New York thump the Mercury 89-76 on Friday.<\/a><\/p>\nSabrina Ionescu, Nyara Sabally of the New York Liberty and Satou Sabally of the Phoenix Mercury pose for a picture after the game between the Phoenix Mercury and the New York Liberty during a WNBA game on July 25, 2025. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
And Brondello doesn\u2019t anticipate Sabally playing Saturday against the Sparks, either.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re taking the time with her,\u201d Brondello said.<\/p>\n
The Liberty have the depth to play it extremely safe with Sabally\u2019s tenuous knee.<\/p>\n
Jonquel Jones is back in action after missing a month with a sprained ankle.<\/p>\n
Isabelle Harrison, who has been playing a lot better over the past few games, can give the Liberty quality minutes and Breanna Stewart can play a five when needed.<\/p>\n
Nyara Sabally of the New York Liberty and Satou Sabally of the Phoenix Mercury smile after the game between the Phoenix Mercury and the New York Liberty on July 25, 2025. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Kelsey Mitchell of the Indiana Fever drives to the basket as Nyara Sabally of the New York Liberty gives chase during the second quarter. Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to risk forcing her back when we kind of just got JJ back, too,\u201d Brondello said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got that depth here, so giving her the time that she needs, and I don\u2019t know what that looks like but we have it right now, so let\u2019s utilize it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kayla Thornton\u2019s breakout season came to a premature end this week.<\/p>\n
Thornton, just days removed from her first All-Star appearance, underwent season-ending knee surgery Friday after she suffered an injury at practice this week, the Valkyries announced.<\/p>\n
Thornton, whom the Valkyries plucked from the Liberty in the expansion draft this past offseason, was having a career season, averaging 14 points, seven rebounds and 1.3 steals per game.<\/p>\n
Kayla Thornton of the Golden State Valkyries during the 2025 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on July 19, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Brondello sent Thornton a message as soon as she heard the heartbreaking news.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe will always be a part of something special that we did here,\u201d Brondello said. \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate, but I know she\u2019ll have the right mentality and she\u2019ll come back better and stronger than ever.\u201d<\/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
Jones, in her second game back after missing a month with an ankle sprain, recorded 20 points and 11 rebounds. It was her seventh double-double in 11 games this season and the Liberty improved to 29-0 all-time when Jones gets a double-double.<\/p>\n
New York\u2019s starting lineup featuring Natasha Cloud, Sabrina Ionescu, Leonie Fiebich, Stewart and Jones improved to 9-0 this season.<\/p>\n
The Liberty close out their July homestand Saturday when they host the Sparks. New York will then head out on a road trip where they will play four games in seven days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a saying in sports: Availability is the best ability. Unfortunately for Nyara Sabally, the Liberty backup center…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":93305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[1520,1502,62,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-93304","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-phoenix-mercury","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us","14":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114917922862699176","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93304","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=93304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}