2019 New York Liberty season explained

The 2019 WNBA season was the 23rd season for the New York Liberty franchise of the WNBA. The Liberty opened the regular season at home on May 24 versus the Indiana Fever.^[1]

The Liberty started slowly, losing their first four games of the season. Winning five of their next eight games took them to a 5–7 record at the end of June. The team had plenty of reasons to be positive, as three of those five wins came against eventual playoff teams. The Liberty won their first two games in July to put together a four game win streak and reach a .500 record. However, they could not keep their momentum, losing three of their last four games in July. August proved a difficult month as the team only won one game. A seven game losing streak and a six game losing streak saw the team go into the final game with the Atlanta Dream with a 9–24 record. The Dream entered with 8–25 record, meaning if the Dream won, the teams would tie for the worst record in the WNBA. The Liberty won by seven points to end their season on a high note. Their ten wins is the second lowest in franchise history, with the only worse season being 2018 where they had only seven wins.

After the season, it was announced that head coach Katie Smith's contract would not be renewed.^[2]

Transactions

WNBA draft

See also: 2018 WNBA draft.

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	2	Asia Durr		Louisville
2	14	Han Xu		Xinjiang Magic Deer (China)
3	26	Megan Huff		Utah

Trades/Roster Changes

Date	Details
February 11, 2019	Re-signed G Rebecca Allen^[3] ^[4]
	Re-signed C Amanda Zahui B
	Signed F Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe
	Signed G Kelly Faris to a Training Camp Contract.
March 21, 2019	Signed G Marine Johannès^[5]
March 28, 2019	Signed G Brittany Boyd^[6]
April 11, 2019	Traded a second round pick in the 2020 WNBA draft to Minnesota for G Tanisha Wright.^[7]

Game log

Pre-season

|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 1| May 9| China| W 89–71| Tied (19)| Warley-Talbert (8)| Boyd (4)| Barclays Center
4,115| 1–0|- style="background:#fcc;"| 2| May 13| @ Connecticut Sun| L 66–100| Charles (11)| Charles (5)| Wright (4)| Mohegan Sun Arena
3,806| 1–1|- style="background:#fcc;"| 3| May 14| vs. Atlanta Dream| L 87–92| Zahui B. (20)| Zahui B. (8)| Tied (4)| Mohegan Sun Arena
3,458| 1–2|- style="background:#fcc;"| 4| May 19| vs. Connecticut Sun| L 79–98| Nurse (25)| Charles (6)| 5 tied (2)| Times Union Center| 1–3

