The New York Liberty opened the 2026 season against the Connecticut Sun on May 8 without four key players, leaving Breanna Stewart to carry the scoring load in the opener. Sabrina Ionescu, Satou Sabally, Leonie Fiebich and Rebecca Allen were all out as Chris DeMarco began his first season as head coach.
That made the matchup feel less like a polished title defense and more like a test of depth on opening night. Stewart was expected to be the Liberty’s No. 1 scoring option, and the timing mattered because New York had just endured a first-round playoff exit last year before turning the page to DeMarco.
The Liberty still had the kind of home form that usually changes the mood fast. They went 17-5 at Barclays Center last season and had won eight of the last 10 meetings with Connecticut straight up, a run that reflected how comfortably New York has handled this matchup. The Sun, by contrast, finished 11-33 in 2025 and were 4-18 straight up on the road last season.
There was also a wider sense that both teams were arriving at this opener with unfinished business. Tina Charles retired this week, removing one more familiar name from the league picture, while Leila Lacan was out for the Sun and Brittney Griner had just shown how dangerous she could be by making seven of her nine shots against the Liberty in preseason action last weekend.
That combination of absences, history and recent form left the opener with a clear edge but no easy script. If New York was going to settle in quickly, it would have to do it without much of the lineup it expected to lean on, and against a Sun team that, despite last year’s record, had already given at least one warning sign in preseason.
What happens next is whether the Liberty can turn a thin opening-night roster into a sustainable start, or whether the missing pieces linger long enough to make the early weeks of the season harder than they should be.
