New York's newest hire has officially introduced himself, as incoming Liberty head coach Chris DeMarco held his first WNBA press conference on Wednesday — despite plans to remain an assistant with the Golden State Warriors through the end of the year.
"I did just a little bit of research. It was a no-brainer that this is the best opportunity in the WNBA," DeMarco told reporters. "[It's] a good championship franchise and this was what I wanted and that's why I'm here right now."
The 40-year-old comes to Brooklyn via the NBA, having spent 13 years working for Golden State in a variety of roles — and winning four league titles with the team.
With New York parting ways with head coach Sandy Brondello in September, DeMarco's addition indicates the 2024 WNBA champs are prioritizing new ideas over experience with the women's game.
"In my free time, I have, pouring into this, probably ordered every book on the New York Liberty," DeMarco said. "I always watched as a fan, so now I have to shift my focus and watch as a coach… [and] learn about the history of the WNBA."
He also mentioned speaking with Phoenix Mercury boss Nate Tibbetts and GM Nick U'Ren, as both joined the women's league after careers in the NBA.
DeMarco will remain with the Warriors in California through January 1st, 2026, before heading to New York just as offseason movement begins to kick up.
The Toronto Tempo have apparently landed a head coach, with The IX Sports reporting Wednesday that the WNBA expansion side tapped ex-New York boss Sandy Brondello as their sideline leader for the team's 2026 season debut.
The Liberty parted ways with Brondello following New York's first-round exit in the playoffs last month — less than a year after the 20-year WNBA coaching veteran led the team to their first-ever championship.
Toronto expects to make the deal with Brondello official in the next few days, as soon as the parties finalize the terms of the contract.
After her dismissal from the Liberty, Brondello reportedly fielded significant interest from several WNBA teams, opting to join the upstart squad as the Tempo continues to build out their front office.
Toronto brought on WNBA champion Monica Wright Rogers as GM in February 2025, later appointing longtime LA Sparks assistant GM Eli Horowitz as the new franchise's assistant GM and senior VP of basketball strategy.
With the Tempo now following fellow 2026 expansion side Portland in securing sideline leaders this month, the WNBA now has three vacancies remaining in its coaching carousel, with the Seattle Storm, Dallas Wings, and New York still searching for their next leaders.
Both the Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire will now hope for clarity from the league's ongoing CBA negotiations in order to prep for an expected expansion draft and free agency period in early 2026.
The Liberty have officially parted ways with head coach Sandy Brondello, with the franchise announcing that it will not renew her contract for the 2026 season on Tuesday — less than one year after the manager led New York to a first-ever WNBA title.
The move follows the No. 5-seed Liberty's first-round exit from the 2025 WNBA Playoffs, with the reigning champs falling to the No. 4 Phoenix Mercury in a winner-take-all Game 3 last Friday.
"Sandy finishes her tenure in New York as the winningest coach in franchise history, and she took us to never-before-seen heights as the first head coach to lead the Liberty to a championship," New York GM Jonathan Kolb said in a franchise statement on Tuesday. "We wish Sandy the very best in her next chapter."
The firing of Brondello sent shockwaves across the WNBA, with many questioning the unprecedented move — particularly considering that New York Liberty dealt with numerous high-profile injuries throughout the 2025 season.
"I didn't love it for Sandy, I'm gonna have to be honest," Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon told reporters following the news about Brondello. "She just won a championship, she has wins in other places, and I know her to be a quality coach and a quality person."
"I am absolutely thrilled if I am Seattle, Toronto, and Portland that I was just gifted a championship-level coach," echoed Minnesota Lynx manager Cheryl Reeve. "I think a lot of Sandy, personally and professionally."
With Brondello's dismissal, the WNBA has only three head coaches with more than one season under their belt: Hammon, Reeve, and the second-year Mercury boss Nate Tibbetts.
The first round of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs ends on Friday night, when the No. 4 Phoenix Mercury and No. 5 New York Liberty return to Arizona for a winner-take-all Game 3 — with a trip to the semifinals on the line.
"The message is, 'Everybody keep our heads up. This is a series, and Phoenix is a tough team,'" Liberty star Breanna Stewart said ahead of Friday's matchup.
Still battling an MCL sprain in her left knee, Stewart hopes for more quality time on the court to help New York bounce back from the Mercury's Game 2 blowout win.
While neither team has successfully defended at home so far, Phoenix will look for a boost from the Mercury fans as they try to oust the defending WNBA champs.
