Our long national nightmare is over. A month after all the other WNBA teams filled their coaching vacancies, the Liberty hired longtime Golden State Warriors assistant Chris DeMarco. The Liberty reportedly prioritized hiring a coach with NBA experience, and they settled on one who had been with the same NBA team since 2012. While DeMarco does not have any WNBA experience, he does have head coaching experience, having led the Bahamian senior men’s national team since 2019.

DeMarco actually predated Steve Kerr in Golden State, so while he probably won’t turn the New York Liberty into Warriors East, I do think we will see some innovation offensively. I still think New York’s issues last season had more to do with roster construction than with coaching, but it makes sense that Liberty General Manager Jonathan Kolb would turn to DeMarco to get the most out of a roster full of players who are better on the ball than off the ball.

Sabrina Ionescu reportedly reached out to Steph Curry during the hiring process to ask about DeMarco, and Kolb has expressed confidence that Ionescu will return. Sabrina probably isn’t a one-to-one comp to Steph, but getting the most out of her will almost certainly be one of Chris DeMarco’s priorities. I think Sabrina needs to get off the ball more. Last season, Stewart had the highest usage of her career and her worst effective field goal percentage since 2021. She shot a career-low 29.9 percent on 8.2 threes per 36 minutes. Sabrina was seventh in the league in usage and while she is certainly good enough to warrant it, I feel like it probably could have been lower considering all the talent she shared the court with.

All that being said, I don’t actually expect the DeMarco signing to affect Ionescu’s fantasy production all that much. Sabrina has averaged between 34.1 and 35.8 fppg in each of the last four seasons, and while all four of those were under former head coach Sandy Brondello, I don’t expect that to change. Sabrina may lower her usage and increase her efficiency, like she did in 2023, but the end result for fantasy players will likely be the same.

I’m more interested to see what DeMarco can do for Breanna Stewart, who has already said she is returning to the Liberty next season. Stewart averaged a career-low 34.4 fppg last season; her previous worst was 39.2. Like Ionescu, Stewart had her worst three-point-shooting season of her career, at 24.1 percent. Perhaps even more problematic, Stewart attempted just 3.3 threes per 36 minutes, also a career-low. Last season, 78.2 percent of Stewart’s made field goals were assisted. If DeMarco can do a better job of getting Stewart open, or heading towards the basket with an advantage when she catches the ball, that could make a huge difference. Stewart’s days of playing more than 30 minutes per game are probably over, but prior to last season, Stewart had scored at least 1.2 fantasy points per minute in six consecutive seasons. I think last season was basically Stewart’s floor, and under DeMarco, I think she’ll get back to scoring 36+ FPPG.

The rest of the roster is more up in the air, though I certainly expect the Liberty to try to bring Jonquel Jones, Benijah Laney-Hamilton, Marine Johannes and Emma Meesseeman back. Steve Kerr has never been afraid to play smart defenders who move the ball on offense, even if it meant leaving more talented scorers on the bench. If DeMarco brings that over to the Liberty, that could benefit the entire team, especially for fantasy. The Liberty had nine players averaged at least 13 FPPG last season. That number is probably a bit inflated because Nyara Sabally and Emma Meesseman each played just 17 games, but that is still a wide distribution. If DeMarco gives more time to lower-usage offensive players, that could benefit New York’s secondary playmakers. I think the best thing for their fantasy value would be for Meesseman, Jonquel Jones and Natasha Cloud to find new teams. All three were better for fantasy before they joined the Liberty. That being said, if they do return, I am fairly confident they will bounce back under Chris DeMarco.