While the Minnesota Lynx lead the WNBA in wins at the halfway point of the season with a 20-4 record, most online sportsbooks have the New York Liberty as the favorites to repeat as the league’s champions.
There’s good reason for that. The Liberty brought back much of the same roster — headlined by the trio of Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu — that beat the Lynx in the Finals a year ago. New York also leads the WNBA in scoring, effective field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, steals per game, least turnovers, and foul rate. The Liberty have achieved those marks while Jones has been sidelined for a month with an ankle injury too. New York has the second-best record in the league at the All-Star break at 15-6.
And the team just got a whole lot better.
Per multiple reports — from ESPN, the New York Post, and the Athletic — the Liberty are signing Emma Meesseman. According to those reports, terms of Meesseman’s deal are unclear and when exactly she arrives and suits up for the Liberty depends on how quickly the Belgian forward’s visa application is processed.
When Meesseman does take the floor for New York, it will mark the first time since 2022 that she’s played in the WNBA, and she has a history of being a difference-maker in the league.
In that 2022 season with the Chicago Sky, she was an All-Star, finished 15th in MVP voting, and was fourth in the WNBA in field goal percentage with a 57.1 percent clip while averaging 12.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.4 steals per game. With Meesseman in the starting lineup, the Sky tied with the Aces for the best record in the league (26-10) before falling in five games to the Sun in the semifinals of the playoffs.
A few seasons earlier, in 2019, Meesseman was voted Finals MVP for her crucial play for the Washington Mystics. She scored 22 points in the Mystics’ decisive Game 5 win over the Sun and averaged 17.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game for the series. Alongside Elena Delle Donne, Meesseman formed a powerful dynamic duo of sizable post players who could score in the paint and from near the arc. It’s hard not to imagine her doing the same with Stewart in New York.
Meesseman has worked on pretty much every team she’s ever been on. A big reason why is her versatility.
She’s going to be able to come off the bench for the Liberty and defend three positions, create her own shot, make plays for others, rebound at a high level and knock down open 3-pointers. Specifically for the Liberty, she’ll allow Stewart — who leads New York and is ninth in the WNBA this season in minutes played per game with 32.9 — to rest and catch her breath on the bench for longer stretches. She’ll be able to do the same for Jones, helping keep both of the Liberty’s former league MVPs fresher for another deep postseason run.
“Emma’s an amazing player,” Stewart told the Athletic earlier this month. “She’s someone who reads the game really well. For a team that wants to play read and react, and play fast, she’d be a perfect fit for us.”
New York Liberty coach Sandy Brondello also has a history with Meesseman, coaching her in 2016 and 2017 for the Russian club UMMC Ekaterinburg. Stewart and Jones both played with Meesseman in Ekaterinburg as well. She also has experience playing with Liberty guard Natasha Cloud and forward Nyara Sabally.
And by the way, it’s not like Meesseeman hasn’t been playing since she was last on a WNBA court in 2022. The 6-foot-4 32-year-old has been starring for Fenerbahçe in Turkey where she has piled up trophies and accolades. Since 2023, Meesseeman helped the club win two European Super Cups, two EuroLeague titles, and three Turkish Basketball Super League championships. She is the three-time reigning MVP of the EuroLeague.
She also led Belgium to FIBA EuroBasket titles in 2023 and 2025, and was also voted MVP of both tournaments. Meesseman was also named to the All-Star Five of the 2021 Tokyo and 2024 Paris Olympics and led all players in scoring in both tournaments.
According to reports, Meesseman chose to sign with the Liberty over the Lynx and the Phoenix Mercury. By winning this sweepstakes for arguably the most talented player from Europe, the Liberty have put themselves in position to pull off something that has only been done once in the past 20 years: repeating as WNBA champs.
With Meesseman on the roster now, the Liberty should be viewed as the clear favorites to win the Finals. Anything short of that would be a disappointment for the franchise.
