Just the thought of it still makes Jonathan Kolb emotional.
In the moments after the Liberty lost Game 4 of the 2023 WNBA Finals and the Aces popped champagne bottles and donned championship shirts in the venue that the Liberty — and Kolb — had worked for so long to make their own, he stayed inside his Barclays Center office, sitting on the floor against the wall.
The general manager’s family lingered on the other side of the small room. He’d never experienced anything quite like it before, the suddenness of an end and the significance of the journey crashing together in the most gutting way possible. But here he was.
Vince Kozar, the Phoenix Mercury’s president and Kolb’s first boss during his internship with the NBA’s Suns, sensed how badly Kolb wanted to win the franchise’s first title, and that’s why, before the Finals even began last year, Kozar texted Kolb a reminder: You never know when you’re gonna get back, and so however it turns out, enjoy this moment.
