Liberty Duo Reunites For Unconventional Repeat Run

BROOKLYN Everyone even remotely invested in the New York Liberty's run to a repeat had to cheer when the seafoam savants added touted free agent Emma Meesseman to the fold.

It was, however, a tongue-in-cheek nightmare for forward Jonquel Jones: Meesseman had previously denied Jones early entry into the sister of WNBA Finals MVPs with a sterling showing in the 2019 Finals.

Despite Jones averaging a double-double for the Connecticut Sun, Meesseman's effort for the Washington Mystics earned both the individual and team-wide honor.

"I'm just happy that she's here and I get to play with her, not against her," Jones said with a smile following the Liberty's Tuesday night win over Dallas .

"My greatest heartbreak is now my greatest joy, because I lost to them in the championship in 2019.

But I'm just happy to be able to call both of them my teammates now, and just happy that you get to have all these amazing players that you get to step in the court with." Jones, for her part, has since joined Meesseman on the MVP ledgers, doing so last fall in the Liberty's five-game win over the Minnesota Lynx last fall.

Now, happy returns light the road to repeat one that, in one particular case, is six years in the making.

What made Meesseman's leap to the Liberty even more of a no-brainer was the fact that she had collaborated with a good bit of the metropolitan lineup in the past: she and Jones, for example, played on Russian club UMMC Ekaterinburg and are set to return to lauded Turkish group Fenerbahce when the WNBA season wraps.

Shared time on a WNBA floor, however, was limited, with the exception of Natasha Cloud, another first-year New Yorker that hoisted the Finals trophy on capital hardwood back in 2019.

"It's just as special [as in Washington].

I really do feel like truly happy that Emma's here.

I'm happy to be around everyone, but that's an extra set of comfort that I had from my early years in my career," Cloud said of Meesseman on Tuesday .

"I know when she wants me to go backdoor.

I know when I'm not moving enough for her.

Playing together again is exciting for me as a teammate and as a person, too.

Emma's just so sweet, quiet, reserved, but funny as [heck] too.

We'll say slick [stuff] here and there." Despite her metropolitan brevity, Cloud has developed into a Liberty fan favorite thanks in part to her animated displays hyping her teammates.

The latest came after Meesseman's Brooklyn debut on Tuesday, which saw her encourage fans to chant the Belgian contributor's name while she was interviewed for TV by Fox5's Tina Cervasio.

"The younger version of me is excited to be back with Emma, not only for the person that she is off the court, but on the court.

Obviously she's just so smooth, so tough, so versatile," Cloud continued, comparing Meesseman to NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.

"She can score at will.

She facilitates us really well, and then she's obviously another big body on the other end." "I just wanted her to feel embraced the same way I was at Barclays and the crowd gave her some love tonight.

I just wanted her to be embraced and be where her people are, because it's a really cool opportunity for Emma, as well, to get the love that she deserves." This reunion allows Cloud and Meesseman to make up for lost time and chase a repeat in more ways than one: Washington's title defense was interrupted by the following year's COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed the start of the WNBA season and shifted all the action to a "bubble" in Bradenton, FL.

Meesseman partook in the enclosed campaign though Cloud opted out to focus on off-court matters.

By the time she returned, the Mystics looked drastically different: for example, LaToya Sanders had retired, Kristi Toliver had moved onto Los Angeles, and injuries limited franchise face Elena Delle Donne to three games.

Washington, which tried to extend its title window by trading for Liberty legend Tina Charles, began to move the title pieces in and out over the next few seasons: Meesseman, for example, signed with the Chicago Sky in 2022 and Cloud left for Phoenix after an epic duel with Sabrina Ionescu and the Finals-bound Liberty in 2024's opening postseason round.

None of the nine women that took the floor in the 2019 Finals remain on the active roster of the Mystics, who have not advanced in the playoffs since that famed championship run.

Now, Cloud and Meesseman (as well as player development boss and former Mystics staffer Andrew Wade) have a chance to play for a most unconventional repeat, one where the Liberty will look to add a sister to the championship banner that resides in Barclays Center.

Both have made new names for themselves as the gambit presses forward, and the two are reveling in the newfound progress.

"As soon as she was in the league, she was already a leader," Meesseman noted of Cloud.

"She was always very vocal in defense, offense, and in the locker room.

So it's just great to see her be even more of a leader, but [also] just having fun.

I'm just happy that she's happy to be here, I'm happy to play again with her." "Everything I start, you go into the end to have fun and to have a good team around you, good family," Meesseman said.

"But in the end, you want to win ...

The main goal is to be able to know you gave everything, no regrets.

I think, with this team, if you go give everything, it should have a great result." Make sure you bookmark Liberty on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!.

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