Dunker's Spot latest episode has a very good, very extensive discussion of our woes. Their analysis boils down to: it isn't necessarily that we're running the wrong plays, it's that defenses have stopped feeling the need to honor what we're doing. Sabrina drives? They don't rush two defenders at her. JJ rolls to the basket? They feel like they can switch in time. We aren't forcing teams to pick their poison -- we're letting them pick their bedtime glass of milk.

Dunker's Spot treat this state of affairs as if it were a matter of will -- we need to just somehow make defenses start fearing us (or Chris does). But it seems clear that defenses have good reason not to fear us at the moment. So what causes *that*? And how do we fix it? Better 3-point shooting in the corner would help (dear God Leo please come back). What else?

By Madeline Kenney

Published July 22, 2026, 11:11 p.m. ET

Liberty wing Leonie Fiebich said she’s “not at all” a patient person.

But her tolerance is being tested as each day passes and she’s unable to play.

Fiebich has been sidelined since a 99-86 home win over the Minnesota Lynx on July 3 after suffering a left foot injury. She logged 36 minutes in that game but said she “kind of took a bad step” at one point. She had some soreness the next day but still got in the gym to shoot.

However, the soreness didn’t go away.

It was severe enough that she underwent an MRI exam and other scans to evaluate the issue. Speaking with reporters Wednesday for the first time since her injury, Fiebich declined to share her official diagnosis.

Regardless, the test results were enough for her and the team to decide it was best for her to rest indefinitely.

“I’m feeling good,” she said before the Liberty’s 95-94 loss to the Sky as their final game before the All-Star break. “Making progress, getting better every day.”

Fiebich still doesn’t have an official timeline to return. The uncertainty of the situation brings into question her status for the German national team in the 2026 FIBA World Cup, which is scheduled for Sept. 4 through Sept. 13.

Fiebich said she was “of course” concerned about whether she’ll be available for the World Cup when she tweaked her left foot.

“You don’t want to be injured at any stage, right, especially in a World Cup year,” she said. “But more so, like, I hate to be on the sidelines as every athlete … not being able to help the team.”

Fiebich declined to answer whether she would be playing through the pain right now had this not been a World Cup year.

She did say, however, that she’s being extra cautious given the World Cup.

“With the World Cup coming up, I wouldn’t say I prioritize it, but it’s a really important tournament for us,” she said, “and just making sure I’m going to be healthy going into it.”

The Liberty desperately miss Fiebich’s length and defensive versatility, especially amid this 1-4 stretch. They’re also without Satou Sabally, who has been in concussion protocol for the past month.

New York is 10-4 when Fiebich is on the floor and 4-8 without her.

Seeing the team struggle has heightened Fiebich’s urgency to get back on the floor. But she’s still not cleared to play.

“Difficult right now for the team, definitely suffering with them a little bit,” Fiebich said. “I think the win we got against Dallas was really important, of course, for the standings but also for us mentally as a team. Let’s see if we can add on that and just keep the winning going and more so the progress. I would say just of course we want to win games but we want to make progress.”

Fiebich said she’s taking the recovery process day by day.

“I’m in this facility seven days, seven hours a day, doing everything I can,” she said. “… It’s just day by day like I could be that I wake up tomorrow I’m really good or I’m in pain or yeah just kind of depends on the day.”

The past 2 ½ weeks have been frustrating for Fiebich since most of this is out of her control.

“If I could, I would play right now,” she said. “Being extra cautious and careful is something that’s really testing my patience. But I mean, I got to do it. There’s no way around it.”

So… do you agree or not?

My main point is I’ve seen Stewie doing more coaching than I’ve seen him do. Would love more opinions.

hi y’all! I saw some posts about this from last season, but i’m wondering if anyone has had any luck requesting a new season ticket holder rep. my rep is totally unresponsive and I don’t even know where to start requesting a new one.

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Lucas Kaplan is back on the beat. Very much worth reading/watching in full. Short version: he thinks Laney is being packaged for a trade. He thinks JJ needs to be involved in more PnR's. He's excited about Fauthoux. He thinks if we can only get healthy, there's still hope.

https://www.netsdaily.com/nyliberty/112288/liberty-vs-wings-99-98-breanna-stewart-jonquel-jones-sabrina-ionescu

what does that trade package look like?

ig for more art - @itsjakegoodchildwow

I’m from boston so I should hate NY teams, but damn I fw the liberty

Top 10 WNBA leaders in 3PM:

1. Marina Mabrey | 81
2. Rhyne Howard | 79
3. Kelsey Mitchell | 71
4. Janelle Salaün | 66 T-5. Bridget Carleton | 65 T-5. Kayla McBride | 65
5. Marine Johannès | 57
6. Natisha Hiedeman | 56
7. Caitlin Clark | 55
8. Azzi Fudd | 47

I've seen people say she's injured, but I'm pretty sure she's available to play tomorrow against the Sky?

