Major Unrivaled Injury Hits WNBA

The Liberty said Monday that Betnijah Laney-Hamilton will be out for “five to six months” after surgery earlier this month for a meniscus injury.

That would knock her out for potentially the entire WNBA season. The 2025 regular season runs through Sept. 11, and the playoffs go through October—about six months away.

Laney-Hamilton has been a core piece of the Liberty’s Finals runs the last two years. Only Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu averaged more minutes for New York last season.

One word that did not appear in the Liberty’s release Monday: “Unrivaled,” where she almost certainly sustained the injury.

Laney-Hamilton wasn’t an initial member of the player-owned 3-on-3 league, which launched in South Florida on Jan. 17.  She joined the Laces on a “relief player” contract on Feb. 18. Less than two weeks later, the league announced Laney-Hamilton was out for the season, after she appeared in just two games.

“The NY Liberty are in communication with Unrivaled, Betnijah, and her team,” the team said at the time. “We are gathering information and determining best next steps with our medical staff. Further updates will be provided when available.”

It appears the Liberty had been aware of the seriousness of Laney-Hamilton’s injury for some time. Two weeks ago, the team traded two first-round picks for Natasha Cloud, who could replace much of Laney-Hamilton’s production.

Terms of a relief player contract were not immediately available. Unrivaled made its mark with high salaries, with the average player earning over $200,000—not far from the WNBA maximum—for the eight-week league.

Laney-Hamilton signed a two-year, $365,000 contract with the Liberty before the 2024 season, according to Spotrac. 

Devastating offseason injuries are nothing new in the WNBA, where players have historically gone abroad in the winter to supplement their incomes. That was the exact scenario Unrivaled was explicitly designed to avoid.

Laney-Hamilton’s New York teammate, Breanna Stewart tore her Achilles in the 2019 EuroLeague title game, knocking her out for the entire WNBA season that summer. More recently, Seattle Storm guard Nika Muhl tore her Achilles in Turkey in October 2024, putting her entire 2025 WNBA season at risk.