Liberty 2024 Year In Review: Kennedy Burke

Kennedy Burke was the New York Liberty's headlning veteran acquisition from the prior offseason.

Geoff Magliocchetti | Nov 20, 2024

Brandon Todd, NY Liberty

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New York Liberty

After 27 years, 40 games, 12 more playoff contests, and even a fateful overtime period, the New York Liberty finally stand as WNBA champions.

New York earned its first postseason WNBA title with a five-game series victory over the Minnesota Lynx earlier this fall, capping off a monumental season for the WNBA. For now, the championship serves as a culmination of a long-gestating plan put forth by Liberty leadership, one that brought home the first basketball team honor to the city in over five decades.

The Liberty’s path to a repeat comes at an exciting if not turbulent time on the WNBA timeline: rosters are set to endure tremors caused by expansion drafts (such as that of the Golden State Valkyries in December) and upcoming collective bargaining agreement discussions.

With the season itself gone — but the memories never fading —Knicks on SI looks back at a victorious season that was and what’s ahead for the Liberty on a case-by-case basis.

2024 Year In Review: Kennedy Burke

Name: Kennedy Burke
Season: 5th (1st with Liberty)
Key Stats: 3.4 points, 91.9 defensive rating

How It Started

Burke was the de facto marquee signing of the Liberty's 2024 offseason, at least of the veteran variety. While her arrival did not gain the hype created by those of Jonquel Jones, Breanna Stewart, and Courtney Vandersloot the offseason before, she carried significant, valuable weight that would make her predecessors proud.

Having begun her career as a second-round pick in Indiana in 2019, Burke might've viewed the 2023 WNBA proceedings from abroad but it would appear she was too busy establishing herself as a lasting piece on the professional level. The UCLA alumna won consecutive MVP awards in the Ligue Féminine de Basketball where her competition included Liberty fan favorite Marine Johannes and future Nigerian Olympic heroine Amy Okonkwo. Burke helped push her squad, ESB Villeneuve-d'Ascq, back to continent-wide competitions and secured second-team All-EuroLeague honors in 2024.

One of the major themes behind the Liberty's eventual championship trek was management banking on the idea that an established year of chemistry would serve as a secret ingredient. That idea was carried in the signing of Burke, who previous collaborated with Stewart on the 2021 Seattle Storm.

How It Went

A career journeywoman on the domestic level, "KB" immediately endeared herself to her new team with a lively personality, notably forming a strong bond with fellow sixth woman Kayla Thornton. Burke became an indispensable metropolitan depth star in the regular season, playing a career-best 38 games, including three stars in place of an injured Stewart.

While Burke's minutes took a bit of a hit come playoff time (with Nyara Sabally taking on a larger relief role), she undeniably served as a key force behind the Liberty's ascension to the top of the WNBA leaderboard. Burke's veteran leadership was also lauded when she was one of the most seasoned players left to over see the Liberty's post-Olympic prep, stengthening her bond with Thornton and other regulars further.

In three starts, Burke shot 50 percent from the field (10-of-20) and swiped seven steals.

Finest Hour

Traffic on Kennedy took on a whole new meaning in Chicago on July 13, as Burke got the start in place of an ailing Stewart against the local Sky. If any team had come close to having the Liberty's number in the early portions of the season, it was likely Teresa Weatherspoon's Sky, which demolished New York by a 48-point final in the preseason before winning the first meeting of the regular affairs at Barclays Center.

Burke, however, booted the threat of an upset with a little bit of everything in her first start of the year, scoring seven points and pairing them with three rebounds and steals each, as well as two assists and a block while mostly drawing Angel Reese duty. Burke perhaps saved the best for last, leading a four-woman crackdown on Reese toward the end of the game that ended the lauded freshman's streak of consecutive double-doubles at 15.

They Said It

"Experiences make you better. She went overseas, she developed her game, played wth lot of confidence. We know it's different, you just don't come back in the WNBA, but we saw how she could complement the players that we had. The hardest part for Kennedy was that she missed the whole training camp and as a new player that's very hard ... but we knew how she could add to us. Her three-point shooting, her ability to get to the rim, I think she moves well without the ball, but also defensively, she's a really high-IQ player."-Head coach Sandy Brondello

"When I think about when I played with KB in Seattle, in comparison to now, she has only grown as both a person and a player. She sharpened her game overseas and she really put in the work ... She just had to get a little comfortable and confident and understand what we needed her to do ... Like any of our bench, she continues to stay ready and help us win."-Breanna Stewart

What's Next?

Though the Liberty seem well on pace to keep their headliners together, it stands to reason that they'll lose a woman or two from their primary rotation. It's far from a certainty, but Burke would probably be one to seek pastures beyond seafoam.

Burke is set to be a free agent this winter and likely sees the writing on the wall: she more or less fell out of the postseason rotation and New York has decisions to make when it comes to the rise of younger talents (i.e. Sabally) and entrants potentially returning (such as the more experienced, yet similarly skilled/sized Rebekah Gardner). It'd hardly be surprising to see Burke seek out a more assured opportunity at minutes.

But it's hard to deny what this season did for both sides, even if it was only meant to last a single season: the Liberty got to shore up their depth for a champion while Burke earned a sizable showcase for her WNBA return, one that proved she can make lasting, winning contributions.

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Published Nov 20, 2024

GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI

Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks