To little surprise, the Liberty are set to bring back the top pick from the 2020 draft for another year.
According to the WNBA’s official transaction ledger, the New York Liberty have exercised their team fourth-year option on Sabrina Ionescu.
Ionescu is in the midst of her second full season with the Liberty after she was chosen with the top overall pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft in the wake of a record-breaking career at the University of Oregon. Her rookie campaign was limited to three games after she suffered an ankle injury in the Bradenton bubble but she has begun fulfilling her professional promise since the Liberty returned to Brooklyn.
The Walnut Creek, CA native notably opened the Liberty’s era as full-time tenants of Barclays Center with a game-winning buzzer-beater in the first game of the 2021 season. Four days after, Ionescu posted the 10th regular season triple-double in WNBA history. She’d later play a major role in the Liberty’s push to the playoffs, their first since 2017.
Ionescu finished third in the league in assists last season with 183 (6.1 per game, good for fifth). She has averaged 19.3 points, 5.0 assists, and 2.3 steals over the first three games of the 2022 campaign thus far, including a 31-point showing in Friday’s overtime loss to the Indiana Fever.
Though Ionescu has kept her focus on the present, she mentioned that New York was “”starting to feel like home for a lot of us” after the Liberty put up a valiant postseason effort against the eventual finalists from Phoenix.
“We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished, but this is just the beginning,” Ionescu said. “I’m so excited for the future of this team.”
The Liberty (1-2) return to action on Sunday afternoon when they battle the Dallas Wings in Brooklyn (2 p.m. ET, YES App).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
Baseline Sports NY is on Twitter @Baseline_NY
