# 2019 New York Liberty season

The 2019 WNBA season was the 23rd season for the New York Liberty franchise of the WNBA. The Liberty opened the regular season at home on May 24 versus the Indiana Fever.
The Liberty started slowly, losing their first four games of the season. Winning five of their next eight games took them to a 5–7 record at the end of June. The team had plenty of reasons to be positive, as three of those five wins came against eventual playoff teams. The Liberty won their first two games in July to put together a four game win streak and reach a .500 record. However, they could not keep their momentum, losing three of their last four games in July. August proved a difficult month as the team only won one game. A seven game losing streak and a six game losing streak saw the team go into the final game with the Atlanta Dream with a 9–24 record. The Dream entered with 8–25 record, meaning if the Dream won, the teams would tie for the worst record in the WNBA. The Liberty won by seven points to end their season on a high note. Their ten wins is the second lowest in franchise history, with the only worse season being 2018 where they had only seven wins.
After the season, it was announced that head coach Katie Smith's contract would not be renewed.

## Transactions
### WNBA draft

| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
| 1 | 2 | Asia Durr | United States | Louisville |
| 2 | 14 | Han Xu | China | Xinjiang Magic Deer (China) |
| 3 | 26 | Megan Huff | United States | Utah |

### Trades/Roster Changes

| Date | Details |
| February 11, 2019 | Re-signed G Rebecca Allen |
| February 11, 2019 | Re-signed C Amanda Zahui B |
| February 11, 2019 | Signed F Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe |
| February 11, 2019 | Signed G Kelly Faris to a Training Camp Contract. |
| March 21, 2019 | Signed G Marine Johannès |
| March 28, 2019 | Signed G Brittany Boyd |
| April 11, 2019 | Traded a second round pick in the 2020 WNBA draft to Minnesota for G Tanisha Wright. |

## Game log
### Pre-season

2019 pre-season game log :
May: 1–3 (Home: 1–1; Road: 0–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
1
May 9
China
W 89–71
Tied (19)
Warley-Talbert (8)
Boyd (4)
Barclays Center 4,115
1–0
2
May 13
@ Connecticut Sun
L 66–100
Charles (11)
Charles (5)
Wright (4)
Mohegan Sun Arena 3,806
1–1
3
May 14
vs. Atlanta Dream
L 87–92
Zahui B. (20)
Zahui B. (8)
Tied (4)
Mohegan Sun Arena 3,458
1–2
4
May 19
vs. Connecticut Sun
L 79–98
Nurse (25)
Charles (6)
5 tied (2)
Times Union Center
1–3 :
2019 pre-season schedule :

### Regular season

2019 game log Total: 10–24 (Home: 4–13; Road: 6–11) :
May: 0–1 (Home: 0–1; Road: 0–0)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
1
May 24
Indiana Fever
L 80–81
Charles (32)
Charles (12)
Hartley (4)
Westchester County Center 1,965
0–1 :
June
: 5–6 (Home: 3–3; Road: 2–3)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
2
June 1
@ Indiana Fever
L 77–92
Charles (15)
Gray (9)
Boyd (6)
Bankers Life Fieldhouse 5,003
0–2
3
June 4
Los Angeles Sparks
L 73–78
Charles (21)
Charles (14)
Boyd (6)
Westchester County Center 3,579
0–3
4
June 7
Washington Mystics
L 85–94
Charles (27)
Zahui B. (7)
Tied (5)
Westchester County Center 1,567
0–4
5
June 9
Las Vegas Aces
W 88–78
Charles (21)
Zahui B. (9)
Hartley (6)
Westchester County Center 1,447
1–4
6
June 12
Minnesota Lynx
W 75–69
Nurse (26)
Zahui B. (13)
Boyd (7)
Westchester County Center 1,181
2–4
7
June 14
@ Las Vegas Aces
L 65–100
Nurse (12)
Gray (5)
Boyd (5)
Mandalay Bay Events Center 4,110
2–5
8
June 15
@ Los Angeles Sparks
W 98–92
Zahui B. (37)
Charles (13)
Boyd (12)
Staples Center 11,388
3–5
9
June 19
Chicago Sky
L 83–91
Durr (19)
Zahui B. (10)
Boyd (7)
Westchester County Center 1,585
3–6
10
June 22
@ Minnesota Lynx
L 83–92
Nurse (24)
Charles (9)
Boyd (8)
Target Center 8,600
3–7
11
June 28
Dallas Wings
W 69–68
Nurse (17)
Gray (11)
Boyd (7)
Westchester County Center 2,191
4–7
12
June 30
@ Atlanta Dream
W 74–58
Charles (24)
Gray (15)
3 tied (4)
State Farm Arena 4,359
5–7 :
July
: 3–4 (Home: 1–1; Road: 2–3)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
13
July 3
@ Seattle Storm
W 84–83
Charles (26)
Gray (8)
Boyd (10)
Alaska Airlines Arena 8,710
6–7
14
July 5
@ Phoenix Mercury
W 80–76
Nurse (26)
Charles (12)
Boyd (6)
Talking Stick Resort Arena 9,560
7–7
15
July 7
Las Vegas Aces
L 58–90
Charles (13)
Charles (8)
Wright (5)
Westchester County Center 1,971
7–8
16
July 12
@ Chicago Sky
L 83–99
Nurse (18)
Gray (6)
Tied (5)
Wintrust Arena 7,221
7–9
17
July 14
@ Seattle Storm
L 69–78
Nurse (19)
Zahui B. (8)
Hartley (5)
Alaska Airlines Arena 6,733
7–10
18
July 20
Los Angeles Sparks
W 83–78
Johannès (17)
Gray (8)
Boyd (6)
Westchester County Center 2,195
8–10
19
July 24
@ Connecticut Sun
L 63–70
Charles (13)
Charles (11)
Wright (5)
Mohegan Sun Arena 8,249
8–11 :
August
: 1–11 (Home: 0–6; Road: 1–5)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
20
August 1
@ Dallas Wings
L 64–87
Nurse (13)
Charles (5)
Wright (4)
College Park Center 4,011
8–12
21
August 4
Connecticut Sun
L 79–94
Charles (20)
Charles (10)
Zahui B. (5)
Westchester County Center 1,927
8–13
22
August 7
@ Chicago Sky
L 92–101
Charles (24)
Zahui B. (9)
Tied (7)
Wintrust Arena 5,797
8–14
23
August 11
Seattle Storm
L 69–84
Charles (22)
Charles (8)
Wright (7)
Barclays Center 7,715
8–15
24
August 13
Minnesota Lynx
L 73–89
Allen (28)
Charles (7)
Boyd (7)
Westchester County Center 1,570
8–16
25
August 16
@ Dallas Wings
L 77–83
Charles (25)
Wright (9)
Wright (7)
College Park Center 4,070
8–17
26
August 18
@ Phoenix Mercury
L 72–78
Charles (23)
Charles (13)
Tied (5)
Talking Stick Resort Arena 9,145
8–18
27
August 20
@ Indiana Fever
W 82–76
Charles (23)
Charles (14)
Tied (4)
Bankers Life Fieldhouse 5,340
9–18
28
August 23
Atlanta Dream
L 87–90
Hartley (17)
Charles (8)
Wright (6)
Westchester County Center 1,831
9–19
29
August 25
@ Washington Mystics
L 72–101
Nurse (24)
Tied (5)
Wright (4)
St. Elizabeth's East Arena 4,200
9–20
30
August 27
Phoenix Mercury
L 82–95
Tied (18)
Tied (5)
Nurse (6)
Westchester County Center 1,693
9–21
31
August 30
Connecticut Sun
L 84–94
Johannès (21)
Raincock-Ekunwe (7)
Tied (6)
Westchester County Center 1,791
9–22 :
September
: 1–2 (Home: 0–2; Road: 1–0)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
32
September 3
Washington Mystics
L 77–93
Johannès (22)
Raincock-Ekunwe (5)
Charles (5)
Westchester County Center 1,558
9–23
33
September 6
Indiana Fever
L 81–86
Charles (19)
Charles (11)
Tied (7)
Westchester County Center 2,301
9–24
34
September 8
@ Atlanta Dream
W 71–63
Charles (14)
Zahui B. (11)
Charles (5)
State Farm Arena 5,495
10–24 :
2019 season schedule :