"It's just nice for everyone to get a home game," said Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas. "[But] in order to win a series, you got to win on the road."
"You see how competitive, how balanced this is," said Stewart, commenting on the league's new home-away-home first-round format. "How important it is for these kind of series to be going back and forth."
How to watch the New York Liberty vs. Phoenix Mercury in Game 3
It's win-or-go-home for both the No. 5 New York Liberty and No. 4 Phoenix Mercury in Game 3 of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs on Friday.
The high-stakes matchup will tip off at 9 PM ET, with live coverage on ESPN2.
The Chicago Sky reportedly held a team meeting to address the explosive Chicago Tribune interview of Angel Reese this week, after the star forward put the already-eliminated WNBA team on blast.
"We are aware of [Reese's comments]," Sky head coach Tyler Marsh said on Wednesday. "We're addressing it in-house as currently speaking. That's where we'll stay right now."
"Angel has shown a commitment to wanting to be here," he continued. "We as an organization continue to show a commitment that we want people that want to be here."
Reese focused much of her critique on the team's leadership and roster construction, expressing disappointment as the Chicago Sky closes in on back-to-back losing seasons.
"We can't rely on Courtney to come back at the age that she's at," the 23-year-old Reese said of veteran Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot, following the 36-year-old's season-ending ACL tear in early June. "I know she'll be a great asset for us, but we can't rely on that."
"We need someone probably a little younger with some experience, somebody who's been playing the game and is willing to compete for a championship and has done it before," Reese added.
Notably, Vandersloot helped the Chicago Sky snag the 2021 WNBA title before taking the New York Liberty to a franchise-first championship last season.
The reigning champion No. 5 New York Liberty blew their first shot at clinching a spot in the 2025 WNBA Playoffs on Saturday, falling 80-63 to the No. 4 Phoenix Mercury without star guard Sabrina Ionescu and center Nyara Sabally, who watched from the sidelines due to injuries.
The Mercury took aim at the Liberty's spotty defense, scoring 26 points off of 19 turnovers while registering 17 of the game's final 20 points.
"This is obviously a learning opportunity, but we're kind of running out of opportunities for growth at this point," star forward Breanna Stewart said after the loss. "We need to just actually be better."
The next chance for New York to secure their 2025 destiny will come during their Tuesday night visit to the No. 6 Golden State Valkyries, as the injury-plagued Liberty look to climb the WNBA standings and claim home-court advantage for their first playoff series.
"This is not championship-level basketball," Stewart added. "We need to get there, and that starts with the mindset and then putting it onto the court."
However, the Liberty face a Valkyries side on an upswing, as Golden State looks to extend their three-game winning streak and further their history-making campaign to clinch an inaugural postseason berth.
"The trust level that we have right now is pretty much unmatched," said Golden State head coach Natalie Nakase. "I can only go based on my first year, so it's pretty f—ing cool."
How to watch the New York Liberty vs. the Golden State Valkyries
The No. 5 Libs will tip off against the No. 6 Valks at 10 PM ET on Tuesday, with live coverage airing on WNBA League Pass.
The No. 11 Dallas Wings put on a show on Monday, handing the No. 2 New York Liberty their second straight loss behind a combined 40 points from star guards Paige Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale.
Rocketing to a season-best 63-36 first-half lead, Dallas held off the reigning WNBA champions' fourth-quarter surge to secure the 92-82 upset win — the Wings' eighth victory of the year.
Ogunbowale tallied 14 assists in the win, becoming to first WNBA player to ever record 20+ points and 14+ assists in a single game while committing less than two turnovers.
While the WNBA standings remained relatively stable, Dallas's upswing brought further frustration for the Liberty, as they continue to struggle to keep all five starters healthy at the same time.
While previously injured center Jonquel Jones is back in the mix, New York missed 2023 MVP Breanna Stewart on Monday, with the star forward sidelined after suffering a blow to the leg during Saturday play.
"Just understanding the urgency we need to play with, understanding nobody feels bad for us down some people, we have to come out with a little more purpose," guard Sabrina Ionescu told reporters after Monday's loss.
How to watch the Dallas Wings and New York Liberty this week
New York's next trek is significantly steeper, as the Liberty take on the league-leading Minnesota Lynx at 8 PM ET on Wednesday. A rematch of the 2024 WNBA Finals, the clash will air live on ESPN.
Dallas will be in action at the exact same time, when the Wings will hunt a ninth season win against the No. 4 Atlanta Dream, airing live on ESPN3.
