NEW YORK — Betnijah Laney-Hamilton was tapping her empty Poland Spring water bottle on her leg. She had a rhythm in her head that she was trying to soothe out loud.
Laney-Hamilton, a self-described introvert, was sitting alone for a moment on a chair opposite the away team’s bench on the Barclays Center main court. Her teammates went to get water during the team’s Monday practice.
Rhythm, a groove, a pattern. Those have all been difficult results for Laney-Hamilton to attain so far this season, and it’s making storylines in the Big Apple. Laney was handed a “DNP-CD” — The short-hand for “Did not play — coach’s decision” in a box score — in the Commissioner’s Cup championship game on June 30. When she didn’t play in the next game against the Minnesota Lynx on July 3, disgruntled fans began chanting “We Want Laney” near the end of the contest.
Laney-Hamilton returned to the rotation again on Tuesday against the Dallas Wings, and the fans let the Liberty know how happy they were to see her back on the floor once PA announcer Ron Kish announced her checking into the game.
The confusion and frustration that the fans felt for their favorite player in Laney-Hamilton mirrored what she has been battling internally herself.
“Just as a competitor and everything, as somebody who’s worked really hard, somebody who’s been a part of the organization for a long time, it can sometimes be disappointing and frustrating,” Laney-Hamilton told reporters during a pregame walk-and-talk on Tuesday. “But you know that’s also a part of the process. So, like I said, I’m just trying to as much as possible, just come out, be the best version of myself within the circumstances.”
How did we get here? Why did the “We Want Laney” chants strike such a chord? Why are there questions swirling around about if Laney-Hamilton will finish the season in a Liberty uniform? What makes a situation like this more complicated than meets the eye?
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From starter to sitting entire games
Laney-Hamilton came back to the Liberty for a sixth season with the team — only Sabrina Ionescu has been on the roster for longer — after missing all of 2025 following meniscus surgery on her left knee. (Previously, she played through a bunch of right knee injuries during the majority of the Liberty’s championship season.) Often throughout that time, she’s been a vocal leader even while being a reserved person.
Laney-Hamilton began the season as a starter, somethingThe Athletic reported became the plan following early discussions with new head coach Chris DeMarco. While she continued to help the Liberty in ways beyond the box score, her shot, timing and handle appeared quite rusty and she moved a bit slower.
But after those first four games, however, Laney-Hamilton missed three games while taking some time away from the team for personal reasons. She returned on May 27 for the Liberty’s home game against the Phoenix Mercury and with Leonie Fiebich back in town after competing in a long and grueling overseas season in Spain, Laney-Hamilton would come off the bench. She scored seven points, had two assists and finished the game with a +15 in her first game back in just under 13 minutes of play.
At first it was confusing to watch Rebekah Gardner jump Laney-Hamilton in the rotation, but a source familiar with the situation explained to The IX Sports that the plan was to bring Laney-Hamilton along slowly after being away and that she wasn’t just immediately demoted from the rotation.
She played in six more games coming off the bench and scored in double digits in two of those games while averaging 14.5 minutes. She eventually did jump Gardner in the rotation. As she worked to get her shooting touch back in rhythm, there would be some flashes of what is expected of Laney-Hamilton here and there.
Not seeing the results immediately and having less time on the floor to do so can take a toll, especially after a year off. Laney-Hamilton’s position coach Andrew Wade explained that being out of organized professional basketball for over a year is disorienting for a player. It can be much more mental than it is physical at times.
“It’s just like the toughness to keep going, the toughness to have a bad day and be able to come back in the gym or back in the weight room from the next day and rebound and continue to build,” Wade said on June 14.
Wade’s approach with Laney-Hamilton has been focusing on the smaller wins: moving her feet properly on defense, chesting up drives, not fouling, attacking close-outs, getting downhill, and play making in the paint. “Obviously making threes, getting steals that’s flashy, that’s fun,” he said. “But just the small ways that she impacts winning, those are the wins for us.”