## Standings

| # | Eastern Conference vte | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Conf. |
| 1 | Washington Mystics (1) | 26 | 8 | .765 | – | 14–3 | 12–5 | 13–3 |
| 2 | Connecticut Sun (2) | 23 | 11 | .676 | 3 | 15–2 | 8–9 | 11–5 |
| 3 | Chicago Sky (5) | 20 | 14 | .588 | 6 | 12–5 | 8–9 | 11–5 |
| 4 | e –Indiana Fever | 13 | 21 | .382 | 13 | 7–10 | 6–11 | 7–9 |
| 5 | e –New York Liberty | 10 | 24 | .294 | 16 | 4–13 | 6–11 | 3–13 |
| 6 | e –Atlanta Dream | 8 | 26 | .235 | 18 | 5–12 | 3–14 | 3–13 |

## Statistics
### Regular season

| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
| Tina Charles | 33 | 33 | 31.2 | 38.9 | 18.6 | 81.2 | 7.5 | 2.4 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 16.9 |
| Kia Nurse | 34 | 34 | 29.4 | 39.3 | 35.3 | 87.2 | 2.5 | 2.3 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 13.7 |
| Bria Hartley | 24 | 18 | 22.7 | 37.6 | 32.9 | 80.3 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 0.8 | 0 | 9.8 |
| Asia Durr | 18 | 15 | 26.7 | 46.7 | 29.4 | 81.8 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 9.7 |
| Amanda Zahui B. | 24 | 23 | 23.3 | 46.8 | 31.9 | 85.2 | 6.3 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 8.6 |
| Rebecca Allen | 24 | 2 | 17.2 | 41.7 | 42.6 | 81.3 | 2.5 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 7.2 |
| Marine Johannès | 19 | 0 | 18.2 | 43.6 | 37.9 | 78.9 | 1.8 | 2.4 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 7.2 |
| Brittany Boyd | 33 | 17 | 19.7 | 39.4 | 30.4 | 76.5 | 3.7 | 4.6 | 1.4 | 0.1 | 5.3 |
| Reshanda Gray | 34 | 10 | 15.3 | 47.3 | 50.0 | 56.5 | 5.2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 5.2 |
| Tanisha Wright | 31 | 17 | 19.8 | 41.5 | 36.8 | 80.6 | 2.8 | 4.1 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 4.7 |
| Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe | 28 | 1 | 13.1 | 54.4 | 33.3 | 64.0 | 2.8 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 3.7 |
| Han Xu | 18 | 0 | 7.9 | 41.4 | 50.0 | 50.0 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 3.0 |

## Awards and honors

| Recipient | Award | Date awarded |
| Tina Charles | WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week | July 8, 2019 |
| Kia Nurse | WNBA All-Star Selection | July 15, 2019 |
| Tina Charles | WNBA All-Star Selection | July 15, 2019 |