Betnijah Laney-Hamilton’s exit from the New York Liberty feels like the latter.
New York Liberty@nyliberty
The New York Liberty have released Betnijah Laney-Hamilton. Thank you for everything, 👑🐝.
9:03 PM · Aug 6, 2026 · 468K Views
301 Replies · 320 Reposts · 2.66K Likes
The Liberty waived Laney-Hamilton on Aug. 6, ending her five-season run in New York. Two days later, the Washington Mystics claimed her off waivers.
They won the first championship in franchise history in 2024, only to be eliminated by the Phoenix Mercury in the first round of the playoffs last season. The Liberty then entered 2026 with a new head coach and another reshaped roster. Now, at 20-13, they have won the Commissioner’s Cup, but New York is still trying to figure out what this version of the team is.
And yet, Laney-Hamilton was supposed to be part of this next version, too.
The Liberty re-signed her in free agency this year, after making it clear they envisioned her as part of their long term plans. She returned from a torn left meniscus knee injury that cost her the 2025 season. She started five games this season and averaged 4.7 points in 17 appearances, with her playing time dropping to 16.8 minutes per game before she eventually fell out of Chris DeMarco’s rotation.
The trade deadline came and went on Aug. 2 without a deal.
New York Liberty@nyliberty
The New York Liberty have re-signed 2024 WNBA Champion, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton!🗽 Welcome back, 👑🐝
8:12 PM · Apr 15, 2026 · 139K Views
64 Replies · 604 Reposts · 3.29K Likes
At practice last week, hours before the Mystics claimed her off waivers, DeMarco explained the possibility of Laney-Hamilton playing somewhere else had been on the table for much of the season.
“Even at the start of the season, she expressed if there’s other opportunities, she wanted to look at those,” DeMarco said. “ It came to the point, just as a team, we all understood what this is and what we were trying to accomplish.”
DeMarco also spoke about the difficulty of returning from a major injury.
“I don’t think it’s talked about enough how hard it is for players and [taking] that year off and trying to rehab like — same gym, same routine,” DeMarco said. “Like, there’s a lot that goes into it. It’s hard mentally sometimes, too.”
That is part of the story.
Why had one of the players who helped build this version of the Liberty reached a point where another opportunity made sense?
Laney-Hamilton has not publicly detailed the conversations that led her to wanting to explore other opportunities. And there is no reason to try to fill in those blanks, when the people involved have chosen not to provide one.
What we do know is what Laney-Hamilton meant to the Liberty.
In 2021, New York signed her after she won Most Improved Player with the Atlanta Dream. It was the first major free-agent signing under general manager Johnathan Kolb, coming a year after the Liberty drafted Sabrina Ionescu No.1 overall and went 2-20 during the bubble season.
She became part of the core that grew around Ionescu, as New York later added Courtney Vandersloot, Breanna Stewart, and Jonquel Jones, reached the Finals in 2023 and won the championship the following season.
This is why this one will sting for Liberty fans. Only four players from the 2024 championship team remain. Laney-Hamilton represented the heart of the Liberty for much of this era.
“B was so New York,” Stewart said. “The toughness, the grit, the determination.”
This is what the Liberty are losing.
Championship teams need players who set the tone, take on the difficult assignments and are willing to do whatever the team needs. For five seasons, No.44 became part of the fabric of Brooklyn.
Which is why the question isn’t whether or not the Liberty had the right to make a basketball decision.
They did.
The question is whether a player who meant this much to a franchise deserved a more graceful ending. Laney-Hamilton’s release also puts the Liberty’s larger direction under a bigger microscope.
This is a franchise that moved on from Sandy Brondello, the coach who delivered its first championship, and handed the team to Chris DeMarco, a first-time head coach. The roster has changed significantly, some of it by choice and some of it by the realities of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement and league expansion.
Those decisions can all be defended individually. Eventually, though, they have to be measured collectively. If this version of the New York Liberty doesn’t win, what will it say about the direction Johnathan Kolb chose? Winning the championship changed the standard in New York. The pressure is now on this version of the franchise to deliver. For fans who watched Laney-Hamilton become such an important part of the Liberty, this decision won’t be easy to accept.
That tension was on display Sunday, when fans booed DeMarco during introductions before the Liberty faced the Las Vegas Aces. Maybe winning will make this decision easier to understand. Maybe it won’t. But whatever comes next, there is no taking away what Laney-Hamilton gave to New York.
She will always be the Queen of Brooklyn.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.