Emma Meesseman is headed back to the WNBA, signing with the New York Liberty on Monday. That’s big news for the league and the defending champions.
When Meesseman was drafted to the WNBA in 2013, she didn’t attract a lot of attention as a 19-year-old forward picked in the second round. But it was soon clear that then-Washington Mystics general manager Mike Thibault had selected a superb young talent.
Meesseman had played professionally in her native Belgium since she was 16. She continued to blossom in her time in the WNBA, culminating with her WNBA Finals MVP performance in 2019 when the Mystics also had the season MVP in Elena Delle Donne.
Meesseman, 32, has not played in the WNBA since 2022, but has continued to stand out overseas. She was MVP of the recent EuroBasket tournament won by her Belgian team.
Meesseman joins a Liberty team that has dealt with injuries this season and saw its post game impacted by the expansion draft. Alexa Philippou, Kevin Pelton and Michael Voepel look at what signing Meesseman means for New York and the rest of the WNBA.
Does adding Meesseman make the Liberty the favorite in the 2025 WNBA title chase?
Philippou: They are the clear favorites now. Yes, Meesseman will have to be incorporated into the fold, and doing that mid-season isn’t always the easiest. But the Liberty now have three Finals MVPs on their side — Breanna Stewart (2018, 2020), Meesseman (2019) and Jonquel Jones (2024). That’s a ridiculously talented, versatile frontcourt that is going to wreak havoc on opponents, and Meeseman is a player whose skill set and temperament should allow her to fit in seamlessly with her new group. She also has plenty of familiarity with several Liberty players who she played with on other squads across the globe, and was even coached by Sandy Brondello and Olaf Lange in Russia.
Something to note: Meeseseman’s arrival in Brooklyn is subject to how long the visa application process takes, so it’s not like she’ll be able to suit up Tuesday against the Fever.
Pelton: I think so. There was already a reasonable case that New York deserved that title despite being just .500 since a 9-0 start. Most of those losses have come without Jones, whose absence has helped trigger the Liberty’s stumbles. New York is 8-1 when Jones plays, and she left the lone loss after nine minutes with the ankle sprain that has sidelined her ever since. Jones is already expected to return to the lineup this week.
My pre-injury piece considering whether the Liberty might be better than last season hasn’t aged well, but with Meesseman — whose presence could make it easier for New York to shift Stewart in smaller lineups when Jones is on the bench — the question is again worth asking.
Voepel: It probably does make New York the favorite, but let’s see how things go once Meesseman arrives and how well the Minnesota Lynx and Phoenix Mercury play in the coming weeks. We have a pretty good idea of what the Lynx look like at their best, but injuries have kept us from seeing that for the Mercury.
How does Meesseman’s return impact the rest of the league?
Pelton: The biggest impact is cementing the Liberty and Lynx as Finals favorites. The Mercury, a half-game back of New York in the standings, could have plausibly entered that tier had they added Meesseman to the All-Star duo of Satou Sabally and Alyssa Thomas. With Meesseman on the other side in a plausible semifinals matchup, preventing a 2024 Finals rematch will be more difficult for Phoenix.
Voepel: It’s hard not to see this as a game-changer at the top of the league. But by the same token, the Lynx have put some separation between themselves and every other team during the first half of the season.
Both the Lynx and the Mercury might also lean into some of the narrative that this move puts more pressure back on New York to repeat. There is still a lot of confidence among Lynx and Mercury players.
Philippou: Meesseman wasn’t just going to join any team in the league. She wants to win a championship. We have yet to see the best from Phoenix, which has had players in and out of the lineup due to injury, and only recently brought in DeWanna Bonner. And the Lynx are still the top team in the standings for a reason.
But the Meesseman sweepstakes felt destined to tip the scales on the title race, particularly if she chose either the Liberty or Lynx as the teams looking to run it back after last year’s Finals appearances. On paper, her arrival solidifies New York’s talent and depth as the best in the league — and now other title hopefuls have an even greater challenge ahead of them as they look to knock off the defending champs.
Meesseman hasn’t played in the WNBA since 2022. What should we expect from her?
Philippou: Newer WNBA fans might not have been around when Meesseman helped the Mystics to a championship in 2019, when she became the first reserve player to win Finals MVP — she averaged 19.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game that postseason. She was a huge free agent get in 2022 for the Chicago Sky, where she was one of their top scorers before the then-defending champs were shockingly eliminated in Game 5 of the semifinals.
And even as she has been absent from the WNBA the past couple seasons, Meesseman has made a strong case as one of the best players in the world as she dominated with Turkish power Fenerbahce and the Belgian national team.
Pelton: She has been as good as ever internationally. Meesseman led all players in scoring during last year’s Olympics with 23.3 PPG on 58% shooting for Belgium, which reached the semifinals before missing out on a medal. And she continues to star alongside WNBA teammates for Fenerbahce, averaging 16.9 PPG, 6.6 RPG and 4.3 APG last season in EuroLeague play to win MVP honors.
Voepel: Meesseman has the type of personality in which she can fit in anywhere quickly and seamlessly. Even though she is the longtime star of the Belgian national team, she has never needed to be the center of attention in the WNBA. She will play a complementary role when that’s required, but she can still take over in games when needed. In addition to her talent, her adaptability and the ease with which she gets along with others were also part of the reason the Liberty, Lynx and Mercury wanted her so much.
