Kennedy Burke’s blossoming offensive game providing Liberty firepower

Kennedy Burke noticed the shift two weeks ago, when the Liberty last played the Dream on June 29 and Atlanta — predictably — started doing whatever it could to take away her 3-point shot. 

She knew it would happen at some point. It was inevitable. Burke’s 3-point shooting, head coach Sandy Brondello said, has been “off the charts,” allowing her to turn a season-opening tear into a breakout campaign with the Liberty, and at some point, defenses would make the next move in the chess match and force her to respond. It happened that day at Gateway Center Arena when Burke went 1-for-6 from beyond the arc. 

Her Sixth Player of the Year case still remains intact entering the Liberty’s next game against the Dream, this time at Barclays Center on Sunday. Burke leads the WNBA in 3-point percentage (48.6), though her 70 shots are only a fraction of what the most frequent shooters in the league attempt — such as Atlanta star Rhyne Howard’s 185 and Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu’s 145. Burke’s 3-point percentage has jumped from 25.9 percent to 48.6 between 2024 and 2025 and her increase in attempts from beyond the arc (1.5 to 3.7, respectively) has remained notable, too. 

But Burke, to end the first half of a season where multiple Liberty absences allowed her to log more minutes, has relied on attacking the basket off the dribble as the counter to defensive adjustments, while also using her own defense — including six steals Tuesday against Las Vegas — to create opportunities at the offensive end as she searches for ways to prevent her career year from eventually stalling. 

“Knowing if my 3-point shot is not open, I can attack because I know I have a quick first step,” Burke said after practice Saturday, “so just realizing like the defense is gonna be different now. So just doing whatever it takes to get to the basket and be aggressive.” 

The breakout for Burke dated back to the winter months, when she took shot after shot from behind the arc in both catch-and-shoot and off-the-dribble situations. She also worked with her trainer on attacking the basket, too, in preparation for when teams tried to take those 3s away.

And early on in season, it became clear that defenses would need to eliminate that layer of her skill set. Burke hit all four of her 3s during the second game of the season — one of four times this year where she has hit four shots from beyond the arc — and watched as those repetitive drills from the offseason started to pay off. 

For most of the 2024 season, which marked her first with the Liberty, Burke struggled to settle into a consistent role on a superteam with a mostly rigid rotation, though.

A second-round pick in 2019, Burke averaged just 12.1 minutes and 3.4 points per game in her first season in New York while trying to figure out where she fit in around the Liberty’s collection of stars, and that can be “hard,” Breanna Stewart — her Seattle Storm teammate in 2021 — said. 

But Burke has “really embraced the role” now, Stewart said. She has created an expectation of consistency, of production, of the Liberty knowing exactly what they’ll get from her in each game. At most points this season, that involved 3-pointers. But recently, it has expanded to shots inside the arc, too. It evolved to include games such as Tuesday, when she compiled those steals against the Aces — including four in the third quarter that directly led to seven Liberty points at the other end. 

“Obviously she’s not getting as open,” Brondello said, “but she still gets her shots up. But look, she’s more than just a 3-point shooter.” 

Burke has been one of the players to take on increased minutes with 2024 WNBA Finals MVP Jonquel Jones out after re-injuring her right ankle. Even though Jones participated in some five-on-five work Saturday and continues to progress, Burke has likely carved out a role that will last even after Jones returns and the Liberty get back to full strength. Burke will likely earn a chance to demonstrate that these strides aren’t fleeting glimpses of her potential. 

The Liberty could use taller lineup combinations at times, Brondello said. They can move everyone around a bit, too. And they can incorporate all of Burke’s versatile skill set, one that, finally, has translated across a WNBA season consistently. 

“Whatever look they give her,” Stewart said, “she just takes the other one.”