How Emma Meesseman is fitting in with Liberty as WNBA's most sought-after free agent boosts title defense

After her New York Liberty debut earlier this month, Emma Meesseman was asked what she contributed to the 87-78 win over the Connecticut Sun. 

"A body," she deadpanned to the media. 

Indeed, the Liberty have been in short supply of healthy frontcourt players for the majority of the season, including 12 games without 2024 Finals MVP Jonquel Jones. However, to think the year's most sought-after free agent is just a body is underselling Meesseman's impact. 

At the time the 2025 EuroLeague MVP joined the New York Liberty in Connecticut in early August, the team was down three players, including 2023 WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart. The Liberty were riding a four-game skid, their most consecutive losses since 2022. The league's leader in 3-point percentage, Kennedy Burke, returned this week after missing eight games. But Stewart and 2024 WNBA Finals overtime hero Nyara Sabally remain out for the reigning champions. 

Injuries and inconsistent play, alongside a winning streak by the Atlanta Dream, dropped the Liberty to third in the standings heading into the final stretch of the regular season. But the Liberty still have the second-best odds to win the 2025 WNBA title, and their +165 odds are right behind the Lynx's +150 mark at FanDuel.

Meesseman's arrival may be paramount to making New York a serious threat to repeat. 

A bona fide international star

Before returning to the WNBA this month, Meesseman earned her third consecutive FIBA EuroLeague Women's MVP award. She has ranked top-two in field goal percentage in the last three years, and even her lowest EuroLeague average, 58.8% this season, would place her close to some of the WNBA leaders in that category.

The 32-year-old center has been on a three-year hiatus from the WNBA. She spent eight seasons in Washington where, in 2019, she and Natasha Cloud helped the Mystics to their first WNBA title over the Connecticut Sun. After the 2020 single-site season, Meesseman skipped the 2021 season to play in the Olympics, and she signed a one-year deal with the Sky in 2022. It was her last WNBA contract until the Liberty signed her last month. 

The process was in the works since last summer. Despite being a top talent, the Belgian Olympian wasn't sure there would be a permanent path back to the WNBA while the league enforced its prioritization policy that many international players believe unfairly asks them to choose between the WNBA and their careers in Europe that pay better and keep them closer to home and available for national teams obligations. 

"There's a reason why I'm not really paying WNBA," Meesseman told CBS Sports last summer during the 2024 Summer Games.  "I really said since the beginning that I don't feel supported in that rule ... I don't think it's fair of them, or they ever think about how we feel about it."

Despite her feelings, Meesseman and her team kept the option on the table. She completed the 2024 Olympic Games for Belgium as the scoring and efficiency leader and the second-leading blocker behind Team USA's A'ja Wilson. Meesseman ranked fourth overall in field goal percentage. Her stock was high and teams like New York were ready to make a move.

"Going back to actually that time, I think there was some rumors that she may go to the WNBA, actually, after the Olympics," New York Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb told CBS Sports last week. 

"Obviously, that didn't end up happening, and we weren't really aware of the reasons why. But she's just such a talent on and off the floor that any team would be really lucky to have that we always want to stay in the know on what the plans might be entering this season," he added.

Flash forward to this summer and the Liberty are retooling after winning their first championship. Heading into this season, Kolb opted to leave salary cap space available in the event Meesseman would become available. 

Her familiarity with the players and staff was a huge selling point for the shy superstar. Throughout her career in the WNBA and overseas, Meesseman has competed alongside Jones, Cloud and Stewart. The Liberty also hired Andrew Wade as their Director of Player Development, someone Meesseman worked with in Washington and got to know well during the single-site season in 2020.

"It helped that I know half of the team, so it's not too big of a change," Meesseman told the media on Aug. 5 after her first morning shootaround at Barclays Center. 

Getting adjusted

Adding Meesseman hasn't solved all of New York's problems. The team dropped games to Minnesota and Las Vegas since her arrival. Bench production, rebounds, and turnovers have plagued the team during its time without key frontcourt players. As Meesseman continues to learn the team's tendencies on the fly, Emma's presence has improved rotations, if not completely stabilized them.

"We had to learn from things we didn't do well," Brondello told CBS Sports. "Getting a player like Emma gives us a little more balance and makes the rotations way easier."

