Defending champions New York Liberty may have lost to the Golden State Valkyries on Tuesday night, but they still clinched a spot in the 2025 WNBA Playoffs. That means for many New Yorkers, there’s hope to repeat the joy and jubilance of 2024, when the Liberty took their first-ever WNBA Championship win.
The Liberty’s spot in the playoffs comes not due to one of their own victories — at least not directly — but because of the Phoenix Mercury’s win over the Indiana Fever on the same night that the Liberty faced the Valkyries.
It’s been a tough, injury-ridden season for the New York Liberty. And in postgame interviews, team members expressed their disappointment that they’re heading to the postseason primarily because of the way the rest of the standings shake out.
But the team still has a chance to defend its 2024 title — and WNBA analyst Erica L. Ayala said fans shouldn’t count them out.
“ I think given how they played last year and given how they've played when healthy this season, they have earned the benefit of the doubt as a team that is still an elite team in the WNBA and a team that can compete for a championship,” Ayala said.
The team's popularity has spiked following last year’s historic championship run, especially among New Yorkers, who rallied to support their hometown favorites.
Games at the Barclays Center have been consistently sold out this season, with season ticket memberships increasing by 152% and attendance at Barclays Center rising 64% compared to last year, according to the WNBA.
For those hoping to get in on the action ahead of this year’s playoffs, here’s what you need to know.
What happens next?
The New York Liberty will play three more games, which will determine their seeding in the upcoming playoffs, scheduled to begin on Sept. 14. Ayala said it’s unlikely the New York Liberty will make the top four out of eight teams, and therefore won’t have home-court advantage.
The next regular-season game is on Friday at 10 p.m. against the Seattle Storm at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. The next home game will be on Tuesday, Sept. 9.
What was it like last year?
The Liberty had a historic 2024 season, culminating in that first-ever WNBA championship. The team’s victory was celebrated with a parade through New York City in Manhattan, a Key to the City ceremony at City Hall and a free celebration at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Ayala attributed last year’s success to New York Liberty coach Sandy Brondello’s strategy of prioritizing working on the chemistry between the team’s starting five players over the course of several years.
“ That leads us to a 2025 season, where even before the injuries, you could tell that Sandy Brondello was working in and integrating role players, bench players, and so the injuries have created a system where there's maybe not as much of a gradual kind of on-ramp for that,” she said.
How do I get in on the excitement this year?
For those who want to see games in person, tickets to the next single home game here. And tickets to the 2025 Playoffs haven’t gone on sale yet, but you can sign up to get notified when they do here.
If you can’t make it to a game, there are plenty of watch parties to choose from throughout the city, like the Meetup event Game Night with the Good Girlfriends, organized by a group that emphasizes sisterhood and support among women of Color. The Bush, a lesbian bar in Park Slope, Brooklyn, is also known to host game viewings, as is Blue Haven South in Manhattan.
Other spots where fans can catch the game include Singers, a Bed-Stuy bar serving slushies and sometimes hosting raffles for home game tickets. There’s also Wilka’s, a Lower East Side bar and member of the Women’s Sports Bar Alliance.
The Liberty Bar Network page on the team’s site has a full list of officially sanctioned watch party spots across the city for away games.
Streams and replays are available on the Liberty Live service, with more details on TV broadcasts here.
But you don’t need to wait for a game day to celebrate. On Sunday, the Brooklyn Dribble — the Liberty’s biggest community event — returns to Brooklyn Bridge Park. Starting at 10 a.m., a parade of youths will dribble basketballs for a mile from Pier 6 to Pier 2.
The event features mascot Ellie the Elephant, the Timeless Torches dance troupe, music, food, face-painting, activities by the Liberty’s and Nets’ Brooklyn Basketball youth organization and a bevy of other family-friendly attractions.
The parade is full, but RSVPs for the overall event are here.
