The New York Liberty are on a roll right now. They are on a hot five-game win streak. Their next opponent? The Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday. The Sparks are on the opposite end of the leaderboard from Liberty. They are sitting in the tenth spot just over Sky, Wings, and Sun. So it should be an easy game for Liberty, right? Well, the Sparks have found their spark as they are on a hot four-game win streak themselves.

The game on Sunday will determine which team will lose its win streak. But before this high-stakes game, the New York Liberty announced a roster update many saw coming. Will this roster update be the changing factor for the game on Sunday? Nobody knows. But let’s look at the announcement first.

Just six hours before their game with the Los Angeles Sparks, the New York Liberty announced that Nyara Sabally is ruled out. The 25-year-old center, who also missed Friday’s game against the Phoenix Mercury, is dealing with minor knee discomfort. Sabally has played 15 games this season, averaging 5.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. But one list that Sabally keeps reappearing on is the injury list.

Though her professional career has been relatively short, it has been marked by a constant battle with injuries. She suffered from a torn ACL throughout her 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. Following her signing with Liberty in 2022, she missed out that season due to aggravation in her right knee. Later, Sabally was recovering from a back injury and missed the first half of the 2024 WNBA season. Now she is out again due to her right knee injury flaring up. However, it looks like her team has already anticipated this happening.

New York Liberty head coach on Sabally’s injury

The Liberty head coach, Sandy Brondello, had already anticipated that Sabally would be out for Sunday. Before Friday night’s game against the Mercury, Brondello made it clear that she is willing to give Sabally ample time to heal. “We’re a player-first organization, we want to make sure they are feeling well and she’s working really hard. But we don’t want to make someone play through something,” Brondello said.

Brondello is confident in her team’s depth, allowing them to take a cautious approach with Sabally’s uncertain knee condition. Her statement does carry weight, as Liberty is performing exceptionally with a win-loss ratio of 17-6. Breanna Stewart is spearheading the offense, averaging 19 points per game. On the other hand, 3-point queen Sabrina Ionescu is orchestrating those attacks with 5.8 assists per game.

So the New York Liberty team is stable even when Sabally is out. However, her team places a lot of faith in the center’s ability, given that she is at her fittest. “She’s a player with such great potential, but the injury bug has been the hardest thing she’s had to overcome. Once you see her (healthy) and she’s back on court, she plays at such a high level, and we know that the ceiling is really high for her,” Brondello said. 

Breanna Stewart has also sung high praises for her fellow teammate. Stewart claims Sabally was the X-factor that led their team to win the 2024 WNBA finals. In the 17 minutes she played in the final against the Minnesota Lynx, Sabally scored 13 points and had seven rebounds. While it is true that Sabally has a lot of potential, she won’t be able to showcase it on Sunday. The X-factor of the New York Liberty is currently out of their game against the Los Angeles Sparks.