Proof positive of this is the impact Meesseman's arrival has had on another midseason acquisition, Stephanie Talbot. The Australian Olympian did her best in eight games before Meesseman joined to play a stretch wing. In the New York Liberty A.E. (after Emma) era, Talbot is in her natural small forward position. The same goes for 6-foot-4 German Olympian Leonie Fiebich. 

"It's good to move Leo and Talbs back to the three," Brondello said ahead of the team's matchup with the Minnesota Lynx earlier this week.

With Burke back, the Liberty are now waiting on the status of Sabally and Stewart. Brondello confirmed Sabally would be reevaluated Aug. 18, and Stewart is bullish; she wants to return before her birthday on August 27. 

The return of Stewart plays into the long-term vision New York has for its lineup. 

"When you talk about lineup of Sabrina, with Leo, with Stewie, with Emma, with JJ -- it actually is historically the largest lineup that's ever been on the floor in the WNBA, from a starting standpoint, if that were to happen down the line. So it's just something where it unlocks a lot of opportunity for us," Kolb said. 

Brondello has been known to deploy Stewart as a point-forward, and even Jones has been known to bring the ball up the court. Meesseman too will help facilitate the offense, but more so in how she impacts pace. Her skill set lends to the positionless game New York likes to play. 

"Emma has a real good knack of finding people either by moving the ball ... she has diversity with how she screens and knows what to do. If it's a tap-and-go, or a ghost, or a hold," Brondello said Sunday. 

Meesseman also understands spacing and can act as a hockey-style bumper in the offensive half court. She is elite at manipulating the defense in favor of her team by using fundamental positioning and impeccable timing on her actions from the "dunker spot," or the area outside the paint along the baseline.

"You'll see where she knows when she has to go to the dunker spot and when she needs to respace. And that's something hard to teach, that instinctual feel, and that's what she has and that's part of why she's so great" Brondello added. 

This could mean the Liberty opt to play Natasha Cloud off the bench in favor of their big lineup. The three-time All-Defensive Team guard would undoubtedly be tasked with leading the second unit defensively. However, there is potential she can also help increase bench scoring. 

Championship or bust?

There was a time this season where adding Meesseman might have looked like an indulgence, an overabundance. However, after dropping a winnable game to Las Vegas on the second night of a West Coast back-to-back, Meesseman might be the reason New York can maintain a top seed heading into the postseason. 

"We're a few wins above them in the standings. All these games really matter and I think that's something that we have to understand," New York guard Sabrina Ionescu said after the 83-77 loss to the Aces on Wednesday.

There is undoubtedly frustration with the lack of execution from the team as of late. However, New York has done well to maintain perspective. 

"I am proud of the way that we fought off a back-to-back and didn't make any excuses. And you know, this one sucks, because it was something that we could have controlled," Ionescu said Wednesday night.

New York will travel to Minneapolis to take on the Lynx for their penultimate bout in the regular season on Saturday (on CBS and Paramount+). The Lynx are 2-0 against the Liberty this season, including a 12-point win without MVP frontrunner Napheesa Collier. Saturday's game on CBS will be the third game against Minnesota sans Stewart, and she is likely to miss the fourth and final game of the series on Tuesday. 

"We know we have all we need. That's, you know, something we can't control, who's in and who's out, you know, that's never going to be kind of the excuse that we use," Ionescu said. 

Each day, Meesseman, Talbot, and a recently cleared Burke get more comfortable. Additionally, the team hopes to have Sabally and Stewart back by the end of the month. In the meantime, role players are getting valuable minutes that may prove fruitful during a playoff run. 

"There is this hope of, like, little by little, we're going to continue to add the pieces that make this team whole, and hopefully just peak at the right time," Ionescu said. 

Does the Meesseman signing mean anything short of a repeat championship is a disappointment? The end goal remains the same. New York expects to perform well enough to compete for another title. However, the main focus is winning the day. 

"We know what we're capable of, but we're in the moment, and I think that's really, really important. We like the earned pressure from a fan base. We want our fans to be incredibly proud of what this is," Kolb told CBS Sports. 

He credits Brondello and her staff for maintaining a 'not too high, not too low' mentality for New York.  "That really is our mindset and mentality. We know what's on the horizon for us," Kolb said.