The New York Liberty won their first WNBA title on Sunday and will be celebrating with a ticker-tape parade on Thursday. New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the parade will begin at 10 a.m in Lower Manhattan and will be followed by a ceremony at City Hall.
"You made us proud, and we're going to make you proud," Adams said in a video posted on X.
The mayor's office announced that in addition to the parade, some buildings will be lit in Liberty colors on Monday night. Those buildings include City Hall, Brooklyn Borough Hall, The David N. Dinkins Manhattan Municipal Building in Manhattan, Queens Borough Hall and Staten Island Borough Hall.
The Liberty were the WNBA's lone original franchise without a championship, but a 67-62 overtime win in Game 5 against the Minnesota Lynx helped them finally write their name in the history books. New York was off to a poor start and the ending was controversial, but the Liberty ended a 51-year pro basketball title drought in New York. The Knicks won their most recent NBA title in 1973, and the Nets won two ABA (1974, 1976) championships, but none in the NBA yet.
The Liberty made it to the WNBA Finals last season before losing the series 3-1 to the Las Vegas Aces. That loss was something they used as motivation to get the job done this year, and everyone was visibly emotional when victory finally came. Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart shared a hug as the final buzzer went off.
"When I hugged Stewie, I was just sobbing in her ear. I did not say one word, I was just crying the whole time," Jones said. "Just so happy to be able to win and to do it with her. We talked about it so much. Coming together and what we envisioned, what we wanted to do in New York and what we could do. To be able to pull it off and accomplish a dream, and it's so freaking hard to do, it just means a lot."