Regular season

|- style="background:#fcc;"| 1| May 24| Indiana Fever| L 80–81| Charles (32)| Charles (12)| Hartley (4)| Westchester County Center
1,965| 0–1|- style="background:#fcc;"| 2| June 1| @ Indiana Fever| L 77–92| Charles (15)| Gray (9)| Boyd (6)| Bankers Life Fieldhouse
5,003| 0–2|- style="background:#fcc;"| 3| June 4| Los Angeles Sparks| L 73–78| Charles (21)| Charles (14)| Boyd (6)| Westchester County Center
3,579| 0–3|- style="background:#fcc;"| 4| June 7| Washington Mystics| L 85–94| Charles (27)| Zahui B. (7)| Tied (5)| Westchester County Center
1,567| 0–4|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 5| June 9| Las Vegas Aces| W 88–78| Charles (21)| Zahui B. (9)| Hartley (6)| Westchester County Center
1,447| 1–4|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 6| June 12| Minnesota Lynx| W 75–69| Nurse (26)| Zahui B. (13)| Boyd (7)| Westchester County Center
1,181| 2–4|- style="background:#fcc;"| 7| June 14| @ Las Vegas Aces| L 65–100| Nurse (12)| Gray (5)| Boyd (5)| Mandalay Bay Events Center
4,110| 2–5|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 8| June 15| @ Los Angeles Sparks| W 98–92| Zahui B. (37)| Charles (13)| Boyd (12)| Staples Center
11,388| 3–5|- style="background:#fcc;"| 9| June 19| Chicago Sky| L 83–91| Durr (19)| Zahui B. (10)| Boyd (7)| Westchester County Center
1,585| 3–6|- style="background:#fcc;"| 10| June 22| @ Minnesota Lynx| L 83–92| Nurse (24)| Charles (9)| Boyd (8)| Target Center
8,600| 3–7|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 11| June 28| Dallas Wings| W 69–68| Nurse (17)| Gray (11)| Boyd (7)| Westchester County Center
2,191| 4–7|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 12| June 30| @ Atlanta Dream| W 74–58| Charles (24)| Gray (15)| 3 tied (4)| State Farm Arena
4,359| 5–7|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 13| July 3| @ Seattle Storm| W 84–83| Charles (26)| Gray (8)| Boyd (10)| Alaska Airlines Arena
8,710| 6–7|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 14| July 5| @ Phoenix Mercury| W 80–76| Nurse (26)| Charles (12)| Boyd (6)| Talking Stick Resort Arena
9,560| 7–7|- style="background:#fcc;"| 15| July 7| Las Vegas Aces| L 58–90| Charles (13)| Charles (8)| Wright (5)| Westchester County Center
1,971| 7–8|- style="background:#fcc;"| 16| July 12| @ Chicago Sky| L 83–99| Nurse (18)| Gray (6)| Tied (5)| Wintrust Arena
7,221| 7–9|- style="background:#fcc;"| 17| July 14| @ Seattle Storm| L 69–78| Nurse (19)| Zahui B. (8)| Hartley (5)| Alaska Airlines Arena
6,733| 7–10|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 18| July 20| Los Angeles Sparks| W 83–78| Johannès (17)| Gray (8)| Boyd (6)| Westchester County Center
2,195| 8–10|- style="background:#fcc;"| 19| July 24| @ Connecticut Sun| L 63–70| Charles (13)| Charles (11)| Wright (5)| Mohegan Sun Arena
8,249| 8–11|- style="background:#fcc;"| 20| August 1 | @ Dallas Wings| L 64–87| Nurse (13)| Charles (5)| Wright (4)| College Park Center
4,011| 8–12|- style="background:#fcc;"| 21| August 4| Connecticut Sun| L 79–94| Charles (20)| Charles (10)| Zahui B. (5)| Westchester County Center
1,927| 8–13|- style="background:#fcc;"| 22| August 7| @ Chicago Sky| L 92–101| Charles (24)| Zahui B. (9)| Tied (7)| Wintrust Arena
5,797| 8–14|- style="background:#fcc;"| 23| August 11| Seattle Storm| L 69–84| Charles (22)| Charles (8)| Wright (7)| Barclays Center
7,715| 8–15|- style="background:#fcc;"| 24| August 13| Minnesota Lynx| L 73–89| Allen (28)| Charles (7)| Boyd (7)| Westchester County Center
1,570| 8–16|- style="background:#fcc;"| 25| August 16| @ Dallas Wings| L 77–83| Charles (25)| Wright (9)| Wright (7)| College Park Center
4,070| 8–17|- style="background:#fcc;"| 26| August 18| @ Phoenix Mercury| L 72–78| Charles (23)| Charles (13)| Tied (5)| Talking Stick Resort Arena
9,145| 8–18|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 27| August 20| @ Indiana Fever| W 82–76| Charles (23)| Charles (14)| Tied (4)| Bankers Life Fieldhouse
5,340| 9–18|- style="background:#fcc;"| 28| August 23| Atlanta Dream| L 87–90| Hartley (17)| Charles (8)| Wright (6)| Westchester County Center
1,831| 9–19|- style="background:#fcc;"| 29| August 25| @ Washington Mystics| L 72–101| Nurse (24)| Tied (5)| Wright (4)| St. Elizabeth's East Arena
4,200| 9–20|- style="background:#fcc;"| 30| August 27 | Phoenix Mercury| L 82–95| Tied (18)| Tied (5)| Nurse (6)| Westchester County Center
1,693| 9–21|- style="background:#fcc;"| 31| August 30| Connecticut Sun| L 84–94| Johannès (21)| Raincock-Ekunwe (7)| Tied (6)| Westchester County Center
1,791| 9–22|- style="background:#fcc;"| 32| September 3| Washington Mystics| L 77–93| Johannès (22)| Raincock-Ekunwe (5)| Charles (5)| Westchester County Center
1,558| 9–23|- style="background:#fcc;"| 33| September 6| Indiana Fever| L 81–86| Charles (19)| Charles (11)| Tied (7)| Westchester County Center
2,301| 9–24|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 34| September 8| @ Atlanta Dream| W 71–63| Charles (14)| Zahui B. (11)| Charles (5)| State Farm Arena
5,495| 10–24

