This didn’t happen at all last year.
Not when Sabrina Ionescu missed time with a hamstring injury.
Not when Courtney Vandersloot sat out the second game of a back-to-back in late July, either.
Through 15 games in 2024, even amid Vandersloot’s ongoing absence due to personal reasons, the Liberty — and their current nucleus — have also avoided another injury and the need to navigate without two starters.
That changed Thursday, when Betnijah Laney-Hamilton was a late addition to the availability report with a right knee injury and went from full to questionable to out in a matter of hours.
Rookie Leonie Fiebich started for the first time.
Kayla Thornton took Vandersloot’s spot for the sixth consecutive game.
But the Liberty managed to cobble together enough offense — and compensate enough for the injury to their defensive anchor — to defeat the Sparks, 93-80, at Barclays Center on Thursday and avoided dropping consecutive games for the second time this season.
Sabrina Ionescu led the Liberty with 31 points, while Jones added 22 before fouling out.
Laney-Hamilton was dealing with knee swelling that dated back to their last road trip, which ended Tuesday with a loss to the Mercury.
Head coach Sandy Brondello was hopeful pregame that if Laney-Hamilton wasn’t available, she’d be able to return Saturday when the Liberty and Sparks meet again.
That didn’t solve their short-term conundrum, though.
Brondello turned to Fiebich, a productive spark off the bench to start the season.
Ionescu and Jones helped pace the offense in the first half with 15 and 11 points, respectively, while the Liberty prevented anyone on the Sparks from hitting double-digits.
Los Angeles was also navigating without rookie — and No. 2 overall pick — Cameron Brink after she tore her ACL earlier in the week.