Don’t worry about who the backup Liberty point guard will be. Because the Liberty are equipped with several “positionless” players that can fill the role for the whole season.
That’s the message head coach Sandy Brondello has been projecting through the first week and a half of training camp.
She emphasized that again Wednesday.
“We got versatility. We play more positionless. [Breanna Stewart] could be the point guard. Doesn’t matter,” Brondello said after Wednesday’s eighth training camp practice. “So we don’t put them in a box there.”
Entering training camp, the backup guard spot — behind presumptive starter Natasha Cloud — looked to be a position several Liberty players could’ve found an avenue for minutes during the regular season.
A couple ball-handlers on the 2024 Liberty team — Courtney Vandersloot and Ivana Dojkić — are longer with the team.
French guard Marine Johannes filled that role for the Liberty back in 2023 — she missed the entire 2024 WNBA while overseas — and projected to be the first guard off the bench for that spot in 2025 with her commitment to the franchise for its title-defending campaign. But Johannes is confirmed to depart the team for the summer to fulfill French duties in the EuroBasket tournament, which will be hosted in four European countries from June 18-29.
No one entered training camp as a lock to fill that backup role for the Liberty. And the one projected to play a bulk of the minutes at the spot is set to miss possibly a handful of games.
So that prospect brings up the question of which guard could find a path for minutes following training camp. But that’s not a concern for Brondello. She intends for all her players to “feel comfortable with the ball in their hands. Play on the ball, play off the ball.”
Aside from Sabrina Ionescu, Cloud and Johannes, veteran Rebekah Gardner and second-year players Jaylyn Sherrod and Marquesha Davis are in-house options at the guard position.
On Wednesday, the head coach specifically mentioned the improvements from her younger guards.
“Jaylyn has gotten better. Shooting the three much better,” the head coach said about Sherrod, who shot 33% from deep in just 3.7 minutes per game (10 appearances mostly in garbage time) last season.
“I think Q playing in China, she’s gotten better, more consistent. [She] can shoot the three now, which is something we asked her to work on.”
Considering Brondello’s willingness to have forwards slot into the ball-handling role and improvements from the youngsters, the head coach believes she has everything she needs for the backup spot.
“Don’t get stuck in a box,” she said. “You’re not just a one, two, three, four or five. You’re a basketball player so play accordingly to what you bring to the team.”
STEWIE WON’T PLAY IN PRESEASON OPENER
Stewart, who participated in her second full training camp practice Wednesday, won’t play in Friday’s preseason opener against the Connecticut Sun.
“We’re building her up. It’s Day 2,” Brondello said Wednesday. “So we don’t want to force her where we can.”
Brondello expects Stewart to play in Monday’s preseason game against the Toyota Antelopes of the Women’s Japan Basketball League. It’ll be her first game action since undergoing minor knee surgery in March.
Stewart isn’t expected to be on a minutes restriction for the start of the regular season, per Brondello.
JJ AT THE MET GALA
Returning from her excused day off Tuesday, Jonquel Jones spoke about her first time attending the Met Gala on Monday night. Jones, along with Ionescu, Stewart and team owner Clara Wu Tsai, were the first members of the Liberty organization to be invited to the event. Their appearances capped one of the last celebrations of last year’s championship season before embarking on the 2025 campaign.
“I think it means we’re breaking more into that space in terms of notoriety and that the game is growing,” Jones said. “I’m happy that I’m in the WNBA in this era where we can kind of be a part of things that are so cool…
“Just [getting] that recognition and know that as female basketball players, we’re able to enter those spaces that we’ve seen our male counterparts enter before.”
Jones said preparation for the gala began at 9 a.m. and concluded about eight hours afterwards.
“My favorite was part was obviously my hair,” said Jones, who had her hair previously retwisted then put into a high ponytail equipped with jewels and wire. She added that preparation that took about two hours.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 05: Jonquel Q Jones attends the 2025 Met Gala Celebrating “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 05, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
“It didn’t take as long as people thought it took. And then also, I just felt like it added a cool factor, and kind of helped me stand out amongst everybody that was here.”
Jones’ overall outfit came to life with help from two Black fashion icons: stylist Courtney Mays and designer Sergio Hudson. Oftentimes Black event-goers are faced with the obstacle of not having designers/stylists that look like them and understand the proper aesthetics, makeup, etc.
That wasn’t an issue for Jones on Monday.
“I think our organization just did a really good job of just putting me in a position to be successful,” she said. “I just felt like a better version of myself. And you always want to do that when you put on a nice fit.”