Multiplying injuries have left Liberty searching for identity

It’s hard to know what to make of the Liberty anymore.

They’ve played only two games at full strength, have deployed 11 different starting lineups and made two midseason acquisitions.

The Liberty enter Sunday with the burden of their longest losing streak since 2022.

The Libs dropped their fourth straight game Friday, suffering a 16-point defeat to the league’s worst team, the Sun.

The defending champions, who opened the season with a nine-game winning streak, are now a shell of themselves.

Now, in the midst of playing six games in 10 days, the Liberty are travel weary and injury plagued.

It’s not uncommon for teams to suffer injuries over the course of the season, but the number of games missed by Liberty players is staggering.

Jonquel Jones only recently returned to the lineup after missing a month of action with an ankle injury. Sabrina Ionescu, Natasha Cloud and Leonie Fiebich have all missed time, too.

The Liberty are currently playing without Breanna Stewart, Kennedy Burke and Nyara Sabally, who are all sidelined for the foreseeable future.

Marine Johannès is the only player who’s appeared in all 27 games for the Liberty this season.

The Liberty’s schedule is unforgiving this month, too. They play 14 games in August, including eight on the road.

There’s little time to practice and rest. Adding to the challenges is the fact the Libs also have two new players in the mix.

Stephanie Talbot’s integration process hasn’t been the smoothest. She’s had more turnovers than assists. But she’s at least played with effort that has eluded some others on the team in spurts.

There’s some reason for optimism, with Emma Meesseman in position to potentially make her Liberty debut Sunday in Connecticut.

The hope is that her high basketball IQ, paired with familiarity of the style of play and some of the teammates, makes this a painless transition for the team that’s in desperate need of the boost.

Another positive is that, despite going 8-10 over the past eight weeks, the Liberty (17-10) remain second in the league standings, though the Dream and Mercury aren’t too far behind them now.

In the aftermath of Friday’s defeat, the Liberty were oddly calm.

They discussed the possession game and how difficult it was to match the Sun’s physicality. Ionescu even defended the team’s performance, saying effort wasn’t the issue in the 16-point loss to the league’s worst team.

“Everyone is out there trying their best,” she said.

The whole team is fatigued from having to do a little bit more because of the circumstances. But no one is going to feel sorry for them.

The Liberty hope to end this road trip on a high note Sunday.