NEW YORK – As the seconds ticked away in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals on Sunday night, Breanna Stewart dribbled the ball across halfcourt. At the long-awaited buzzer, she found Jonquel Jones hugging her as her teammates rushed down the hall.

The New York Liberty had finally done it.

Sabrina Ionescu, the franchise's longest-serving player, collapsed on the Liberty logo, covering her face with her hands in euphoria. Frank Sinatra's “New York, New York” played as confetti rained from the rafters.

It was a fitting conclusion to a 2024 WNBA season that catapulted the WNBA into a new era of growth and cultural relevance, one that commissioner Cathy Engelbert called “the most tumultuous year in WNBA history.” It featured outstanding individual performances – A'ja Wilson won her third MVP with one of the most dominant seasons in league history; Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese shined with sensational rookie campaigns – and league-wide growth. The WNBA experienced its most-watched regular season in 24 years, highest viewership in 22 years and most-watched playoffs in 25 years.

In the end, the meeting of the two best teams in the league in the first game 5 of the WNBA Finals in overtime, in which only victory was at stake, was the only conclusion to this outstanding season – especially if it was one of the three remaining original franchises in the league. Most famously, he had the final say when the final whistle blew on Sunday.

A season filled with many firsts ended with the Liberty franchise claiming an elusive debut victory, finally relinquishing the distinction of being the only permanent original WNBA franchise without a title and capable of winning a championship on its own floor to win.

“It's an incredible feeling to be able to bring a championship to New York for the first time in franchise history,” said Stewart. “I can’t wait to continue celebrating with the city because I know it’s going to be crazy.”

The New York championship — won with franchise greats Teresa Weatherspoon and Sue Wicks on the sidelines — was an exorcism that spanned 28 seasons and ended a wave of frustration that began with the Liberty's first ill-fated title run in 1997 and continued over the decades that followed. This was highlighted by Weatherspoon's legendary half-court shot that won Game 2 in 1999, only to lose the title the following day. a total of five empty final trips; five more losses in the Eastern Conference finals; even a record of 2-20 in 2020. Entering last season, the Liberty were enduring five straight losing seasons.

Then, in a single offseason, New York flipped the script and became the first team in league history to use free agency to assemble a superteam – and automatic contender – by adding two former MVPs and one in Jones and Stewart Of the league members, Courtney Vandersloot is the best point guard. Most would have considered last year's runner-up final to be a success for a new team. Instead, the 2023 Liberty result left what is known as a “scar.”

However, they did not start the season as favorites. The Las Vegas Aces opened 2024 as the top pick and completed the league's first three-peat of the millennium, while teams like the Phoenix Mercury and Seattle Storm made big offseason moves to compete. Clark and the Indiana Fever turned heads with their first playoff berth since 2016.

But New York prevailed early, holding its own at the top of the table and continually maintaining its status as the best team in the league.

As the Liberty gained momentum, the city took notice. In a summer filled with record-breaking attendance, Barclays Center averaged the second-best attendance in the league (12,730), just two years after finishing eighth (5,327) and five years after White Plains infamously hosted games at the Westchester County Center. The regular season was just a glimpse of what was to come in the postseason, as it was the most-attended Finals in league history.

The fans were in for a show. The Liberty were better from a basketball perspective than in 2023, especially thanks to the signing of German rookie Leonie Fiebich – but they also developed deeper chemistry and a stronger collective will. Weekly cultural meetings, led by players and led by Paddy Steinfort, the mental coach, allowed players to challenge each other and say tough things without knowing that none of it was personal.

In the playoffs, the Liberty figured out how to fight through adversity together and defeat the two-time defending champions in the semifinals. overcoming a disastrous 0-1 start to the final after blowing a 15-point lead with five minutes left in Game 1; and prevailed in a grueling Game 5 despite scoring just 10 points in the first quarter and initially trailing by 12 points.

It was the fulfillment of the vision Jones and Stewart envisioned when they decided to join forces in New York at the start of the 2023 season.

“We talked so much about it, about coming together and about what we envisioned, what we wanted to do in New York and what we could do to make it happen and make a dream come true,” Jones said. “It’s so damn hard. It just means a lot.”

Stewart added: “Me, JJ, Sloot, we all came together to win a championship. Last year we lost in the final. But look at us, we’re here now.”

To accomplish this, New York played more like a superteam than a superteam.

When Ionescu and Stewart combined to go 5-for-34, the players around them stepped up. None more so than Jones, the 2021 MVP who kept the Liberty ahead with a team-high 17 points. The former No. 6 pick, who left her home country of the Bahamas to play high school basketball at Maryland, won her first championship after falling short in three other Finals appearances.

“She led us,” Stewart said of Jones, who was named Finals MVP. “Their dominance in the paint, on the boards, on defense on the help side. She was there with everything we needed. She had to wait a while to get to this point, to get to the finals and win a championship. But the wait was worth it.”

Reserve forward Kayla Thornton helped change the game with her defensive energy. Fiebich scored 4 points near the end of regulation time and scored the first shot of overtime. “Whoever scores first in overtime usually wins,” Brondello joked after the game. “After that I was confident.”

In Nyara Sabally, an unexpected heroine emerged who embodied the definition of staying ready when your number is called. Brondello inserted the reserve center into the lineup in the third quarter – playing a rarely used jumbo lineup of Jones, Stewart and Sabally that swung the momentum in New York's favor. Sabally finished the game with 13 points off the bench, including nine in the third period.

“She has that X factor,” Brondello said. “Their ability to make one-on-one plays, rebound the ball, play great defense. … I know she's faced a lot of adversity throughout her career, but the biggest game of her career, and she really rose to the occasion.”

And even on a poor shooting night (4 of 15), Stewart was committed to helping her team win, regardless of whether she scored. She scored 15 rebounds, dished out 4 assists and blocked 3 shots.

And she made the biggest play of the night: After missing two free throws with 38.2 seconds left, she made her next two with 5.2 seconds left after fouling Alanna Smith. The two-time league MVP then tied the game with another pair from the charity stripe in overtime with 10.1 seconds left.

In a year of new faces and renewed energy around the sport, Stewart — already arguably the winningest player in women's basketball history at 30 — won again, fulfilling her goal of bringing a title to her home state after the largest sweep of a free agency Agency league history.

“The first WNBA game I ever saw was at MSG, the Liberty,” Stewart said. “And for it to come full circle was amazing.

“All day long everyone was texting me: ‘How are you? Are you ready?' … And I was ready because I knew that the city would be there for us no matter what, and they came and continued to be there for us when we needed it. I'm so proud of this team, but also so happy “To be able to bring the first championship here because the city deserves it.”

The momentum of the WNBA heading into 2025 is increasing rapidly. The league's first expansion team since 2008 will debut in the Golden State next spring, with new franchises in Toronto and Portland joining in 2026. Longer playoffs are coming. The league just signed a long-term, $2.2 billion media deal, and a groundbreaking collective bargaining agreement could soon be in the works. Teams like New York and Las Vegas, who have won the last three titles together, have set a new standard for ownership investment expectations.

But with their core almost guaranteed to return for another run, the Liberty aren't done yet.

“Hey, but let’s not stop at just one,” Brondello said. “Let’s go together.”