The New York Liberty are champions at last.
Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Co. won the 2024 WNBA Finals with a 67-62 Game 5 victory over the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The Liberty, who fell to the Las Vegas Aces in last year’s Finals, got off to a rough start in their showdown with Minnesota. New York blew a 15-point lead in the final five minutes of regulation before losing Game 1 in overtime. The gut-wrenching home loss dropped the top-seeded Liberty to 1-4 overall against the No. 2-seeded Lynx this season.
But Sandy Brondello‘s squad responded in impressive fashion, winning three of the next four games — highlighted by a comeback Game 3 win on an iconic shot from Ionescu and a Game 5 victory in a winner-takes-all showdown — over a team that had been a thorn in their side all year.
It was quite the finish to what will go down as a historic season for the Liberty franchise…
Have the Liberty won a WNBA championship before?
The Liberty’s 2024 triumph marked the original WNBA franchise’s first-ever championship. New York was winless in its five previous trips to the Finals, finishing as the runner-up in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2023.
Which team has won the most WNBA championships?
There’s a three-way tie between the Lynx, Seattle Storm and now-disbanded Houston Comets for the most championships in WNBA history.
Houston won the first four WNBA titles from 1997-2000, with three of those Finals victories coming against the Liberty. The Storm were crowned champions in 2004, 2010, 2018 and 2020, while the Lynx won the title in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017.
WNBA teams with the most championships
The Liberty are the 12th different franchise in WNBA history to win it all. They are tied for eighth on the all-time championship leaderboard with four other teams.
Here’s a full look at the teams with the most WNBA championships:
T-1. Houston Comets: 4
T-1. Minnesota Lynx: 4
T-1. Seattle Storm: 4
T-4. Detroit Shock: 3
T-4. Los Angeles Sparks: 3
T-4. Phoenix Mercury: 3
7. Las Vegas Aces: 2
T-8. Chicago Sky: 1
T-8. Indiana Fever: 1
T-8. New York Liberty: 1
T-8. Sacramento Monarchs: 1
T-8. Washington Mystics: 1
The 2024 All-WNBA teams were announced Wednesday, with the first team headlined by Aces’ A’ja Wilson, Lynx’s Napheesa Collier and Fever rookie Caitlin Clark.
