The New York Liberty will open their season with a back-to-back weekend set. The WNBA’s 12 franchises received their schedules on Thursday.
A new era of New York basketball will begin on May 17.
The New York Liberty unveiled their schedule for the 2020 WNBA season on Thursday afternoon. Early portions were revealed on ESPN’s The Jump before each of the league’s 12 franchises revealed the remainders on their official accounts.
This season marks the beginning of several new eras for the Liberty. Walt Hopkins was named the eighth head coach in team history earlier this month. New York also holds the top overall pick in this spring’s WNBA Draft. Both the coach and the rookie will likely make their debuts during the opener on May 16, as the Liberty open the season on the road in Uncasville against the Connecticut Sun.
The Liberty will begin to play their home games on a full-time basis in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center this season. That era begins with a visit from the Los Angeles Sparks on May 17.
Six of the team’s first eight games will be played in the comforts of Brooklyn. A five-game road trip, their longest of the season, welcomes the Liberty back from a break for the Tokyo Summer Olympics. The trek begins August 16 in Dallas and will run through Minnesota, Las Vegas, and Phoenix before concluding in Los Angeles on September 1.
The new schedule includes several league-wide innovations. For example, each of the league’s dozen teams will play 36 games, giving 2020 the lengthiest schedule in WNBA history. Teams will also partake in the first-ever Commissioner’s Cup, an in-season competition that will conclude with a championship game tentatively scheduled for August 14. The first home and road game against each conference opponent will be counted toward the Cup standings. Championship invites will go to the team in each conference with the top record in these ten games.
Other schedule highlights include…
- The Liberty will welcome in the Minnesota Lynx on May 31. Hopkins served as an assistant under Cheryl Reeve for the past three seasons. It will also mark a return to New York for newly-minted Lynx assistant coach Katie Smith. The Naismith Hall-of-Famer spent the past six seasons in some capacity with the Liberty, including the last two as head coach. Hopkins makes his first return to Minnesota’s Target Center on June 5.
- For the first time since 2017, Liberty home games have earned nationally televised dates. Contests against Phoenix on June 16 and Connecticut on July 2 will tip-off at 8:00 p.m. ET and be broadcast on ESPN2. Games to be televised on NBA TV and CBS Sports Network will be announced at a later date.
- Two games at Barclays Center will tip-off before noon. June 2’s game against Indiana and July 10’s tilt against Dallas will each tip-off at 11:00 a.m ET. A July 8 visit to Washington will open at 11:30 a.m. ET.
- The defending champion Washington Mystics visit Brooklyn on July 6 and September 16, the latter being the Liberty’s home finale. New York travels to the nation’s capital for the aforementioned July 8 matinee.
COMPLETE 2020 NEW YORK LIBERTY SCHEDULE
| Date | Opponent | Time (ET) |
| May 16 | @ Connecticut* | 7:00 p.m. |
| May 17 | Los Angeles | 6:00 p.m. |
| May 21 | Connecticut* | 7:00 p.m. |
| May 24 | Atlanta* | 3:00 p.m. |
| May 26 | Chicago* | 7:00 p.m. |
| May 29 | @ Atlanta* | 7:00 p.m. |
| May 31 | Minnesota | 3:00 p.m. |
| June 2 | Indiana* | 11:00 a.m. |
| June 5 | @ Minnesota | 8:00 p.m. |
| June 7 | Seattle | 3:00 p.m. |
| June 9 | @ Washington* | 7:00 p.m. |
| June 11 | @ Chicago* | 8:00 p.m. |
| June 14 | @ Indiana* | 5:00 p.m. |
| June 16 | Phoenix | 8:00 p.m. |
| June 19 | @ Connecticut | 7:30 p.m. |
| June 21 | Las Vegas | 3:00 p.m. |
| June 23 | @ Las Vegas | 10:00 p.m. |
| June 27 | @ Seattle | 9:00 p.m. |
| June 28 | @ Los Angeles | 9:00 p.m. |
| June 30 | Phoenix | 7:00 p.m. |
| July 2 | Connecticut | 7:00 p.m. |
| July 5 | Atlanta | 3:00 p.m |
| July 6 | Washington* | 7:00 p.m. |
| July 8 | @ Washington | 11:30 a.m. |
| July 10 | Dallas | 11:00 a.m. |
| August 16 | @ Dallas | 4:00 p.m. |
| August 22 | @ Minnesota | 8:00 p.m. |
| August 27 | @ Las Vegas | 10:00 p.m. |
| August 30 | @ Phoenix | 5:00 p.m. |
| September 1 | @ Los Angeles | 10:30 p.m. |
| September 4 | Dallas | 7:30 p.m. |
| September 6 | Seattle | 3:00 p.m. |
| September 11 | @ Atlanta | 7:00 p.m. |
| September 13 | Chicago | 1:00 p.m. |
| September 16 | Washington | 7:00 p.m. |
| September 20 | @ Indiana | 5:00 p.m. |
| *-denotes Commissioner’s Cup game | ||
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffMags5490.
