Sabrina Ionescu will return to New York Liberty: 'Where I'm supposed to be'
Sabrina Ionescu will return to New York Liberty: 'Where I'm supposed to be'
Mitchell Northam, USA TODAYWed, April 1, 2026 at 8:53 PM UTC
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PHOENIX — Dozens of WNBA players will be feeling varying levels of anxiety on Friday when the expansion draft gets underway for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire, the league’s two new teams this season.
But Sabrina Ionescu is feeling secure in the lead-up to the WNBA season, where the expansion draft, college draft and free agency window will be crammed in over the next few weeks after the players and the league finally struck a new collective bargaining agreement in March.
“No, I mean, I don't think I'm gonna get taken in the expansion draft,” Ionescu said with a laugh on Wednesday after a Team USA training camp session. “I don't think that was something that I ever thought about.”
Many of the WNBA’s biggest stars structured their contracts so they could become free agents this offseason to they could take advantage of the increases in salaries that came with the new collective bargaining agreement. The league’s supermax salary has ballooned to $1.4 million and the new league minimum — $270,000 — is already more than what superstars like Ionescu, A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier were making last season.
Wilson will reportedly sign a supermax deal to remain with the Las Vegas Aces and Stewart said on a podcast this week that she’s going to stay with the New York Liberty.
And Ionescu plans to do the same.
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“Obviously, I'm where I'm supposed to be. Never thought anything different. And so, I’m excited to kind of be able to sign and get started. It's coming up really quickly,” Ionescu told reporters Wednesday in Phoenix. “So, excited to get all this behind us and just be able to start our season and get going in New York.”
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The product of Oregon is in the prime of her career and played a big role in 2024 in helping both Team USA secure the gold medal in the Paris Olympics and the Liberty win the WNBA championship. The 28-year-old guard in the prime of her career has ranked in the top 10 in scoring and assists in the league in three of the past four seasons.
Ionescu — still the NCAA’s all-time leader in triple-doubles — is a four-time WNBA All-Star and four-time All-WNBA Second Team selection. Since being selected No. 1 overall by the Liberty in 2020, Ionescu has averaged 16.7 points, 5.9 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game while shooting 35% from 3-point land.
The Liberty were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs last year and former coach Sandy Brondello’s contract was not renewed. While Ionescu and Stewart are returning, there will be a lot of new for New York this season under first year head coach Chris DeMarco.
“We're in a really good spot, because we have our core coming back, and I feel like that's something that we can kind of hang our hats on,” Ionescu said. “Knowing we obviously have a new coaching staff that's coming in… continuing to add new pieces is going to be really exciting as well, to see how we can continue to get back to being a championship team.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sabrina Ionescu will return to New York Liberty in WNBA free agency
Source: “AOL Sports”