Statistics

Regular season

style= width="16%"	Player	style= width="6%"	GP	style= width="6%"	GS	style= width="6%"	MPG	style= width="6%"	FG%	style= width="6%"	3P%	style= width="6%"	FT%	style= width="6%"	RPG	style= width="5%"	APG	style= width="6%"	SPG	style= width="6%"	BPG	style= width="6%"	PPG
	33	33	31.2	38.9	18.6	81.2	7.5	2.4	0.7	0.9	16.9
Kia Nurse	34	34	29.4	39.3	35.3	87.2	2.5	2.3	0.7	0.1	13.7
Bria Hartley	24	18	22.7	37.6	32.9	80.3	3.2	3.2	0.8	0	9.8
Asia Durr	18	15	26.7	46.7	29.4	81.8	1.6	1.7	0.6	0.4	9.7
Amanda Zahui B.	24	23	23.3	46.8	31.9	85.2	6.3	0.9	1.1	1.4	8.6
Rebecca Allen	24	2	17.2	41.7	42.6	81.3	2.5	0.7	0.5	0.8	7.2
Marine Johannès	19	0	18.2	43.6	37.9	78.9	1.8	2.4	0.4	0.2	7.2
Brittany Boyd	33	17	19.7	39.4	30.4	76.5	3.7	4.6	1.4	0.1	5.3
Reshanda Gray	34	10	15.3	47.3	50.0	56.5	5.2	0.5	0.5	0.2	5.2
Tanisha Wright	31	17	19.8	41.5	36.8	80.6	2.8	4.1	1.0	0.3	4.7
Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe	28	1	13.1	54.4	33.3	64.0	2.8	0.4	0.3	0.1	3.7
Han Xu	18	0	7.9	41.4	50.0	50.0	0.8	0.1	0.2	0.2	3.0

Awards and honors

Recipient	Award	Date awarded	Ref.
Tina Charles	WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week	July 8, 2019	^[8]
Kia Nurse	WNBA All-Star Selection	July 15, 2019	^[9]
Tina Charles

External links

• The Official Site of the New York Liberty

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2019 New York Liberty Schedule. Women's National Basketball Association. February 18, 2019.
2. Web site: New York Liberty Announce Head Coach Katie Smith’s Contract Not Renewed. wnba.com. WNBA. October 16, 2019. October 21, 2019.
3. Web site: New York Liberty Announce Player Signings. liberty.wnba.com. WNBA. February 11, 2019. February 18, 2019.
4. Web site: Liberty bringing back Rebecca Allen, Amanda Zahui B with multi-year deals. newsday.com. Mike. Rose. February 11, 2019. February 18, 2019.
5. Web site: New York Liberty Sign Marine Johannès. liberty.wnba.com. WNBA. March 21, 2019. March 25, 2019.
6. Web site: Brittany Boyd re-signs with the New York Liberty. highposthoops.com. Kim. Doss. March 28, 2019. April 16, 2019.
7. Web site: Liberty Acquires Guard Tanisha Wright in Exchange for 2020 Second Round Pick. liberty.wnba.com. WNBA. April 11, 2019. April 15, 2019.
8. Web site: Tina Charles, Brittney Griner Earn Players Of The Week. wnba.com. WNBA. July 8, 2019. July 8, 2019.
9. Web site: Seven-Time Selection Charles, Dupree, Highlight Reserves For All-Star. wnba.com. WNBA. July 15, 2019. July 16, 2019.