top-rate practice facility that is in the works.
As I noted last year to encapsulate the Aces' back-to-back run, it's no coincidence that the franchises investing in their players are the last ones standing. The Liberty are just the latest example of a franchise setting the standard for other teams in the league.
If you subscribe to the belief that the first is the hardest, this New York team's ability to overcome a 27-year history and an 0-5 Finals record should speak volumes. Ionescu is only getting better, Jones and Stewart are still in their prime, and the ownership will continue to invest in this franchise.
As we sit back and appreciate all this Liberty team has accomplished in 2024, recognize that this may just be the beginning of much more to come.
