The Guru WNBA Report - Betnijah Laney-Hamilton: You Don’t Have to be an All-Star, Baby, to Be in My Show

By Andy

Lipton

     Leading the ‘Break

 

Betnijah Laney-Hamilton is an All-Star caliber player, but she has not been selected to be on the WNBA All-Star teams the last three seasons for either the annual game or the league’s year-end media panel awards.

 

In her first summer with the New York Liberty in 2021, Laney-Hamilton was certainly an elite performer being the face of the team as its leading scorer and shot taker.

 

More than just a scorer, she is a complete all-around player capable of doing everything on the court.

 

As a collegian at Rutgers she played for the same Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer her all-American mom Yolanda Laney played for at Cheyney State.

 

As a senior, Laney-Hamilton made the all-Big Ten Conference First Team and was 10th in the nation in double doubles.

 

 In that 2021 debut season with the Liberty, she led them to their first playoff series in four years, a complete turnaround following the previous and woeful 2-20 record in 2020 when the CoVID pandemic caused the entire league to play a shortened schedule in a bubble format in Florida.

 

In the third and deciding game of the playoffs’ opening round against the Phoenix Mercury (who went on to advance to the WNBA Finals and were coached by Sandy Brondello), Laney-Hamilton hit as clutch a shot as you can make.

 

With the poise of a team leader, she launched a three-point 26-foot jump shot with two seconds left to tie the game, seemingly sending it into overtime.

 

But an immediate subsequent foul committed by the Liberty put the Mercury on the foul line and they scored to claim the victory in regulation.

 

Laney-Hamilton led the Liberty with 25 points on 10-22 shooting in that important game.

 

Her initial season in New York saw Laney-Hamilton average 16.8 points a game on 45% field goal percentage and 5.2 assists, leading the Liberty in all those categories, while the stats sheet also showed that by far, she took the most shots.

 

Heading into the following season in 2022, she was the league player representative at the WNBA Draft’s lighting ceremony at the Empire State Building.

 

In 2020, the season before she came to the Liberty, Laney-Hamilton played for the Atlanta Dream and was on the WNBA’s All-Defensive First Team while she also was voted to receive the league’s Most Improved Player of the Year Award.

 

Unfortunately, she suffered a left knee injury soon after play began that summer and missed most of the season.

 

Upon her return fully healed at the outset of her third season, Laney-Hamilton came back to a team whose composition had dramatically changed, adding former WNBA MVPs Breanna Stewart from from the Seattle Storm and Jonquel Jones from the Connecticut Sun along with 2021 WNBA Champion point guard Courtney Vandersloot from the Chicago Sky.

 

The end of that summer saw the transformed star-studded Liberty team make it to the 2023 WNBA Finals, the first time since 2002, and last month the rebuild goal was achieved with the Liberty winning its first ever WNBA Championship in a thrilling five-game series with overtimes in Game 1 and Game 5.

 

With the change in the Liberty’s composition in 2023, Laney-Hamilton became the team’s third leading scorer, taking the 3rd most shot attempts, and she was no longer the leader.

 

Her shots had decreased to 10 per game from 14 in 2021, yet her shooting percentage was still outstanding at 50%.

 

Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu, the 2020 overall first-round pick from Oregon, had become the new leaders, as well as getting more shots and ink, besides All-Star designations along with Vandersloot.

 

Laney-Hamilton’s defense, however, was recognized. She was voted on the WNBA All-Defensive Second Team last year while Stewart made the First Team.

 

In this past 2024 season, Laney-Hamilton was not selected for the All-Star game in Phoenix - rosters were completed by July 2. 

 

Her teammates, Stewart, Ionescu and Jones, were voted, though the latter two were guaranteed anyway by virtual of being part of the USA Olympians who went on to a record eighth straight Gold Medal in Paris by a point over the host French team.

 

Laney-Hamilton appeared in all of the Liberty’s first 15 games this past season but then missed the next three due to discomfort in her right knee. 

 

She returned on June 30, two days before the All-Star team rosters were finalized, one of the roster completions being voted by the league coaches, the other being all the Olympians.

 

During those 16 games, Laney-Hamilton was a full-time player shooting 45% from the field. 

 

But during those games, she averaged the fourth most shots on the team 9.7 behind Ionescu’s 15, Stewart’s 15, and Jones 10.4 and was the fourth leading scorer.

