New York Liberty hold championship celebration at Barclays Center

Thousands of fans filled the stands at the New York Liberty’s home base in Brooklyn Thursday night. For many, this was a 12-hour day of celebrations, starting at the Canyon of Heroes for the ticker-tape parade in Lower Manhattan.

“This is the new home, hopefully from here on out and this is where they were meant to be, in front of the people they were meant to be in front of. It’s really exciting,” said Eve, a season ticket holder.

Thursday’s celebration included speeches from State Attorney General Letitia James and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, as well as a show-stopping performance from beloved Liberty mascot Ellie the Elephant.

And, most importantly, the champions themselves addressed their scores of screaming fans alongside their WNBA Finals trophy. 

For many young girls, the team serves as an inspiration.

“It makes me feel happy because usually most boys are like, ‘Girls can’t play basketball,’ and stuffb, ut what makes me happy is that there’s a Black girl on the team,” said 8-year-old Jolie, who came to the celebration with her Girl Scouts troop.

Liberty fans say they believe this is just the beginning for their beloved team, and women’s basketball as a whole.

“I love this. It’s everybody banning together, everybody’s just having a good time, it’s no bad blood. It’s just everyone having a good time enjoying our team finally making it after all these years,” longtime fan Kat Deltoro said. “We got this!”

The night concluded with stellar performances from New York legends Fat Joe and Remi Ma.