Courtney Vandersloot adjusting to rare minutes off bench after Liberty’s Game 1 lineup switch

In the second year of its superteam era, the Liberty are on a quest to avenge last year’s WNBA Finals fallout with all five core players having another regular season of chemistry under their belt.

But despite the Liberty’s full bill of health heading into the postseason, the starters don’t look the same as they did a year ago.

Accomplished veteran Courtney Vandersloot played off the bench in the Liberty’s 83-69 Game 1 win over the Dream on Sunday.

Instead of the 2021 WNBA champion starting at guard, the Liberty went with rookie Leonie Fiebich, who tallied a team-high 21 points in her 16th start of the season — but her first start unrelated to a teammate injury.

It was Vandersloot’s first time coming off the bench in a WNBA game since 2017, when she was with the Chicago Sky.

Vandersloot, a 14-year veteran, took the news in stride when she had a conversation with head coach Sandy Brondello about her postseason role at practice Saturday.

“Leo has stepped in and has been huge for us with injuries and everything. So, the starting lineup wasn’t new to her and I think that you saw that right away,” Vandersloot told reporters after the game. “She’s comfortable out there. She fits perfectly with that group. For me, my mentality didn’t change. It was the same. I just wanted to be able to be a spark off the bench. It’s definitely new to me in terms of, yeah, it’s going to take me a second to adjust to this because it is different. I just don’t have that experience, which is fine. It’s going to take some time.

“But I was really happy for Leo. I think it was a really great adjustment for us. And, you know, she was incredible tonight.”

The adjustment is one that Brondello plans to stick with for the postseason, which continues with Game 2 Tuesday at Barclays Center when the Liberty will try to close out the best-of-three and earn a semifinal berth.

The change was made to avoid a “chunky” offense, as it was described to Vandersloot, spreading out the playmakers of herself, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Sabrina Ionescu.

Brondello’s hope was for Vandersloot to take a lead role with the second unit during the playoffs.

“I think it was just having a discussion. I’m always very respectful. I trust Sloot. It wasn’t anything about that,” Brondello said after Game 1. “It was going to help us with our best lineups at all times. … So she handled it. She wants to win. That shows a lot about her mentality. Whatever is best for the team is best for her…For now, we’ll keep it like that but we’ll do whatever we think is best for the team at that time.”

Still, Vandersloot did what Brondello hoped for and more.

Across 16 minutes, she scored four points and racked up three assists, three rebounds and two steals.

She also made WNBA history in becoming the league’s all-time playoff assist leader when she tallied her 365th playoff assist with a pass to Breanna Stewart for a bucket, passing Sue Bird, who sat courtside among the 12,115 fans in Barclays Center.

“I think that Sloot handled it like a vet and like a leader,” Stewart said. “There was no kind of hiccup or adjustment. She wants what’s best for this team and knows that, whenever it’s her time to be on the court, she’s going to contribute. The fact that she was able to become the playoff all-time leading assister was really cool and what was even cooler was that I was able to score that.”

It’s been a difficult journey for Vandersloot this season after missing almost a month due to the death of her mother, Jan, who had a two-year battle with cancer.

Vandersloot averaged only 6.4 points and 4.8 assists this season, which are both a significant dip from her 10.5 points and 8.1 assists in 2023. However, she eventually found a rhythm after the monthlong Olympic break to grab three double-digit scoring games, including a double-double against the Wings in August with 15 points and 11 assists.