The Liberty bring back an intriguing point guard ahead of WNBA free agency

The VNBA free agency the negotiating period doesn’t begin until Jan. 21, but in the meantime, teams are allowed to award base tags as well as tender qualifying offers to restricted and restricted free agents. Several teams, such as Chicago Sky, have made qualifying offers to their restricted free agents. Others, like Las Vegas Aces, awarded the primary designation. The New York Libertyfresh off their first championship in franchise history, they made a key move on a developing young guard before the WNBA’s free agency period.

The New York Liberty have returned Jaylin Sherrod to their roster to the training camp contractahead of the official free agency period according to Madeline Kenney of the New York Post.

Sherrod was a reserved free agent, meaning she had less than three years of experience in the league. As a reserved free agent, Liberty also had exclusive negotiating rights. Signing the training camp contract means Sherrod accepted the qualifying offer the team made.

In addition to bringing back Sherrod, the Liberty brought in Breanna Stewart while also extending qualifying offers to their other reserved free agents in Marin Johannes, Rebecca Gardner and Ivana Dojkic.

Jaylin Sherrod’s new season with Liberty

Sherrod went undrafted in the 2024 WNBA Draft, but secured a spot in training camp with the Liberty. She was one of the last cuts before the start of the regular season despite a strong preseason.

But when the Liberty needed healthy players later in the season, they brought her back on a seven-day contract. She ended up signing with the Liberty for the rest of the season and was part of their championship team.

Sherrod didn’t get much playing time as a rookie. She appeared in just ten games and played just over three minutes per game. She averaged just 1.9 points, but shot 50 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from the three-point line in the games she did appear.

Sherrod scored her first career VNBA points on August 20 against the Dallas Wings. Her best game of the season, statistically, came during one of the Liberty’s final regular season games on September 19 against the Atlanta Dream. She finished with eight points, one rebound, one assist and one steal while shooting 3-of-5 from the field.

While the Liberty are a team looking to defend their title, Sherrod is the type of player for them to continue to develop and see if she can play a bigger role at some point this upcoming season.