Sophomores become subs as the New York Liberty’s final playoff push will likely be made without All-Star Natasha Howard.
Save for the facts that they each wear seafoam, white, and/or black on game day and that they’re each closing in on two full years of WNBA service, Michaela Onyenwere and Han Xu don’t have much in common.
Even the path to an official sophomore season has been drastically unique. Han has been on the Liberty ledgers since 2019, back in action after the COVID-19 pandemic forced her into a two-year absence. While Han initially struggled to find a rotational role at Westchester County Center, Onyenwere was an instant contributor to the team’s first full-time Brooklyn showcase upon her arrival as a first-round pick.
But the two are linked by the undeniable, if not common, athletic bond of victory. As the Liberty continue to re-establish a footprint in the proper New York City area, everyone on the roster knows that developing consecutive playoffs berths would be the best way to leave a permanent mark, especially with the talent in tow.
Han and Onyenwere now each have direct opportunities to contribute to that cause: the Liberty’s playoff push lost momentum in the wee hours of Sunday morning thanks not only to a 76-62 loss at the hands of the Phoenix Mercury but a right ankle injury to Natasha Howard. The 2022 All-Star is the team’s leading rebounder and has started all 32 games this season.
Howard is labeled doubtful for the first quarter of the Liberty’s final four, a Monday night visit to North Texas to battle the Dallas Wings (8 p.m. ET, The YES App/NBA TV). Entering Monday action, the Liberty (13-19) are a half-game behind the tiebreaker holders in Phoenix for the eighth and final WNBA playoff berth. A back-to-back set against the sixth-place Wings (16-16) awaits (part two comes on Wednesday) before the weekend brings about a home-and-home set with penultimate seed Atlanta to close the regular season.
Even if Howard is able to work her way back before the year lets out … and for what the Liberty hope is further postseason action … it’d be unfair to ask her to carry the weight of a playoff push after suffering an injury that required assistance from teammate Bec Allen and trainer Terri Acosta to leave the floor.
Thus, the Liberty’s post responsibilities will likely fall to reserves Han and Onyenwere, in addition to further action from center Stef Dolson. In the gloomy aftermath from Phoenix, head coach Sandy Brondello expressed hope for Howard’s healthy return but steadfastly refused to use it as an excuse.
“Injuries happen and she’s a key part of what we do,” Brondello said, refusing to sugarcoat the events of late Saturday night-into-Sunday morning. “Hopefully she’ll be okay but if not, others have to step up
It’ll thus be up to the sophomore duo, one that’s no doubt used to the super sub role by now. When Howard was left unavailable for a good part of the second half, Brondello stated that Han had “been really good, just indecisive a little bit.”
Onyenwere is no stranger to serving as a Howard understudy: one could’ve hardly blamed th UCLA alumna, the sixth overall pick in the 2021 draft, from taking a backseat of sorts, using her rookie campaign as a de facto redshirt session to learn under the high-profile veteran acquisitions. Instead, she was thrust into the Liberty’s opening five and held that role until Howard healed. Her contributions to the New York playoff push, its first since 2017, made her a shoo-in for the league’s most recent Rookie of the Year award.
This time around, Onyenwere has taken on a more reserved role, though she continues to be relied upon in clutch situations. If the Liberty are able to successfully pull off another postseason caper, Onyenwere’s crucial final minute in a win over the defending champions from Chicago on July 23 will go down as one of the impactful moments of the 2022 season. Her heroics were set up when she subbed for Howard with 43 seconds remaining after the latter picked up her sixth and disqualifying foul.
Time will tell if Onyenwere will reassume her role in the opening five. She’s not only a natural selection but also slowly but surely impressing Brondello as she works through her first year at the metropolitan helm, even as early injuries ate away at her early sophomore development.
“Mic has been getting better and better. (She’s) feeling comfortable and confident in the system and not overthinking it. It took her a while to learn, and now it’s instinct, not thinking all the time,” Brondello said in July. “It was tough for her in the early going. She got injured in training camp, came into a new system. But I’ve seen her grasping how she fits & understands the system these last few weeks… She’s been a great spark for us.”
The situation for Han is slightly murkier. Even if the 6’10 Han’s American career were to end after Monday, she has created a legacy that will no doubt be cherished by the Liberty’s niche but dedicated and knowledgeable supporters. The WNBA’s first Chinese-born draft selection since 1997 was only 19 when she made her professional debut and while she looked overmatched and overwhelmed at times, a growing sense of fearlessness only expanded her fan club, which often provided White Plains’ loudest cheers upon her entry.
Forced to take on exclusive domestic endeavors over the past two years (which included repping China at last summer’s Olympics), it didn’t take Han long to establish a role for herself in Brondello’s rotation, rewarding the faith of her followers.
Han’s game day tallies drew sizable reactions as is but her fan club has been well-fed and then some this season. She made herself a permanent rotation fixture with double-figure efforts in each of her first five appearances, allowing her to complete the transformation from 12th woman to second unit in almost record time. The quick improvement led to an enthused Howard declaring that, if she had a Sixth Woman of the Year vote, her ballot would be completely filled by Han’s name.
The legend of Han has only grown as the season’s gone on: a miss in the final minute of the Liberty’s upset win in Las Vegas on July 6 … one she immediately rebounded and put back in … was the only thing that kept her out of the league record books, namely the chapter for most shots without a miss in a single game.
Among bench players with at least 20 appearances, Han’s turnover ratio (7.7) is second behind only Chicago’s Azuara Stevens. More traditionally, she’s 15th with 9.1 points off the bench, a tally good for third-best among all sophomore in general (behind only teammate Marine Johannes and Atlanta’s Aari McDonald). Had last Tuesday’s Brooklyn win over Los Angeles gone a bit longer, Han might’ve joined Sabrina Ionescu in the triple-double sisterhood (13 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds in a 102-73 triumph).
Han’s packed resume, even in relatively little minutes, however, perhaps mask the fact she’s prone to youthful lapses, vulnerable to attacks from the interior threats of the top-heavy WNBA. Such shortcomings perhaps explain Han’s recent struggles from the field, shooting 5-of-15 over the last two games. New York is 6-2 when she’s able to sink at least five from the field.
Brondello believes that, with the proper guidance, “Hanny” will be a major x-factor in the post in the team’s fight to break through. Even in the darkest of times, for example, Han has proven capable of stabilizing contests by making plays with her almost-supernatural wingspan and length.
“Everyone loves Hanny. She plays with so much joy,” Brondello noted in the aftermath of Han’s near-miss at history against Los Angeles. Even as Han has made strides in the offensive box score, Brondello had been particularly inspired by her improvement on defense. “In the beginning, it was like a new language,” she said in July. “Now, she’ll be capable in a switch. That’s the confidence we’ve gotten in her.”
“Missing shots is normal. Everybody misses shots, even the greatest players just miss shots too,” Han told Baseline through translator Kevin Zhang. “I just want to have that next shot mentality and keep my confidence up My teammates teammates also support me, they tell me to shoot when I’m open. So that’s that’s why I’m so confident.”
These sophomores have passed most of their tests so far. The potentially Howard-less stretch serves as a dangerous … but potentially rewarding … final exam.
“I just have to give them confidence to go out there and to play their games to the best of their ability,” Brondello said of the prep for what awaits Han and Onyenwere. “Prepare them to get locked in executing what we’re trying to do.”
Main Image: Joshua Huston/NBAE via Getty Images
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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