The Liberty did it first. Plus: Olivia Miles and A’ja Wilson trade blows

No Offseason Newsletter 🏀 | This is The Athletic’s women’s basketball newsletter. Sign up here to receive No Offseason directly in your inbox.

Welcome back to No Offseason. The Knicks are champions; will the Liberty follow suit (after having already done it first, technically)?

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📍 New York, Neeeeewww Yorrrrkkkkk

😬 This Flagrant 2 foul

🎧 Developmental player chat

Let’s get to it.

Concrete Jungle: It’s a New York thing

The New York Knicks championship title meant a lot to all of New York City, including the New York Liberty.

The 10-4 Liberty can mirror what the Knicks accomplished this season, starting with being crowned the champions of the WNBA’s in-season tournament. In December, the Knicks beat the Spurs in the NBA Cup, which ultimately served as a premonition of what was to come in the NBA Finals.

To reach the Commissioner’s Cup final on June 30, the Liberty beat the Washington Mystics in an 86-64 Sunday matinee game. Their opponent is still TBD, but the vibes after the win were elevated.

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The vibes throughout all of New York City were … are … elevated.

Jonquel Jones walked into Sunday’s postgame news conference after dropping 20 points and coming away with three steals and two blocks with a little reminder for everyone: The Liberty “did it first.”

Jones hadn’t even reached the podium yet, but in stride with Breanna Stewart and coach Chris DeMarco, she wittily referred to the Liberty’s 2024 WNBA title, which ended New York City’s half a century professional basketball championship drought.

All the Liberty players and coaches took in the NBA Game 5 clincher from various locations throughout the city. Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu watched from home, while Jones and DeMarco opted for restaurants in Soho and Park Slope, respectively.

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Like Stewart, finals MVP Jalen Brunson was brought to New York to lead a franchise to a title. Stewart applauded the way Brunson closed the series out by doing whatever was necessary — including leaving over $100 million on the table to stay with the Knicks and give them the flexibility to fill out this championship roster.

“Very similar sentiments to when JJ and I came to New York,” Stewart said. “We wanted to, in our case, be the first ones to bring a championship to the Liberty. People want to do it. They take pride in doing something that hasn’t been done in a long time or hasn’t been done at all. I’m really happy for him and the rest of the (team.)”

You know … I’m wondering if anyone has asked Knicks owner James Dolan lately if he regrets selling the Liberty in 2019.

More news from the W:

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Fast Breaks

🏀 The Liberty are back in the Commissioner’s Cup final after winning the cup in 2023, and advancing to the final in 2024. It helps that their marquee offseason acquisition Satou Sabally is starting to produce consistently off the bench.

✉️ The Aces were the latest WNBA champions not to receive an invite to the White House.

⭐ ICYMI, Olivia Miles put on quite the show in Minnesota’s demolition of Dallas last week.

🏀 How do the Sky move on from Angel Reese? Neither the fans nor the franchise seems to have figured it out.

💪 Speaking of the Sky, they were conquered in overtime by the Herculean efforts of the Fever’s Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston. For the 114-106 win, the two had to become the first teammates in WNBA history to record 30-point double-doubles in the same game.

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🎙️ On the “No Offseason” podcast, Zena, Annie and Sabreena talk the newly introduced developmental player roster spots for every team. They spotlight the league’s most intriguing developmental players and discuss how these opportunities could shape the future of the WNBA. Listen wherever you enjoy your podcasts.

You Gotta See This

Angel Reese vs. Isabelle Harrison

The Reese-Harrison game definitely seemed personal with both players chirping back and forth at each other all night before Harrison was ultimately ejected. The two share history, having played one season together in Chicago in 2024. That year was tumultuous for the entire organization, ending in a 13-27 record and the firing of coach Teresa Weatherspoon.

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ROY vs. MVP

Olivia Miles has played well enough to put herself in MVP consideration in her first season, and she showed no fear attacking the reigning MVP A’ja Wilson in their first meeting, prompting Wilson to bring her A-game to earn the win for Las Vegas.

In the last 2 1/2 minutes, here’s what we saw from the current favorites for Rookie of the Year and MVP:

Miles blows by Jackie Young for a layup.

Wilson blocks a Courtney Williams middy.

Wilson hits her own elbow jumper to push the lead back to four.

Miles crosses over Wilson and finishes a reverse past the three-time DPOY.

Miles drives by Wilson (to her left!) and completes the and-1 (even A’ja’s teammates were impressed).

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Miles steps back late clock for a 3-pointer to give the Lynx a one-point lead.

Wilson puts her head down to earn the game-winning free throws.

The WNBA is in good hands with its next generation, but the current champs aren’t yet ready to cede control.

Buzzer beater

Mystics guard Sonia Citron took down Toronto at the buzzer Friday, hitting a turnaround jumper off of a jump ball at the horn. It was the second buzzer-beating game-winner of the season after Sarah Ashlee Barker’s putback won Portland its first game.