Liberty Year In Review 2024: Leonie Fiebich

WNBA rookie Leonie Fiebich proved to be the final piece of the New York Liberty's championship puzzle.

Geoff Magliocchetti | Nov 25, 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: Leonie Fiebich

Name: Leonie Fiebich
Season: Rookie
Key Stats: 6.7 points, 3.0 rebounds, 43.3 percent 3-point, 90.7 defensive rating

How It Started

The German-born Fiebich was a rookie in WNBA name only: she brought over a massive trophy case from Europe, one that included championship rings and MVP awards from Australia and Spain. Fiebich had also established herself as a lasting face of the rising German national program, guiding the U-18 group to a gold in the 2018 Women's EuroBasket title and eventually earning a spot in the senior squad's debut showing at the Olympic Games (a journey embarked upon next to Liberty teammate Nyara Sabally).

Fiebich's antics caught on well enough to get a second-round call from the Los Angeles Sparks in 2020 but she was the definition of fantasy basketball: Fiebich's transactional history has frequently seen her rights swapped, as her name appeared in the books of Los Angeles, Chicago, and finally New York before she made her American hardwood debut. Fiebich's metropoltian descent was a relatively unheralded arrival, as her rights were a de facto side piece in a multi-pronged deal headlined by Michaela Onyenwere's departure and a pick swap with the Phoenix Mercury.

Despite those modest beginnings, New York management had no issue with inserting Fiebich into a group otherwise defined by familiarity, her potential frequently referenced by metropolitan brass Sandy Brondello and Jonathan Kolb.

How It Went

Such faith was well-rewarded and then some: Fiebich was granted less than 11 minutes a game in May but received an unexpected promotion when Courtney Vandersloot missed the late spring portions of the schedule on bereavement leave.

Fiebich made her original impact on defense: in June and July, she had the second-best defensive rating among WNBA players with at least 20 minutes to her name, behind only future Finals foe Napheesa Collier. Fledgling hints of her offensive impact were likewise present, as she was shooting over 41 percent from three and keeping pace with almost every rookie in a packed class of first-years ... at least beyond those named Caitlin Clark.

Fiebich stuck around in the starting five when Betnijah Laney-Hamilton required medical leave and maintained that substitute duty despite enduring a lower-body ailment of her own during the Olympic run. In nine consecutive starts between mid-July and the end of August, the offensive emergence began to leave an impact, as she was drilling over 57 percent of her three-point tries while keeping up the defensive pestering: once again among the 20-minute women, Fiebich posted an 89.2 defensive rating ... second to only Liberty teammate Kayla Thornton.

For her efforts, Fiebich was the runner-up in the race for top sixth woman behind Tiffany Hayes of Las Vegas and was also on the league's All-Rookie Team. She resumed her role as the first New Yorker off the bench when Laney-Hamilton returned but she was thrust back into the starting lineup over a healthy Vandersloot when playoff time arrived. Fiebich remained stationed there for the entire Finals trek and hit some memorable daggers all while continuing to clamp down on the league's finest.

Finest Hour

The faith in Fiebich in the form of a somewhat shocking promotion — called upon to step in over one of the greatest, if not the greatest, facilitator at any age in WNBA history — was immediately vindicated in her maiden playoff voyage against the Atlanta Dream.

Previewing what was to come on the metropolitan title trek, Fiebich scored 21 points, most of it earned on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting effort from three-point range. She became the first New Yorker to earned a double decade in her postseason debut and set a record for most three-pointers in a perfect debut. True to form, Fiebich never lost track of her defense, as she also had two steals while keeping Atlanta's backcourt threats in check en route to an 83-69 triumph.

They Said It

"Honestly, not really, because I'm so proud of the team, each and everyone. It's not easy to to be in the roles we had, and everybody accepted their role to the fullest, and that's just something really special ... Just everybody accepting their role makes the impossible really special.-Fiebich on if she's proud of the records she set in the postseason

"She has a lot of great confidence but I think that comes from playing international basketball, being on bigger and larger scenes. She's very poised, (goes) straight into her shot. They were looking for her and once you see the ball go in, you just get great confidence and I think this team, the Liberty, has given her great confidence in her role regardless if she's starting or coming off the bench. That's what you want in a player at this time of the year."-Liberty legend Tina Charles on Fiebich

What's Next

Young, potential-packed, and proven, Fiebich no doubt stands as one of the most covetable projects in the modern WNBA. The Liberty, however, more than likely aren't letting go.

The Liberty's expansion draft protection list is relatively ironclad: four, maybe five, names on the six-woman list were already long-accounted for but Fiebich made an ironclad case for herself. Her breakout is a sign that the Liberty's success can be a lasting concept, one that can thrust the team forward both now and later. At only 24, keeping Fiebich out of Golden State's clutches feels like a no-brainer. It stands to reason that she's set to extend her stay in the New York starting five, especially with lingering doubt about Vandersloot's future.

Anyone with mere minutes of WNBA viewership could've known that adding Jones, Sabrina Ionescu, and Breanna Stewart would place a team on a championship path. Landing a talent like Fiebich--and her continued vindication of every assurance New York has placed in her--proves this metropolitan run is capable of succeeding both now and later.