New York Liberty wing Leonie Fiebich is critical to a repeat
- Brian Fleurantin
- Aug 19
- 5 min read
German Olympian asked to do more for reigning champions.
Repeating as champions has been accomplished three times in WNBA history.
If the New York Liberty intends to be the fourth team to go back-to-back, young star Leonie Fiebich will have to give more.
Leonie Fiebich had been a revelation throughout her rookie year. The German Olympian earned her way into Sandy Brondello’s rotation throughout the regular season and gradually showed fans everything she brought to the table.
Her play helped the Liberty obtain the WNBA’s best regular-season record in 2024 and culminated in a starting role once the playoffs began. Her combination of length, timely shooting, and great defense was the final piece and turned the Liberty from a tremendous team into champions.
In her second season with New York, Fiebich’s role changed. For one, she began the season in the starting lineup rather than coming off the bench. Offensively, Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello and her staff hoped Fiebich could build on the success of her rookie campaign and take on a bigger role in 2025.
It hasn’t gone according to plan.
Sophomore Slump?
Fiebich has had some stops and starts in 2025. She arrived at training camp late as she was finishing up a championship run with Valencia in the Spanish League. She played nine games before she had to leave for Eurobasket.
Since her return to the team on July 3, the Liberty staff has been working to feature her more frequently. “I’ve been more intentional [about getting shots for her],” Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said at practice on July 2."She's so unselfish, which I love. But now, for us to go to the next level, we need her more involved.”
Leo’s season hit its low point on July 6th vs the Seattle Storm. Fiebich only took four shots in 31 minutes as the team’s offense fell apart after halftime. After the game, Brondello acknowledged Fiebich was “overthinking” on some of her career-high five turnovers. It was evident, especially when she passed up scoring opportunities for an extra pass.
Following the 79-70 loss to Seattle, New York was desperate to right the ship before the All-Star break. Although the team remained in second place in the standings, teams like the Atlanta Dream, Seattle Storm, and Phoenix Mercury were all within one game or less of them in the standings.
At that point in the season, New York had lost three out of their past four games. Following the loss against Seattle, the team broke out of its slump and started playing great basketball.
The team went 3-0 heading into the All-Star Break, and Fiebich was instrumental in all three victories.
In those wins, Fiebich averaged 15.3 points on .692/.538/1.000 shooting splits in 30 minutes a game. In a game against the Las Vegas Aces on July 8, Fiebich was a more assertive shooter.
“She’s playing amazing and we’ve been telling her to be aggressive,” Jonquel Jones said after the team’s fourth consecutive win on July 22. “That’s what we need from her. I feel like the choices she makes [are great] and her basketball IQ is very high. It’s very rare that she takes a bad shot or makes a poor decision. We just need her to continue to play her style of basketball, and we’re gonna continue to be great.”
Despite the success on offense, Fiebich’s focus remains mainly on the other side of the ball.
“Honestly, I just have fun on defense. I'm just annoying my opponent," Fiebich said after a win against the Atlanta Dream on July 22.
"For me, if you go into a game with an offensive mindset, you never know if your shot's gonna fall or not. You never know if you’re gonna get the calls, and on defense, you always know what you have to do. The aggression you play with and the intensity, that's just something you can control. I just don't want to rely on the uncontrollables on offense,” she added.
With Leonie playing at a higher level, it changes the calculus for the Liberty in new and exciting ways.
Fighting Fatigue
The Liberty have not been at full strength for most of the season. When Fiebich initially returned, the team was awaiting the return of Jonquel Jones. However, shortly after Jones returned, Nyara Sabally, Kennedy Burke, and Breanna Stewart suffered injuries.
With the frontcourt banged up, Fiebich has had to take on a bigger workload. Since the injuries to Stewart and Burke, Fiebich has averaged 30.1 minutes per game, 21st in the WNBA. The minutes totals are high, but that doesn’t tell the entire story.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this exhausted in my entire career,” Fiebich told the New York Post on August 6. “Just playing every other day — and the travel in between — I’m not used to that, for sure. It takes some time to get used to that, like playing with tired legs, the shot line going down, finding other ways to impact the game.”
The WNBA schedule has been a point of contention for much of the year, and its effects are even more pronounced on international players like Fiebich, who play high-stakes basketball year-round. Thankfully, in early August, New York got game-changing free agent Emma Meesseman.
Through 27 games, she’s averaging over 15 points and nearly six rebounds per game, while shooting above 50% from the field. As Meesseman continues to get comfortable in New York, her presence should make scoring a bit easier for Leo.
Fiebich is a malleable player who does several things on both sides of the ball to help her team win. As the Liberty continue to fight for playoff positioning, Fiebich’s all-around game will be vital to their chances.
Putting Fiebich First
“Leo is such a selfless player,” Natasha Cloud told the media on July 25. “She just wants to help the team in whatever facet she can. If that is guarding 90 feet from the basket and pressing up full court, that's what she does.”
However, at times, Fiebich defers to her teammates too much. On a talented team like New York, there’s a delicate balance between finding your superstars while taking advantage of what the defense offers.
“From what I felt coming in this year, [the team] got on her ass a little bit, because she is such a prominent scorer on the other end of the floor too. It’s just instilling that confidence in her, telling her to ‘shoot the shit!’ or we're gonna get mad at her,” Cloud said.
“We want Leo to be aggressive. She's a big guard. People don't realize Leo is actually big as hell, like she's 6'4", and that's a solid height for a guard player. She just presents mismatches and (is) a nightmare on both ends of the floor. We just want her to continue to be Leo,” Cloud added.
Fiebich has been critical to the team’s success since she joined last year. We’ve seen her grow more confident with each game, and despite a brief dip at the beginning of July, a symptom of year-round play and travel, she is contributing as much as she can.
Fiebich amplifies every strength on this Liberty roster and allows the team to be as versatile as humanly possible. The road back to the Finals won’t be easy for the Liberty, but with Fiebich elevating her game to new heights, the reigning champs have a great chance to make history, again.
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