The New York Liberty re-signed the core of their championship roster, announcing April 17 that Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones had each agreed to multi-year contracts to stay in Brooklyn. The deals keep the 2024 WNBA title team intact and lock up three of the league’s marquee names in the first free-agency period under the WNBA’s newly ratified collective bargaining agreement.

The deals

Stewart, a three-time WNBA champion (2018 and 2020 in Seattle, 2024 in New York) and two-time league MVP, signed a three-year standard maximum contract paying her 17 percent of the salary cap each season. Ionescu, a four-time All-Star entering her seventh season, signed an identical three-year max. Jones, the 2021 MVP and the 2024 Finals MVP, also signed a three-year deal but took less money than her two teammates to help keep the trio together.

“It’s an incredibly historic moment for the New York Liberty franchise,” general manager Jonathan Kolb said, framing the players’ decision to re-up as a choice to invest in each other and in the organization’s long-term future.

A title core held together

The three were the foundation of the Liberty’s 2024 championship run — the franchise’s first title since it was founded as one of the WNBA’s original teams in 1997. Stewart and Ionescu form the offensive engine, with Ionescu’s three-point shooting and Stewart’s scoring and rebounding, while Jones anchors the front court. Keeping all three under contract through the 2028 season gives New York one of the most stable championship cores in the league.

The Liberty entered the 2026 season as one of the betting favorites to win the title, though the early going was complicated by injuries — Ionescu missed the offseason Unrivaled league with an injury sustained in the 2025 playoffs before returning during the WNBA campaign.

The CBA backdrop

The re-signings came weeks after the WNBA and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association ratified a new collective bargaining agreement on March 24, 2026, ending a labor standoff that had lasted more than a year and threatened the first work stoppage in league history. The seven-year deal, which runs through 2032 with an opt-out after 2031, introduced revenue sharing and raised the salary cap to $7 million starting in 2026 — a structure that reshaped the math of free agency and made the Liberty’s three-way re-signing possible.

Why it matters

The Liberty, owned by Joe and Clara Wu Tsai and based at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, have become one of the WNBA’s flagship franchises during a period of explosive growth for the league. Retaining Stewart, Ionescu and Jones keeps that championship window open and gives New York a credible bid to add a second title, while signaling that the league’s biggest stars see the new economics as a reason to stay put rather than chase money elsewhere.

Verification

Frequently Asked Questions

Who did the Liberty re-sign?
Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones — the core of the 2024 WNBA championship team — all to multi-year deals announced April 17, 2026.
What are the contract terms?
Stewart and Ionescu each signed three-year standard max contracts at 17% of the salary cap per year. Jones signed a three-year deal but took less money than the other two.
Why was this possible now?
The WNBA and players union ratified a new collective bargaining agreement in March 2026 that raised the salary cap to $7 million starting in 2026, reshaping free agency.
What did the Liberty win in 2024?
The 2024 WNBA championship — the franchise's first title — led by Stewart, Ionescu and Jones, with Jones named Finals MVP.