Cloud broke Meesseman’s first name into two syllables while leading the chant of more than 16,000 people in Brooklyn on Tuesday night. “Em-ma, Em-ma, Em-ma,” the crowd and the rest of the Liberty roster chanted and clapped. Once the interview and the accompanying chant were over, all the players wanted to embrace their new teammate.

“I’m so proud of you,” Cloud said to Meesseman while the team walked off the floor. “Look at you speaking so confidently.”

The last time Meesseman played at Barclays Center was on August 23, 2022 when the Sky defeated the Liberty 90-72 and moved onto the semifinal round of the playoffs. This was Sabrina Ionescu‘s first All-Star season and Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones played for different teams. Almost three years later, Meesseman didn’t want to reminisce too much on Tuesday morning during the team’s shootaround. She typically looks forward rather than backward.

But what stood out about that best-of-three series was the crowd at Barclays Center during Game 3, a modest 7,837, far less than this year’s average attendance of 16,340.

“I’ll remember this moment forever,” she said to a group of reporters following the game. “I’m coming from Belgium. We’ve had some good gyms filed, but this is still different, this is like an iconic gym.”

But the lack of preparation due to the tight and compact back end of the 2025 WNBA regular season hasn’t revealed noticeable on-court struggles for Meesseman.

Sparks guard Julie Allemand, Meesseman’s teammate on the Belgian National team, predicted that Meesseman would find early success amid the quick turnaround and high cadence of games.

“She will be okay, [adapt] faster than you think,” Allemand told The Next. “Of course, it’s gonna take some time, but you will see.”

In Meesseman’s first two games played for the Liberty, she’s averaged 12 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 45% shooting. It’s impressive considering that she is in a new city with a new playbook. Still, there are plenty of familiar faces for her.

Cloud told reporters postgame that when she plays with Meesseman that she knows when to go back door and cut off the ball, an issue Cloud has had in the Liberty offense this season prior to Meesseman’s arrival. Against the Wings on Tuesday night she didn’t only look comfortable with players she’s played with like Cloud, who spent four seasons with Meesseman in Washington with the Mystics, but she also found chemistry with Sabrina Ionescu, someone Meesseman hasn’t shared the floor with before as a teammate.

With just under five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter on Tuesday night, Meesseman set a high screen for Ionescu, and the Liberty guard got the ball to Meesseman a little bit too far ahead on the roll. But because of Meesseman’s long arms, she was able to corral the ball, slow down the action and set another screen for Ionescu which led to a pick-and-pop 11-feet away from the basket.

While Meesseman has spent a lot of time off court trying to learn as much of the Liberty’s terminology and principles as she possibly can, Ionescu has also put in a lot of time making sure Meesseman can find comfort in a completely new offense. Ionescu and Meesseman have sat down and talked about each others’ tendencies, and have communicated to each other where they like the ball and how they move and where they react on the floor. The idea is to speed up this process as much as possible, which is something Meesseman appreciates.

“She’s so much of a leader,” Meesseman said about Ionescu. “She’s been really vocal to me about how little things are [done]. Whenever she thinks I didn’t get a term or I don’t know what the term is, she just explains it to me.”

Ionescu hasn’t been surprised at all by how almost seamlessly Meesseman has adjusted. For the Liberty’s star guard it’s proof of concept that amid all of the Liberty’s star power and depth that Meesseman could really flourish in New York.

“I’ve mentioned a few times it’s just beautiful basketball, and that’s going to take a while just [to] be on the same page, going to be up and downs,” she said.

Meesseman was in a situation like this the last time she was in the WNBA. The Chicago Sky were one of the best teams in the league in 2022, but fell short and failed to advance past the semifinals. Allemand explained to The Next that 2022 in Chicago was a really difficult season for both of them.

There’s a confidence, however, that this time around going for a repeat once again will come with more support and trust then it did in Chicago. Meesseman has Wade, not only her position coach, but a friend who got close to her when they were both really young back in Washington. After each Mystics practice in 2019, Wade would spend around another 45 minutes in the gym playing one-on-one with her while working on whatever skill work she wanted to tackle. Their friendship blossomed further in the 2020 bubble season, a place where there wasn’t much to do besides have team dinners and get to know people better. Wade was an integral part of getting Meesseman to choose New York. They hopped on the phone in mid-June to go over how her quality of life would be playing for the Liberty.

“It’s just a group that’s extremely selfless,” Wade said. “Winning is the only thing that matters here, and I’d say winning the right way, which are all things that play into what [Meesseman]’s about.”

The road ahead is fraught. She stepped into the Liberty at a time when they were missing three front court players in two-time MVP Stewart, Nyara Sabally and Kennedy Burke. How will Meesseman approach pivoting even more when players begin to return throughout the month of August from injury?

According to Wade, the skills Meesseman brings to that challenge are two-fold. She’s already bought into the Liberty’s team culture — the team’s values are her own. She doesn’t care about how many shots she gets which allows the Liberty to really plug her into a variety of situations either starting or coming off the bench.

And Meesseman’s intelligence and instincts are unique in the world of women’s professional basketball. Head coach Brondello has often said that Meesseman is the “smartest player” she’s ever coached going back to their days in Russia. Wade explained that it’s her processing speed and natural instincts that set her apart.

“She knows who she is and plays to her strengths,” Wade said. “She doesn’t get sped up. She’s just an ultra-processor. She’s able to just process play calls and coverages and reads on the fly. And so I think all that kind of plays into her ability to just fit in with us so well.”

The Liberty’s offense is reliant upon facilitation and movement, which are tenets to how Meesseman plays the game. Growing up Meesseman was taught the game of basketball through some simple guiding principles. She was taught that if someone is open, you pass. Before she was working on her individual skills like shooting threes, that was what she mastered first.

Meesseman’s first made three at Barclays Center reflected this approach. She looked at her teammates— and in particular Ionescu — to make sure they weren’t more open than she was. Then she calmly knocked the shot down.