After making progress at practice this week, injured Indiana superstar Caitlin Clark is set to return to the WNBA court against the undefeated New York Liberty this Saturday.
The Fever hope her return from injury will provide a much-needed burst of energy to a skidding Indiana side.
Struggling to find results without their central playmaker, the seventh-place Fever has fallen to 4-5 on the season. This follows Tuesday's steep 77-58 loss to the third-place Atlanta Dream.
For Indiana, the opportunity for a high-profile win against the reigning WNBA champions looms on Saturday. With Clark, the Fever could flip the script on their recent struggles by beating the best of the best.
- No. 1 New York Liberty vs. No. 7 Indiana Fever, Saturday at 3 PM ET (ABC): The undefeated champs take on an early-season playoff favorite, with the key to Indiana's victory chances resting in large part on Clark's availability.
- No. 5 Seattle Storm vs. No. 8 Golden State Valkyries, Saturday at 8:30 PM ET (WNBA League Pass): Both Seattle and Golden State enter the weekend on multi-game winning streaks, with each team looking to separate themselves from the pack as the race for the Western Conference spot in the 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup narrows.
- No. 4 Phoenix Mercury vs. No. 6 Las Vegas Aces, Sunday at 6 PM ET (WNBA League Pass): The Mercury will meet their match in an Aces squad struggling to keep up with league's contenders — a task that could be even more difficult should reigning MVP A'ja Wilson be out due to a recent head injury.
Injury returns could define the next few weeks of WNBA play, with no team happier to see their roster whole again than the currently Clark-less Fever.
According to a Thursday report from The Athletic, shares of the New York Liberty were recently sold at a $450 million valuation, making the reigning WNBA champions the most valuable franchise in women's sports.
Valued at $130 million just last year, the Liberty's new record-breaking worth is over 30 times what majority owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai paid for the team in January 2019.
The shares in the multi-investor purchase account for an ownership percentage in the "mid-teens," with the capital intended to help fund an $80 million state-of-the-art training facility near the team's Barclays Center home in Brooklyn.
Growing investment in women's sports fuel high valuations
New York's valuation more than doubles the last-known WNBA capital raise, when the Dallas Wings sold 1% of their franchise at a $208 million valuation last August.
The NWSL's Angel City FC previously held the top mark in women's sports, valued at $250 million in last summer's sale to USC dean Willow Bay and her Disney CEO husband, Bob Iger.
Earlier this month, however, WSL champs Chelsea FC surpassed the LA club behind a $26.6 million investment from Reddit co-founder and tennis icon Serena Williams's husband, Alexis Ohanian.
With varied sources placing Ohanian's stake between 8% and 10%, the Blues valuation in that transaction lands in the $265 million to $331 million range — still trailing the Liberty by a hefty margin.
According to Wu Tsai, this is just the beginning, with the business leader boldly predicting blockbuster growth for her Brooklyn team — and the WNBA at-large — at a May 2024 event.
"I believe that in 10 years — or less — I'll be able to come back here to tell you how we turned the New York Liberty into the world's first billion-dollar women's sports franchise," she said.
The 2025 WNBA season is finally here, with Friday's official tip-off leading an opening weekend full of tough competition and simmering storylines.
The reigning champion New York Liberty enter as odds-on favorites, but results are nearly impossible to predict after a very active offseason across the league.
This weekend's slate features new builds, regional rivalries, and plenty of fresh faces as top 2025 draft picks log their first pro minutes.
- Minnesota Lynx vs. Dallas Wings, Friday at 7:30 PM ET (ION): This year's No. 1 draft pick Paige Bueckers makes her official WNBA debut as revamped Dallas tests itself against a Minnesota team still stinging over last year's title loss.
- Los Angeles Sparks vs. Golden State Valkyries, Friday at 10 PM ET (ION): The Valkyries play their first-ever regular-season game, looking to form an identity against downstate rivals LA, led by new Sparks addition Kelsey Plum.
- Las Vegas Aces vs. New York Liberty, Saturday at 1 PM ET (ABC): The 2023 champs meet the 2024 title-winners in a heavyweight clash that sees 2024 MVP A'ja Wilson take on a confident New York team led by guard Sabrina Ionescu.
- Chicago Sky vs. Indiana Fever, Saturday at 3 PM ET (ABC): Last year's rookie headliners Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese meet again in Indiana, with the regional rivals relying on both incoming vets and young cores to write their next chapters.
Packed with great matchups, this weekend is the ideal tip-off for a 2025 season that promises to be a wild ride — no matter which WNBA team you follow.