It’s happening.
Sabrina Ionescu is putting on the type of run we always thought the No. 1 pick would be capable of, and it’s coming at a time the Liberty desperately need it. After a lackluster month of May which saw her team drop seven straight games, the point guard looks like an All-Star as New York has won four of its last six.
She showed the peak of her powers in a close loss to the reigning champion Sky on Sunday when she delivered with 27 points on 9-of-16 shooting with 13 rebounds and 12 assists. She became the youngest player in WNBA history with multiple triple-doubles, and the first player to ever record 12 of all three stats in one game.
Here’s a quick run through of what she’s accomplished since June:
6/1: 23 points on 6/11 FGs, seven rebounds, two assists in win over Fever
6/3: 24 points on 6/15 FGs, three assists, two rebounds in win over Mystics
6/5: 31 points on 13/24 FGs, seven assists, five rebounds, three steals in loss to Lynx
6/7: 26 points on 10/11 FGs, eight assists, eight rebounds in win over Lynx
6/10: 13 points on 4/10 FGs, seven assists, six rebounds in win over Fever
6/13: 27 points on 9/16 FGs with 13 rebounds, 12 assists in loss to Sky
That’s… pretty good! And also a drastic shift from the month before. In May, she averaged just 12.6 points on 39.4% shooting from the field. In June, she’s scoring nearly double that, at 24 points per game on 55.2% shooting. Her 3-point shooting has also increased from 31% to 44.2%.
The Liberty are on an upswing with the addition of Crystal Dangerfield, the signing of Marine Johannes and rise of Han Xu. Let’s see if they can make a playoff run after all.