Liberty assistant GM to lead new franchise

Ohemaa Nyanin spent five years in Brooklyn watching New York Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb rebuild a franchise, lead it to its first WNBA Finals appearance since 2002 and earn the league’s Executive of the Year award last season.

Now, the Liberty’s former assistant general manager will try to do it herself with the WNBA’s expansion franchise in Golden State.

Kolb thinks the yet-to-be-named team made the right decision.

“Ohemaa was my first call in 2019 and we have shared an unbreakable bond ever since. To say I’m ecstatic is an understatement,” he gushed Monday after Nyanin was given the responsibility to oversee basketball operations, roster construction and player development in the Bay Area.

Though Golden State won’t begin playing until 2025, Nyanin will have to hire a support staff, find a head coach and report to Warriors co-executive chairman and CEO Joe Lacob.

“Throughout the interview process, it was clear that bringing a WNBA team to the Bay Area was meticulously thought out and those involved are motivated changemakers who will be proactive in growing the league,” Nyanin said.

“I look forward to joining this franchise and building a competitive basketball team that the fans deserve.”

Kolb helped the Liberty transition to Brooklyn during the COVID-19 pandemic, even though New York played its games at the league’s bubble site in Florida.

He spent the offseason leading into 2023 acquiring two former WNBA Most Valuable Players in Breanna Stewart, who won the award again last year, and Jonquel Jones.

Courtney Vandersloot, ranked second in the league in career assists, also hopped on board for a run at the Liberty’s first-ever title.

Kolb brought in Sabrina Ionescu with the first overall selection in the 2020 WNBA Draft, a pick that launched New York into the national spotlight even before this “Super Team” was formed.

Though the circumstances will be much different for an expansion franchise rather than one of the league’s founding members, Kolb insisted in a team-issued release that Nyanin has exactly what it takes to make Golden State a contender in the best women’s basketball league in the world.

“Ohemaa effortlessly threads the needle of being authentic while graceful,” he noted. “She is proof positive that if you put in the work, dreams can come true. I consider myself so grateful to have the opportunity to miss someone so much.”

Lacob indicated Monday that he expects Nyanin to help Golden State grab a championship in the next five years.

Also, it was revealed that the franchise had already sold 7,000 season tickets, according to the Associated Press.

Nyanin, who spent five years working in and around the United States women’s national basketball team as assistant director, is eager to get started.

“This team is going to be a compilation of everyone in this room. Have to hire some people,” she said. “Really just working with the team to recruit the best basketball minds, the best artistic minds, the best eclectic minds to build the strongest team in the W.

“It’s my job. So yeah, I got to get started,” she added. “The timeline is fluid. We want the best coach possible. With some flexibility from our team I think we’ll wait for the hire. We want the best person.”

Lacob feels he’s already got the “best person” for the job.

“Ohemaa is the perfect fit to lead our WNBA basketball operations as we prepare for our inaugural season in 2025,” he said. “As we moved through the GM hiring process, it became more apparent each day how impressive and well-versed Ohemaa is in all facets of the business, and as a person.

“She brings an incredible knowledge of the WNBA and international women’s basketball landscape from her time with the Liberty and USA Basketball. Additionally, she has a deep passion and desire to build a strong culture and, ultimately, win basketball games. We are thrilled to welcome her to Golden State.”

While Nyanin settles into her new digs, the Liberty are preparing for Tuesday’s preseason opener in Chicago.

First-round pick Marquesha Davis and fellow draftees Esmery Martinez and Jessika Carter as well as non-drafted training-camp invitee Jaylyn Sherrod might get their first taste of the pros in the Windy City.

Also, Stewart, Jones, Ionescu, Vandersloot and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton will get their first opportunity to run it back in 2024 after all five starters agreed to return for another shot at Title I following last October’s tough four-game series loss to reigning back-to-back champion Las Vegas.

The Liberty will also visit Connecticut on Thursday before kicking off the regular season in our nation’s capital vs. Washington on May 14.

New York hosts NCAA phenom and first overall pick Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever in its home opener on May 18.

Ionescu, who almost beat out the NBA’s all-time greatest long-range shooter Stephen Curry of Golden State during this year’s All-Star festivities in Indiana, can’t wait for this much-anticipated campaign to begin.

“(Momentum) is going to be rolling from the start of the season,” she said of the WNBA’s ongoing emergence. “I just believe that the energy, the excitement, and also just the level that this game has continued to rise to will get higher. I think the buzz around new players, teams, and rivalries, it’s going to just continue to push this game forward.

“I know like we’re expecting a crazy amount of fans for our first home game and throughout the entire season. So I don’t think that there’s going to be any lull in that category of excitement in the W this year.”

GIVE ME LIBERTY: After opening in D.C., the Liberty will also visit Clark and the Fever on May 16 in Indiana before hosting them two nights later at what should be a packed Barclays Center. … New York will be without newly signed free agent Kennedy Burke and returning forward Nyara Sabally Tuesday night. Both are listed as out due to rest issues. Also, camp invitees Leonie Fiebich (travel) and Ivana Dojkić (league mandated medical evaluations) will have to wait to make their Liberty exhibition debuts.