NEW YORK – As the seconds ticked down in the WNBA Finals Game 5 on Sunday night, Breanna Stewart dribbled the ball across halfcourt. At the long-awaited buzzer, she found Jonquel Jones for a hug as their teammates ran across the floor.

The New York Liberty had finally done it.

Sabrina Ionescu, the franchise’s longest-tenured player, collapsed on the Liberty logo, her hands covering her face in euphoria. Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” blared as confetti rained from the rafters.

It was a fitting end to a 2024 WNBA season that catapulted the WNBA into a new era of growth and cultural relevance, one that commissioner Cathy Engelbert called “the most transformative year in WNBA history.” It featured standout individual performances: A’ja Wilson won her third MVP with one of the most dominant seasons in league history; Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese were dazzled by sensational rookie campaigns and growth across the league. The WNBA enjoyed the most-watched regular season in 24 years, the highest attendance in 22 years and the most-watched playoffs in 25 years.

Ultimately, the league’s two best teams facing off in the first winner-take-all overtime Game 5 of the WNBA Finals was the only conclusion to this transcendent season – especially when one of the league’s three remaining original franchises, perhaps the most iconically, it had the final say when the final whistle blew on Sunday.

A season of many firsts ended with the Liberty franchise earning an elusive first, finally losing the distinction of being the only enduring original WNBA franchise without a title and capable of capturing a championship on its own level.

“To be able to bring a championship to New York for the first time in franchise history, it’s an incredible feeling,” said Stewart. “I literally can’t wait to continue celebrating with the city because I know it’s going to be crazy.”

The New York championship – achieved with franchise greats Teresa Weatherspoon and Sue Wicks on the court – was an exorcism 28 seasons in the making, ending a series of frustrations that began with the Liberty’s first ill-fated title run in 1997 and continued through the decades that followed. . It was punctuated by Weatherspoon’s legendary half-court shot to win Game 2 in 1999, but lost the title the next day; five completely empty Finals trips; five other losses in the Eastern Conference finals; even posting a 2-20 record in 2020. Last season, the Liberty had five straight losing campaigns.

Then, in a single offseason, New York flipped the script and became the first team in league history to use free agency to build a super team — and an automatic contender — by building two former MVPs to bring in, Jones and Stewart, and one of the best players in the league. best point guards in Courtney Vandersloot. Most would have considered second place in last year’s final as a success for a newly formed team. Instead, the Liberty’s 2023 outcome left them with what they called a “scar.”

Yet they did not enter the season as favorites. The Las Vegas Aces opened 2024 as the top pick to complete the league’s first three-peat of the millennium, while teams like the Phoenix Mercury and Seattle Storm made big offseason moves in hopes of keeping up. Clark and the Indiana Fever made noise with their first playoff berth since 2016.

But New York asserted itself early, maintaining a strong position at first place in the standings and steadily maintaining its status as the best team in the league.

As Freedom rose, the city took notice. In a summer packed with record crowds, Barclays Center averaged the second-best attendance in the league (12,730), just two years behind eighth-place (5,327) and five after the Westchester County Center infamously hosted games in White Plains. The regular season was just a taste of what was to come in the postseason, as these were the most attended finals in the league’s history.

The fans were ready for a show. The Liberty were better than 2023 from a basketball perspective, thanks largely to the addition of German rookie Leonie Fiebich, but they also developed deeper chemistry and a stronger collective will. Weekly player-led culture meetings under the guidance of mental performance coach Paddy Steinfort ensured the players challenged each other and said tough things to each other, while knowing none of it was personal.

During the playoffs, the Liberty discovered how to fight through adversity together, defeating the two-time defending champions in the semifinals; overcoming a disastrous 0-1 start to the finals after taking a 15-point lead in Game 1 with 5 minutes remaining; and prevailed in a grueling Game 5 despite scoring just 10 points in the first quarter and facing an early 12-point deficit.

It was the fulfillment of the vision Jones and Stewart envisioned when they decided to join forces in New York ahead of the 2023 season.

“We talked about it so much, about coming together and what we envisioned of what we wanted to do in New York, and what we could do, to make it happen and realize a dream,” Jones said. “It’s so incredibly hard to do. It just means a lot.”

Stewart added, “Me, JJ, Sloot, we all came together to win a championship. Last year we lost in the finals. But look at us, now we’re here.”

To do this, New York played more like a super team than a super team.

As Ionescu and Stewart shot a combined 5-for-34, the players around them got going. None more so than Jones, the 2021 MVP who kept the Liberty in it with a team-high 17 points. The former No. 6 pick, who left her home country of the Bahamas to play high school basketball in Maryland, earned her first championship after falling short in three other Finals appearances.

“She led us,” Stewart said of Jones, who was named Finals MVP. “Her dominance in the paint, on the boards, help defense. Everything we needed, she was there. She had to wait a while to get to this point, to get to the finals to win a championship. But the wait was worth it.”

Reserve forward Kayla Thornton helped change the game with her defensive energy. Fiebich scored 4 points near the end of regulation and hit the first shot of overtime. “Whoever scores first in overtime usually wins,” Brondello joked after the game. “After that I felt confident.”

An unexpected hero emerged in Nyara Sabally, who embodied the definition of staying ready when your number is called. Brondello added the backup center to the lineup in the third quarter, playing a rarely used jumbo lineup of Jones, Stewart and Sabally that swung the momentum in New York’s favor. Sabally finished with 13 points off the bench, including nine in the third.

“She has that X factor,” Brondello said. “Her ability to play one-on-one, rebound the ball, play great defense. … I know she’s had a lot of adversity in her career, but the biggest game of her career, and she’s really risen to the occasion.”

And even on a non-shooting night (4-for-15), Stewart was committed to helping her team win regardless of whether she scored. She grabbed 15 rebounds, made 4 assists and blocked 3 shots.

And she made the biggest play of the night: After missing a pair of free throws with 38.2 seconds left in regulation, she made her next two with 5.2 seconds left after drawing a foul on Alanna Smith. The two-time league MVP then iced the game with another pair from the charity stripe in overtime with 10.1 seconds left.

In a year with new faces and new energy surrounding the sport, Stewart – already arguably the winningest player in women’s basketball history at age 30 – won again, fulfilling her goal of bringing a title to her home state following the largest free agency move in women’s basketball history. history of the competition.

“My first WNBA game I ever went to was at MSG, was the Liberty,” Stewart said. ‘And to come full circle was great.

“All day everyone was texting me, ‘How are you? Are you ready?’ … And I was calm. I was ready, because I knew the city would have our back no matter what, and they showed up and they showed up, and they continued to be there for us when we needed them. “I’m so proud of this team, but so happy to bring the first championship here because the city deserves it.”

Momentum for the WNBA is building toward 2025. The league’s first expansion team since 2008 will debut next spring in Golden State, with new franchises in Toronto and Portland in 2026. Longer playoffs are on the way. The league just signed a long-term media deal worth $2.2 billion, and a groundbreaking collective bargaining agreement could soon be in the works. Teams like New York and Las Vegas, who have combined to win the past three titles, have set a new standard for what is expected from ownership investments.

But with the core all but guaranteed to return for another run, the Liberty isn’t done yet.

“Hey, let’s not just stop at one,” Brondello said. “Let’s go for two.”