The New York Liberty relied on new and familiar tactics, namely those from the arms of Sabrina Ionescu, to earn a Commissioner's Cup win.
BROOKLYN—No matter what transpired in Tuesday's Commissioner's Cup finale against the New York Liberty, Becky Hammon could at least take solace in the fact that it was over.
Hammon's headlines have recently centered on her resurrected comments from a 2023 ESPN appearance, which saw her deny the championship case of a successor in metropolitan backcourt affairs. Having backed off a double-down, the ex-Liberty star had one last hill to climb on her de facto apology endeavor, that of a return to New York itself. Once the borough's basketball backers got their thoughts in, the hardwood world could effectively move on.
Sabrina Ionescu, however, had other ideas.
SI For (Championship) Bids
Ionescu busted early-season blues to guide the Liberty to its second victory in the in-season competition, scoring 26 points in the 93-85 final. Brilliant bookends from Ionescu defined the day: she scored the first eight points for the hosting New Yorkers and then dealt the dagger with a closing three-pointer that drew some of the loudest cheers that Barclays Center's roof has ever contained.
This was one championship breakout that Hammon simply could not deny.
"I'll say this ... her game never takes me by surprise," Hammon stoically said, though unable to stifle a smile. "She's too good. By the way, I don't know if anybody's noticing this crowd, she likes big moments and big shots. So, no, not surprised."
SABRINA IONESCU DAGGER 3 🔥
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 1, 2026
NEW YORK LIBERTY ARE 2026 COMMISSIONER'S CUP CHAMPIONS 🏆 pic.twitter.com/IqLMVjId0T
Scu Are You!
It's hardly shocking to see New York make big payments to the former Oregon Duck's bill, especially after she signed a multi-year deal in a speedy offseason. But Ionescu was hardly immune to the rollercoaster nature of the Liberty's season, one that featured wholly uncomfortable losses to Washington, Los Angeles, and Seattle before the Aces came to visit.
Perhaps put off by lower body injuries endured in the Liberty's preseason finale in Connecticut, Ionescu lacked some of her trademark shooting touch in the early going. She was averaging 9.5 points and shooting but 34% from the field, stats that remain on her ledger because Commissioner's Cup stats don't count toward official accumulations.
Clad in a Commissioner's Cup championship t-shirt and eyewear to protect from the champagne burns, Ionescu made it clear she was embracing the issues rather than fearing them, hinting that the idea of her signature sneakers touching the court remains a blessing no matter what.
"I don't take this game for granted, because it's been taken away from me before," said Ionescu, who saw all but three games of her 2020 debut wiped out by an ankle injury. "Every time I'm out there, I'm just continuing to try and be my best, improve, put myself in uncomfortable situations so I can grow from it.
"Tonight, my mentality wasn't any different. I was feeling good, I understood the moment and wanted to just make sure I set the tone early with how I wanted to attack what they were doing defensively. I knew it opened up the floor for everyone on the offensive end for us."
That sense of healthy reckless abandon was apparent in the early going: Ionescu spotted the Liberty an early 8-2 lead that wound stand until the fourth quarter thanks to continued facilitation, clutch tallies when needed, and a solid defensive effort (Ionescu had the best defensive rating in Tuesday's game and her net of 30.6 was the best any New Yorker has had this season).
With Vegas dragged out of a 17-point pit by a one-woman show from Jackie Young and Satou Sabally still stuck in concussion protocol, Ionescu and Breanna Stewart checked back in for the Liberty with a two-tally deficit in the score columns and just over seven minutes on the clock. The duo would oversee a 24-14 output the rest of the way, the game-changing run tipping off with a Pauline Astier triple.
Scorer of 15 second half points of her own, it was Stewart that got to hold the game's MVP award presented by commissioner Cathy Engelbert. But the two-time MVP was more than willing to share for reasons far beyond her own packed trophy case.
"You only had five assists, but like I feel like you had like 10. But, like, probably all five of those are to me, so shout out to you," Stewart said as she looked over to Ionescu during their joint postgame session (that was nearly true, as four of the five helpers went to Stewart). "When you come back from an injury, it's tough. The process is tough, the mental is tough, and she continued to continue to stick with it. I think that her being aggressive and making those threes, and that dagger three, especially in our big moments, we need that. But I think also just for her confidence to continue to kind of ride along that, I'm really happy for her."
Torch Stays Lit
New York hopes that Ionescu's early Independence Day fireworks could flip the script on what's been a Brooklyn boomerang in the first half. If anything, the Liberty (12-8) has yet another form of hardware to display from the Barclays Center rafters, giving phase two of the metropolitan "big three" era (which Ionescu and Stewart have formed alongside Jonquel Jones) a nice landmark as it works under new head coach Chris DeMarco.
"It kind of sets the foundation for who we are and how we want to compete every single night," Ionescu said. "Obviously this was was a huge team win for us, but I think [it's also about] just understanding the identity that we want to have as a team, and how we want teams to feel when we come out there and we play a full 40 minutes of basketball."
The Liberty's reward for in-season glory is a working holiday: New York welcomes in the league-leading Minnesota Lynx on Friday night (7:30 p.m. ET, Ion) before getting a rematch with a Dallas group that has dealt them one of their two home losses this year. The second half then tips off with a road trip through Minnesota, Toronto, Dallas, and Indiana before home cooking takes the Liberty into a much-needed All-Star break.
There's no conditions to raising a banner but the new laundry won't mention its journey: metropolitan eyes will likely linger on Betnijah Laney-Hamilton after she was healthily held out of Tuesday's game entirely (a decision that DeMarco said was fully coordinated with the veteran). The Liberty also nearly fell victim to the aforementioned Young onslaught that saw her score 25 second half points alone. Such a showing almost replicated the performance that the absent A'ja Wilson had for a shorthanded Aces team in the clincher of the 2023 Finals against the same New Yorkers.
Even with that, New York stands as the first franchise to win two in-season titles, for whatever that's worth. But, like the target of Hammon's infamous analysis proved before them, sipping from the Cup could well become a postseason predecessor and predictor. The seafoam savants believe that have to duplicate the feat.
"I just think we know that we know that we can win, we know that we could beat any team in this league," Jones, she of nine points and boards each in the win, said. "I think it's just about figuring out how to do it, figuring out how to stay consistent, trusting each other, and continuing to build."
"We dropped some games that we didn't want to really drop. Obviously, we lost more games on a road trip ... No one felt like we were going to come here and lose this game, but I think now we have to refocus ourselves and understand that we have a really tough team in Minnesota that's coming in here and they want to get a win too, so we want to build off of this. We don't want to take another step backwards, and I think that's the next step for us."
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