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Laney-Hamilton then missed two games on June 17 and 19, with DeMarco telling reporters before the first game that Laney-Hamilton received a pre-planned shot in her surgically repaired knee. She was back available for the Liberty’s anniversary game against the Sparks on June 21, but was handed a DNP-CD — the first of the season, but one that was planned. She played well in Las Vegas for her first game back post-injection, playing a critical role in defeating the Aces that included a monster block on A’ja Wilson. As a player with excellent feel for the game, she made the right passes and right defensive rotations in a 17-minute shift, using her girth to be able to switch onto Wilson and make her uncomfortable.
But, Laney-Hamilton looked hesitant offensively and clearly missing the three shots she took had an impact on her. That only became more apparent as the Liberty continued on their West Coast swing. She still looked hesitant and her confidence was hampered when she went just 1-for-5 from the field in Seattle and then gave up a flurry of 3-pointers to Golden State even when she had put up respectable contests.
Laney-Hamilton has always been known as a super confident player. Jonquel Jones, her closest friend on the team, recently told a story on the Liberty’s YouTube Channel about Laney-Hamilton’s confidence when the two first met playing for the Connecticut Sun. Jones explained a moment when Sun head coach Curt Miller had walked into the room and gave a speech about Laney-Hamilton.
“One thing I know about [Laney-Hamilton], no matter who’s on the court with [Laney-Hamilton], she thinks she’s the best player on the court and she believes that,” Miller said according to Jones.
And Jones thought this was true and explained that when she felt less confident, it was always Laney-Hamilton who set the example. “Sometimes I struggle with that,” Jones said. “But to see her doing it, it gives me extra confidence.”
But as the Liberty returned to Brooklyn after two straight road losses, her confidence appeared to be waning. Was it possible that Laney-Hamilton rushed back from her injection too quickly? Some experts believe athletes should hold off from running for at least a week. It would be understandable for Laney-Hamilton to want to come back sooner rather than later especially when she might feel like she has something to prove and an eagerness for more opportunities to play.
That set up the the Commissioner’s Cup championship, a game with a lot of consequence where Laney didn’t leave the bench. While she looked disappointed on the bench, winning and getting to drink champagne with her team and throw on the championship gear eased some of the frustration. Laney-Hamilton gave Commissioner’s cup championship MVP Breanna Stewart a long meaningful hug after Stewart hoisted up her MVP trophy that evening.
“Anytime you win a championship and are able to accomplish something, it’s a great thing,” Laney-Hamilton told reporters on July 2 after a team practice. “Great for us, great for the community, for our fan base, the organization. I think it was something that was really special, and not only was it the championship, but it was also for a greater cause, And so I think anytime we’re able to accomplish something like that, it’s just great all around.”
Laney-Hamilton made it clear to reporters that until recently there wasn’t a lot of direct communication with DeMarco about her role, her benching or what was really expected of her. She said she didn’t get any heads up about the “DNP-CD” on June 30. In that interview, her emotions overwhelmed her when she was asked about the message she had for fans amid how challenging this season has been.
She paused, her lip began to quiver and her eyes began to tear. She was encouraged that it was okay to show some emotion. And she replied a soft “yes” through the tears.
After the July 3 game that featured the chants, head coach DeMarco was asked what type of situation would allow for Laney-Hamilton to see the floor again.
“We obviously didn’t play a lot of players tonight,” DeMarco said postgame. “I still have confidence in her. Our staff, players have confidence in her.”
With Stewart and Jones nodding their heads in agreement while sitting alongside him, DeMarco continued, “She’s going to get her opportunity. We believe in her. Didn’t go to her tonight but we know what she can do and we’ll get there.”
While DeMarco’s communication with Laney-Hamilton hasn’t been perfect, that doesn’t mean that this new coaching staff doesn’t understand what Laney-Hamilton means to the franchise and to the fans. This is yet another example of one of the many difficult tasks that a first-year WNBA head coach has to handle, especially one that previously didn’t coach women at the professional level.
