New York Liberty Annual Review 2024: Leonie Fiebich

After 27 years, 40 games, twelve more playoff games and even an ill-fated overtime period, the New York Liberty are finally WNBA champions.

New York earned its first WNBA postseason title with a five-game series victory over the Minnesota Lynx earlier this fall, capping off a monumental season for the WNBA. For now, the championship serves as a culmination of a long-standing plan by Liberty’s leadership, one that brought the city home the honor of having its first basketball team in more than five decades.

The Liberty’s path to a repeat comes at an exciting, if not turbulent, time on the WNBA timeline: The rosters will undergo tremors caused by expansion drafts (like the one of the Golden State Valkyries in December) and upcoming collective bargaining agreement discussions .

Now that the season itself is over — but the memories never fade —Knicks on SI takes a case-by-case look back at a victorious season and what lies ahead for the Liberty.

Name: Leonie Fiebich
Season: Rookie
Key statistics: 6.7 points, 3.0 rebounds, 43.3 percent 3-point shooting, 90.7 defensive rating

The German-born Fiebich was a rookie in WNBA name only: She brought a huge trophy case from Europe, one that included championship rings and MVP awards from Australia and Spain. Fiebich had also established herself as an enduring face of the emerging German national program, leading the U-18 group to gold in the 2018 Women’s EuroBasket title and ultimately earning a spot in the senior team’s debut at the Olympics (a journey that started alongside Liberty teammate Nyara Sabally).

Fiebich’s antics caught on well enough to get a call from the Los Angeles Sparks in 2020, but she was the definition of fantasy basketball: Fiebich’s transaction history has seen her rights traded frequently, as her name appeared on the books of Los Angeles. Chicago and eventually New York before making her American hardwood debut. Fiebich’s descent from the metropolis was a relatively unknown arrival, as her rights were a de facto side issue in a multi-faceted deal headlined by the departure of Michaela Onyenwere and a pick swap with the Phoenix Mercury.

Despite those humble beginnings, New York management had no problem placing Fiebich in a group otherwise defined by fame, her potential often referenced by metropolitan buyers Sandy Brondello and Jonathan Kolb.

Such confidence was well rewarded and then some: Fiebich was getting less than eleven minutes per game in May, but received an unexpected promotion when Courtney Vandersloot missed the late spring portions of the schedule due to bereavement leave.

Fiebich made her original impact on defense: In June and July, she had the second-best defensive rating among WNBA players with at least 20 minutes under her belt, behind only future Finals foe Napheesa Collier. Beginning hints of her offensive impact were also present, as she shot more than 41 percent from three and kept pace with almost every newcomer in a stacked freshman class … certainly more than those named Caitlin Clark.

Fiebich stuck around in the starting five when Betnijah Laney-Hamilton needed medical leave, maintaining that substitute role despite suffering a lower-body ailment herself during the Olympic run. In nine consecutive starts between mid-July and late August, the offensive emergence began to impress, as she made more than 57 percent of her three-point attempts while keeping up the defensive bullying: again under 20 minutes women, Fiebich posted a defensive rating of 89, 2…second to Liberty teammate Kayla Thornton.

For her efforts, Fiebich placed second in the sixth woman race behind Las Vegas’ Tiffany Hayes and also made the league’s All-Rookie Team. She resumed her role as the first New Yorker off the bench when Laney-Hamilton returned, but she was inserted back into the starting lineup due to a healthy Vandersloot when playoff time came. Fiebich remained stationed there for the entire finals run, hitting some memorable daggers as he continued to stifle the competition’s best.

The faith in Fiebich in the form of a somewhat shocking promotion – called upon to intervene over one of the greatest, if not the greatest, facilitator at any age in WNBA history – was immediately vindicated during her first play- off trip against the Atlanta Dream.

In a preview of what would happen during the metropolitan title run, Fiebich scored 21 points, most of which came on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting effort from three-point range. She became the first New Yorker to earn a double decade in her postseason debut, setting a record for most three-pointers in a perfect debut. As usual, Fiebich never lost sight of her defense as she also had two steals while containing Atlanta’s backcourt threats en route to an 83-69 victory.

“To be honest, not really, because I’m so proud of the team, of everyone. It’s not easy being in the roles we had, and everyone accepted their role fully, and that’s just something very special… When everyone accepts his or her role, the impossible becomes truly special.Fiebich talks about whether she is proud of the records she set in the postseason

“She has a lot of confidence but I think that comes from playing international basketball and playing on bigger and bigger scenes. She is very balanced and goes straight in her shot. They were looking for her and as soon as you see the ball in You just get a lot of confidence and I think this team, the Liberty, has given her a lot of confidence in her role, whether she’s starting or coming off the bench. That’s what you want in a player at this time of year .”-Liberty legend Tina Charles on Fiebich

Young, brimming with potential and proven, Fiebich is undoubtedly one of the most coveted projects in the modern WNBA. However, the Liberty is most likely not going to let go.

The patronage list for Liberty’s expansion is relatively rock-solid: Four, maybe five names on the six-woman list had been on the list for a long time, but Fiebich made a rock-solid case for himself. Her escape is a sign that the Liberty’s success could be a lasting concept, one that can propel the team forward both now and down the road. At just 24 years old, keeping Fiebich out of Golden State’s clutches feels like a no-brainer. It goes without saying that she plans to extend her stay in New York from five years onwards, especially as doubts remain about Vandersloot’s future.

Anyone with just a few minutes of WNBA watching should have known that adding Jones, Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart would put a team on the championship path. Bringing in a talent like Fiebich – and her continued vindication of all the guarantees New York has given her – proves that this metropolitan run can succeed now or down the line.

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