Breanna Stewart will lead the New York Liberty when they host the Golden State Valkyries at Barclays Center on Thursday, May 21, a matchup that carries weight for both teams as two Liberty stars returned to practice this week. The game — valkyries vs liberty on the Liberty’s home floor — arrives with questions about who actually plays and how much work Stewart will be asked to carry.
Stewart has been the steadying presence. She has scored at least 20 points in three of her last four outings and has reached that mark in three of four career meetings with Golden State. At home this year she has posted a 50.0 eFG% across 18 home games in 2025, and the Liberty as a team enter the matchup with the league’s top overall NET Rating at 14.6.
The numbers underline why Thursday matters. New York is 18-5 straight up at Barclays Center over the previous two seasons and is 3-1 on the moneyline in its last four meetings with the Valkyries. Golden State has an offensive threat of its own: Janelle Salaun has scored 20 or more points in two of Golden State’s three games. But the Valkyries will be minus Cecilia Zandalasini, Juste Jocyte and Iliana Rupert, all listed out for the game.
Context sharpens the stakes. The Liberty opened their season on May 8 and then went on a three-game road trip that included stops in Washington, D.C., and Portland before returning to Barclays Center. Satou Sabally and Sabrina Ionescu missed New York’s first four games, but both returned to practice as full participants on Monday, May 18. That practice window is the proximate reason the matchup feels like a hinge moment for the Liberty.
Neither return, however, is settled. Sabally, who missed time because of a cyst and who was sidelined for all of Unrivaled as she reconditioned after lingering concussion symptoms from last year’s WNBA Finals, said of the practice: "It was good." She added, "I feel like I’m just getting my wind back and happy to finally be on the court." Coach Chris DeMarco earlier described Sabally’s status as day to day; Sabally did not travel with the team on its three-game road trip.
Ionescu, who missed time after suffering a left foot injury in the team’s final preseason game, gave a more cautious read. Asked whether she would play Thursday, she said, "I can’t make that decision yet," and added, "I’m kind of just day by day seeing how I improve, how I feel, how it responds to what I do the day before." The Liberty listed Sabally, Ionescu and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton as game-time decisions, while Leonie Fiebich is out.
The tension is immediate and practical. If both Sabally and Ionescu are available, New York’s depth and its top NET Rating look formidable against a Valkyries side missing three rotation players. If one or both remain out or limited, the Liberty will lean even harder on Stewart to produce early offense and to maintain the team’s hot start — New York is 3-1 overall — while containing Salaun and any other elevated scoring from Golden State.
That dynamic frames the evening: a contest between a Liberty team that has owned Barclays Center and a Valkyries squad capable of bursts when healthy, but hampered now by absences. Sabally hinted at the team’s readiness while deferring to the training staff: "Whenever the training staff tells me, ‘All right, you’re good to go,’" she said. "I feel like I always want to just go 100 percent, so I feel like whenever they give me the green light, I’ll be there."
What unfolds Thursday will tell how the rest of the month looks for New York. If Stewart must shoulder the load again and Sabally and Ionescu do not play, the Liberty’s margin for error narrows despite their 14.6 NET Rating. If either or both return to game action, the team’s depth and home advantage could quickly reassert themselves — and the simple matchup billed as valkyries vs liberty will become a clearer gauge of where each club stands after these opening weeks.
