Friday\u2019s 88-77 win against the Dallas Wings<\/a>, saying the four-time All-Star should be \u201cright up there\u201d on the list of candidates.\u00a0<\/p>\nBut being an MVP for Ionescu would be more of a byproduct of her real goal this season, which is to lead the Liberty to a second straight WNBA championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the top of everything,\u201d Ionescu told The Post. \u201cObviously I know when I\u2019m playing like an MVP, we always have a great chance of winning, like, when I\u2019m out and doing all the things that I do because for me, it\u2019s not just scoring. It\u2019s my ability to get assists, to get rebounds, to do the things kind of all around on the ball \u2014 not just scoring. And so I do know when I\u2019m able to kind of dip into all those categories, we\u2019re a tough team to beat.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Liberty have been battered with injuries this season. They have played only two games at full strength and have played significant stretches without either Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sabrina Ionescu calls out a play during the Liberty\u2019s road game against the Wings on Aug. 8, 2025. Getty Images<\/p>\n
But Ionescu, who had 16 points, six rebounds and six assists Friday, has been a constant for the Liberty night in and night out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ionescu has missed only one game this season because of a kink in her neck. The tightness impacted her play during that road trip, but other than that, she has continued to carry the Liberty, who remain second in the league standings despite all the adversity they\u2019ve been dealt this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ionescu entered Friday fifth in the league in scoring, averaging a career-high 20 points per game. She\u2019s sixth among guards in rebounds (4.9) and eighth in the league for assists (5.5) while averaging the 11th-most minutes in the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Minnesota star and top MVP contender Napheesa Collier, who is out with a right ankle sprain, looks on before the Lynx\u2019s game against the Mystics on Aug. 8, 2025. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
She was named Player of the Month in July and has been on a tear since the All-Star break.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the numbers tell only part of the story for Ionescu, whose impact can\u2019t always be quantified in the box score.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ionescu has a gravitational pull that can disrupt a defense. Her off-ball movements can open opportunities for her teammates.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCovering the Liberty like never before\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Madeline Kenney’s Inside the Liberty, a weekly Sports+ newsletter.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
She can push the ball in transition or throw a 40-foot heave that\u2019s perfectly placed for her teammate in front of her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ionescu has improved as a defender, too. Some of that is in part because she entered this season in the best shape of her life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s been really impressive for us all season long with whatever we need,\u201d Brondello said. \u201cObviously we know that she can score the ball. She has been doing that at a high rate but her ability to rebound, her ability to create offense for her teammates. Yes, she should definitely be in [MVP] the conversation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sabrina Ionescu drives on Diamond Miller during the Liberty\u2019s road game against the Wings on Aug. 8, 2025. Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no minimum number of games played required for the MVP award like in the NBA, though some voters believe players should play in roughly 75 to 80 percent of the regular season to be considered eligible. This year, that would mean 33 to 35 games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Collier, who has played in 26 games, is expected to miss at least two weeks but could be sidelined for longer. Alyssa Thomas, who has appeared in 25 games, is also deserving of being part of the MVP conversation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A\u2019ja Wilson\u2019s case for her fourth MVP is marred by the Aces\u2019 rocky play this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ionescu has the chance to raise her MVP stock over the Liberty\u2019s 14 remaining games in the regular season \u2014 not that it\u2019s something she\u2019s worrying about.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c[I] just kind of try and focus on the things that I can control and being obviously the best that I can for this team and getting wins,\u201d Ionescu said. \u201cBut obviously I\u2019d say what I\u2019m most proud of is just how I can continue to get better every year in so many different ways and on both sides of the ball and not really being satisfied with the year I\u2019ve had but continuing to try and do more. And that\u2019s something, it\u2019s hard to do and something that I\u2019ve always done in my career is continue to get better. And so I know I\u2019m not even really scratching the surface of the player that I will be when this is all said and done. And so just trying to continue to hold myself to that standard and do whatever it is that the team needs me to win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS \u2014 With Napheesa Collier out for the foreseeable future with a sprained right ankle, the conversation for…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":131668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[1520,15534,62,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-131667","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-new-york-liberty","9":"tag-sabrina-ionescu","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us","14":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114998744453232881","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}