The coaching staff wants to do right by her, and want her to know that they do have her back just like her teammates have publicly expressed. But throughout this process, the coaching staff has learned that having honest conversations is the only way to get through this.
Following those two games, it was noticeable that Laney-Hamilton was super engaged in the team’s July 6 practice. She was leading the bench unit vocally, and setting up multiple open scoring opportunities for her teammates in the process. She looked less hesitant and was getting two feet in the paint again. She stayed after practice to get extra work in with Wade and had a nice long chat with general manager Jonathan Kolb and director of basketball operations Epiphanny Prince.
The difficult part of all of this is that the Liberty are trying to win games while making sure they do right by a player who believed in the franchise at a time when few did. DeMarco understands this and made that very clear when asked his reaction to the “We Want Laney” chants.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “She means a lot to this franchise, and she’s earned that. The contribution of a championship. She’s a former All-Star. She plays the game the right way. She plays hard. So, of course.”
Jones echoed how deserving Laney-Hamilton is of a fan reaction like that. Jones told reporters on Monday that she will continue to pour into someone who she considers a sister, including buying Laney-Hamilton gifts and really showing that emotional support. Marine Johannès makes sure she’s always cracking jokes with Laney-Hamilton and is making her laugh whenever the French guard can.
The support all around hasn’t gone unnoticed by Laney-Hamilton — though at times, sitting on the bench and the crowd chanting her name has overwhelmed her.
“I don’t have a lot of words,” she said. “But just thank you. I really do appreciate it. I worked really hard to come back and to be in this position, so to have them continue to, you know, push for me and fight for me it really means a lot.”
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Where do things go from here?
A common refrain in Laney-Hamilton’s rhetoric has been how hard she has worked to rehab and get back to being able to play. Wade had been working with her throughout many phases of the process and has seen the work himself.
Mystics wing and former teammate Michaela Onyenwere recently praised Laney-Hamilton’s resilience. “Through the good and the bad, ups and downs, she will figure her herself out because that’s just the person that she is,” she told reporters last month about her former teammate.
What could figuring herself out mean? Does it mean requesting a trade with the Aug. 2 deadline coming up? The Athletic reported that Kolb was fielding offers at the beginning of the season.
When Laney-Hamilton was asked point blank if she expects to be with the Liberty for the end of the season, she froze and laughed nervously. But this isn’t a Skylar Diggins situation. Laney-Hamilton doesn’t put people on blast.
“We’re working on things,” she said. “I don’t know what everything looks like right now. I’m just trying to take everything one step at a time, and just stay in the moment. It’s been difficult, but today right now, I feel pretty good. I just want to want to be able to focus on the game, go out there, do what I do at least for the fans, for my teammates, all the things.”
There are a lot of questions about if a trade is really the best option for either party.
Forcing a trade could be a risk for Laney-Hamilton. The Liberty’s new director of player performance Susan King Borchardt has a strong reputation for helping athletes being able to extend their careers. She played a key role in helping Sue Bird redesign her workouts to reduce stress on one of her knees, resulting in one of Bird’s best seasons after a down year. King Borchardt has also worked previously with Stewart and Satou Sabally. If Laney-Hamilton leaves, will other medical and training staffs around the league be able to continue to pour into her like the Liberty’s can?
But there is risk on the Liberty’s side of any trade, too. Laney-Hamilton’s playoff experience, feel for the game on both ends and leadership would really be missed especially on a team that continues to struggle with showing full effort. Stewart appears to understand this.
“We need her for this team to be successful,” she told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.
When at her most confident, Laney-Hamilton has “will from within” that can’t always be taught. The key is that she just has to get there. Since the Liberty are presently dealing with more injuries –– Fiebich (left foot soreness) and Sabally (concussion protocol) both remain out –– the time to relish the opportunity is right now.