 

Laney-Hamilton continued to play on July 2 and 6, but then had a “minor” procedure on her right knee on July 15. She would come back to play on August 26.

 

She no longer gets as many scoring opportunities as she did four years ago, given all the talent that is now on the team.

 

But her all-around play remains All-Star caliber, and she is the consummate team player. And her shooting percentage is still excellent.

 

Coaches and teammates understand the value of all aspects of a player’s game, not just scoring.

 

You need five players on the court with each contributing, in order to be a winning basketball team. 

 

It’s fairly common for a winning team to have some players whose strengths are not scoring related. And those players know how to accept their roles.

 

But let’s face it, most of the media and fan attention tends to focus on the high scorers, and with that comes celebrity.  Important role players tend to live without that notoriety.

 

But how about a player that was once a high scorer and became a celebrity? 

 

Can that person accept a lesser scoring role on a team and perhaps less attention.?

 

If that person is Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, the answer is unequivocally YES.

 

Don’t get me wrong, Laney-Hamilton is beloved by New York Liberty fans, her coaches and teammates. 

 

But her star may not radiate nationally as that of her teammates Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu and, to some extent, Jonquel Jones.

 

She’s longer the face of the franchise, and not the go-to-player to take the big shot at the end of a game. 

 

Did Coach Sandy Brondello, who the Liberty immediately brought aboard to put the rebuild together after Phoenix let her go, have to coach Laney-Hamilton to a take a lesser role on offense?

 

Here’s an exchange I had with the Liberty coach on August 24 not long after the WNBA break for the Olympics ended and play resumed to complete the season.

 

Lipton: “Betnijah is an All-Star caliber player. Four years ago, she led the team in scoring, and she was an All-Star.

 

“Then the composition of the team changes and maybe the offensive opportunities aren’t as great as they used to be.

 

“Do you have to coach her to kind of accept that role as not being the scorer she was maybe a few years ago?

 

 Brondello: “Look, Betnijah is such a key piece for our success and can’t wait to have her back. She’s getting closer and closer.

 

“And it’s always tough. I think she’s showing what she’s capable of.  She is an All-Star caliber player and we’re lucky to have her…If you looked over the early part of this season and last year before she got injured, she had the highest plus/minus.

 

“So that says a lot.  So it’s not all about the scoring.  Obviously we’re still growing in that chemistry and we still want to explore ways that we can add her skill set to our game.

 

But it was all the defense, the toughness she brought for us.  The opportunities to put her in one-on-one situations.  So, we look forward to having her back…”

 

Did Laney-Hamilton have to make mental and emotional adjustments to take a lesser scoring role?

 

Here’s an excerpt off our interview on October 9 during the finals.

 

Lipton: “You’re an all-star player.  No doubt about it.  Fans love you.   Four  years ago, you’re an All-Star, you’re the leading scorer, the face of the team.

 

  “The composition of the team changes.  You don’t get as many scoring opportunities as much as you used to.  Do you have to make adjustments mentally or emotionally because of that?

 

Laney-Hamiton: “I mean, yeah you know, obviously to go from one thing to another is an adjustment. 

 

“But ultimately, I try to look at it as the greater good for the team.  You know we all have a goal in mind.  A common goal. 

 

“And whatever it is that I had to do to get there, you know I think that’s most important. …right now…the main thing for me is winning the championship.”

 

So let me end this story by dedicating the following song to Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, original lyrics and melody by James Dean and John Glover, lyrics and title modified by me. (The song was popularized by the singers Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis.)

 

“You Don’t Have to Be an All-Star, Betnijah, to Be on My Team”

 

Betnijah come as you are, you have such a great heart

And I'll take you in

You're still respected and all

To me you're worth what you have within

 

Now I don't need no superstar

'Cause I'll accept you as you are

You won't be denied 'cause I'm satisfied

With the basketball play you inspire

 

You don't have to be an All-Star, Betnijah, to be on my team

You don't have to be an All-Star, Betnijah, to be on my team

 

There'll still be cheering from the crowd

Many hearts beating out loud

There'll be a parade, tv and a stage

And your star will still shine all day

 

You don't have to be an All-Star, Betnijah, to be on my team

You don't have to be an All-Star, Betnijah, to be on my team

 

****

Feel free to sing to my changed lyrics with the original melody.