Almost a year ago, Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb made the difficult decision to pull the plug on Betnijah Laney-Hamilton’s 2025 season.
Her contract was suspended because she was only a few months removed from a knee surgery that was expected to sideline her until late in the season.
The Liberty needed a player who would be available when Leonie Fiebich left for EuroBasket. They couldn’t risk the possibility of setbacks.
It was a hard choice at the moment. But Kolb hoped it would be for the best in the long term. And he promised Laney-Hamilton that New York would aid her in any way it could in her recovery.
Thirteen months post-op, Laney-Hamilton is back. Wednesday, the Liberty re-signed the 6-foot guard/forward for the upcoming season.
Terms of her deal weren’t immediately known.
A key member of the 2024 championship team, Laney-Hamilton — a former All-Star and the 2020 Most Improved Player — brings experience, vocal leadership, stifling perimeter defense, relentless toughness and clutch shot-making to a team that missed her presence throughout last season.
The best part, however, is that Kolb said Laney-Hamilton, who’s had at least four knee surgeries since November 2021, is “as healthy as she’s been in years.”
“Betnijah is a rare player in this league: trusted and respected by her teammates and our fanbases, and feared by the opponents she takes on every night,” Kolb said in a statement. “Her presence elevates everything we do on both ends of the floor. Quite simply, the WNBA is better when Betnijah is a part of it, and having her back on the floor means a great deal to this franchise.”
A right knee injury caused her to miss 12 games in 2024, though she still averaged 11.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists.
The Liberty posted a net rating of 16.1 when Laney-Hamilton was on the court during the 2024 regular season (second to only Leonie Fiebich). They recorded a 7.1 net rating without her.
She suffered an acute meniscus injury to her left knee while playing in Unrivaled’s inaugural season in 2025. Surgery was inevitable.
Last season, Laney-Hamilton worked behind the scenes for months, occasionally popping up at practices or games to support her teammates in 2025. But Wednesday, she put pen to paper to ensure she’ll be back in the battle with her teammates.
Re-signing Laney-Hamilton was the first free agency move the Liberty have publicly acknowledged. The Liberty are also finalizing deals with Satou Sabally, Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones.
New York also made a flurry of moves Wednesday before the Laney-Hamilton announcement.
The most notable was re-signing guard Rebekah Gardner and Chinese center Han Xu to training camp contracts.
Gardner enjoyed her first full offseason in a while that didn’t revolve around rehabbing from an injury. She thrived at Athletes Unlimited, averaging 12.8 points on 56.6 percent shooting.
Gardner, who will turn 36 this summer, told The Post in February she planned to return to the Liberty this season and hopes to carve out a more consistent role. That might be tough after New York signed Rebecca Allen to a one-year, $350,000 deal earlier this week. Gardner will carry a cap hit of $277,500.
Meanwhile, Han, whom the Liberty picked No. 14 overall in the 2019 draft, is different from the player who was in a New York uniform almost three years ago. The 26-year-old is now listed at 6-foot-11, two inches taller than during her first stint with the Liberty, which would make her the tallest WNBA player ever.
She’s bounced around over the past few seasons, with stops in China’s WCBA and Australia’s WNBL.
In February, Han, a member of the Perth Lynx, was named WNBL Defensive Player of the Year, while averaging 16.2 points, 7.28 rebounds and 2.17 blocks per game with 50.4/31.1/81.6 percent shooting splits.
The Liberty also signed Queens native Ashley Owusu to a training camp contract and inked former Cal forward Ugonne Onyiah, Turkish guard Derin Erdogan, former Texas A&M guard Ny’Ceara Pryor and former Portland forward Alex Fowler to rookie-scale contracts.
The Liberty are scheduled to open training camp Monday.
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