Liberty Year In Review 2024: Ivana Dojkic

Ivana Dojkic showed some fleeting power from the outside off the bench for the New York Liberty.

Geoff Magliocchetti | 3 Hours Ago

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: Ivana Dojkic

Name: Ivana Dojkic
Season: 2nd (1st with Liberty)
Key Stats: 3.3 points, 38.1 percent 3-point

How It Started

The Croatian-born Dojkic had been playing professionally since she was 13-years-old and finally made the leap to the WNBA last season. Having spent most of her debut campaign with the rebuilding Seattle Storm (starting 15 games), Dojkic signed a training camp contract in New York and beat out most of a packed rookie class to maintain a spot on opening night, set to serve as a prime backcourt spell option.

Throughout her career, Dojkic had established herself as an athletic backcourt threat, capable of a variety of defenses. She also knew how and when to take the three-pointer, as her 41.8 percent success rate in the Pacific Northwest immediately endeared her to the triple-happy Liberty.

Dojkic did reasonably well on the Storm when she was trusted with larger duties, averaging 7.8 points and 3.7 assists. She was one of several veteran acquisitions acquired with starting experience, joined by Kennedy Burke and the injured Rebekah Gardner on the transaction log.

How It Went

Dojkic was one of the primary women off the Liberty bench in the early going, averaging 11 minutes a game over the first half of the season. While her defense was fine enough, she struggled to keep up the offensive consistency that helped land her a roster spot, as she was just over 38 percent from three-point range in that span.

Dojkic eventually fell out of the New York rotation, her spot unofficially taken over by Leonie Fiebich's breakout. She averaged less than eight minutes in 10 showings after the All-Star/Olympics break, including a couple of playoff games. In her last, she somewhat helped beautify the Liberty's Game 3 loss in Las Vegas with a late three-pointer.

Despite the relative lack of opportunities, Dojkic's antics often did herald Liberty wins: New York was 11-2 in the regular season when she hit at least one triple and a perfect 8-0 when she had at least one steal.

Finest Hour

The Liberty's mid-July win over the Chicago Sky was a slight turning point on the metropolitan ledgers, as New York finally got the best of a team that otherwise had their number up to that point.

With extra opportunities available in the wake of injuries to Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Breanna Stewart, Dojkic helped set the tone for a strong first half: she hit each of her first four shots from the field, including two triples, as the Liberty turned a seven-point deficit after the opening period into a nine-point lead. The Liberty won the game by an 81-67 final.

They Said It

"She's huge ... She [hits] almost every shot on offense, she [gives] us some pressure on the point guard on defense, which is always annoying for the other team. It's just huge what she does for us and I'm happy to be on the floor with her."-Leonie Fiebich

"It feels to be good a part of this, as I always try to say. I have a lot of dreams, one of which for sure is to be part of this dream that we have collectively. Doing that in New York is even better for sure than anywhere else I think."-Dojkic

What's Next

While the season was a bit of a toil for Dojkic, going toe-to-toe with a who's who of WNBA backcourt royalty for a full season should bode well as she seeks professional longevity. Despite her lack of playing time, Dojkic built a certain level of trust with New York's finest, which could serve as de facto letters of recommendation either now or later.

In terms of her Liberty career, what happens next could well depend on what transpires in the expansion draft and its immediate aftermath: Dojkic probably didn't get enough floor action for Golden State to take a chance on her but if the Liberty loses, say, Courtney Vandersloot, she could land another invite to Brooklyn training camp, provided a triple-hungry team doesn't take interest first.

If anything it, won't be hard for the Liberty to retain Dojkic, as she is one of two players (along with Jaylyn Sherrod) eligible for exclusive rights free agency, which allows New York to be the only team able to extend a qualifying offer.