A couple photos from yesterday's game. Bonus Stewie waving at kids

I think the last few games of BLH DNPs have clarified a bit in my mind what may have happened to set this whole affair off. Obviously, we don't know the gritty details (and probably never will), but it seems clear as our bench empties every night except for Betnijah that something bigger than "she's not playing great this year" is in play.

1. BLH signs her contract in the offseason, and that signing comes with some understanding of playing time/starting. This seems like the most obvious step, and I wouldn't be surprised if Kolb told Betnijah that she would either be starting or get starter-type minutes.

2. Betnijah plays the first three games at the minutes she was promised. She played 28, 25 and 24 minutes in the first three games of the season, in the starting lineup and getting starting minutes.

3. She starts the 4th game, but only gets 17 minutes. With players returning from injury and other commitments, she sees the writing on the wall, has a discussion with someone, is told that she won't be getting starting minutes, something happens, and she misses the next three games.

4. She returns to the floor, still at reduced minutes, and has a solid game followed by an excellent game (maybe her best of the season), but then follows that up with a handful of games that are either average or below average. Kolb, who is trying to trade her (as has been confirmed by reporters), sees her string of poorer performances, and tells DeMarco to keep her out of the lineup to keep her trade value up.

5. Betnijah gets her first two DNPs, the fanbase freaks out and Kolb realizes he is not going to get the value back that he hoped for, and tells DeMarco that he can play her again. Betnijah starts getting minutes again, but is now playing worse than before, and so after a handful of games, Kolb tells DeMarco to DNP her again to prep for a trade hopefully to a more desperate team before the trade deadline.

I don't say any of this to try and be a gossip hound, and I have no special information, but I'm trying to figure this out as I find this whole situation really bizarre, highlighted by DeMarco's nightly non-answers (most likely prompted by Kolb). It's possible that some of this is also on Chris, but it seems odd that when Betnijah plays, she fits neatly into that 12 - 18 minute bench role that doesn't seem to square with DeMarco just randomly deciding not to play someone who plays pretty consistent minutes when she does play. There's a big difference between a player who usually plays 5 minutes a night getting no minutes and someone who gets 15 getting no minutes.

I hope this can get resolved in the best way possible for BLH and the team. Betnijah is my favorite player, and obviously love the Liberty, but this situation has really been a black cloud over an already tough season.

Where we meeting up gang? lol 😂

At 1st I thought last night was just really unlucky and her shot was just not falling (I still think that's true re: some of her 3s), but looking deeper into it, it seems like her shot selection was somewhat off.

By the numbers, she is below league average at finishing at the rim (Leo also needs to and is trying to work on this as well). I think a lot of this is because she doesn't have the foot speed to beat defenders and keeps getting blocked. She is only consistently finishing at the rim off of Stewie picks drawing away defenders. We should be running that a lot more, and that really should be most of her attempts at the rim.

Her 5-9 ft percentage is absolutely horrendous, so she shouldn't be trying the floater or hooks either (she has historically been bad at this range).

The shot she should be taking more of is middys in the 10-14 ft range. It's a smaller sample size, but she has 9-12 makes of those on the season. Also by the eye test, her middy almost always looks money. It's usually her most efficient shot. I think a game somewhat closer to Paige would suit her. I think that's her best shot off the dribble as well.

15-19 ft is long 2s and no one should be taking too many of those imo, but that might be okay occasionally.

I do still want her to keep shooting a decent volume of 3s. Even if she isn't efficient, that provides the best spacing for us and it will always draw defenders. Although a select few of those could be turned to middys instead as well for better efficiency.

An extra unrelated note regarding shooting, I know a lot of you hate JJ shooting so much, but she is one of the league leaders in efficiency, I don't think her taking a lot of 3s is the problem. I do think she needs to find a better balance being inside and outside, because we lose the rebounding advantage by her constantly being in the perimeter. I think it's always important for her and Stewie to be tracking the ball if we are going to shoot a lot of 3s. I believe that's something they have talked about among themselves, so we'll see.

The larp of some of these new fans who don't understand basketball at all.

Look just forget the rest of the game and appreciate this greatness.

Despite tonight's game being... rocky, Fauthoux largely gave really good minutes and has quietly come into her own these past few games. The buckets were nice, but she really hustled for the rebounds and did a good job drawing fouls.

Yes, I’ll be getting to the Chicago game early tomorrow in a last-ditch attempt at getting my Tash jersey signed. I know that Liberty players go through the tunnel between sections 29 and 31 after shootaround. Anyone know which section is closest to the exit the visiting team uses?

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