SB Nation is introducing every of the 12 members of the US Olympic Women’s Basketball group this week. Here’s what you could learn about Breanna Stewart, one of the crucial embellished gamers within the WNBA.
Fast Facts
Team: New York Liberty (21-4)
2024 Regular Season Stats: 19.3 factors (45.4%), 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals
Position: Forward
Draft Class: 2016, Pick #1
All-Star Selections: 6 (2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
Previous Olympic Appearances: N/A
College: University of Connecticut – received 4 nationwide championships (2013-2016)
Breanna Stewart’s resume is as storied as they arrive
Few resumes — in any sports activities — rival Breanna Stewart. Stewart — sometimes called “Stewie” — has two WNBA championships below her belt (2018, 2020) and two accompanying Finals MVPs. She’s received league MVP twice (2018, 2023) and been named to the All-WNBA First Team 5 instances (2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023).
Prior to changing into an expert, she led UConn to 4 consecutive nationwide championships, the kind of sustained dominance we very effectively won’t see once more in school basketball. In all 4 runs, Stewart was named the event’s Most Outstanding Player because the Huskies achieved a uncommon four-peat.
Her transition to the professionals was fairly seamless; she was named Rookie of the Year in her first 12 months and was an All-Star by her second. Just a couple of years after that, Stewie was firmly positioned in girls’s basketball GOAT debate.
Perhaps the wildest half is — she’s solely 29. So, the prolonged and practically unequalled listing of accomplishments continues to be rising.
In 2019, she ruptured her achilles — and got here again even higher
Breanna Stewart ruptured her achilles taking part in in Russia forward of the 2019 WNBA season, and missed the whole 12 months. She was within the midst of taking part in the very best basketball of her profession, and was only a few months faraway from her first Finals MVP and WNBA title.
But Stewie didn’t miss a beat, coming again in 2020 and main the Storm to a second championship. In 2018, she averaged 24.6 factors on 46.6% capturing en path to her first championship. In 2020, she really improved these numbers, averaging 25.7 factors on 53.8% capturing.
After she received her second championship, Stewart mirrored on the scary preliminary moments following the harm.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen after rupturing my Achilles,” she later stated. “You see all the worst things. You see all the worst and then I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to be back to where I was.”
But, her efficiency in 2020 signaled that she had extra than simply bounced again.
“What I’m the most proud of is just the fact that I think I’m better now than I was before,” Stewart informed Holly Rowe a number of months into her return.
She’s a centerpiece of the New York Liberty, the WNBA’s high group
Ahead of the 2023 season, Stewart left the Seattle Storm and headed to the Liberty, the place she teamed up with Courtney Vandersloot, Jonquel Jones, Sabrina Ionesco, and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton. In their first season collectively, the Liberty excelled by in the end fell to the Aces 3-1 within the WNBA Finals. Stewart uncharacteristically struggled all through that playoff run, capturing simply 35.8% from the sector en path to 18.4 factors per recreation.
This season, Stewie is averaging 19.3 factors, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists per recreation, whereas additionally anchoring the Liberty’s protection. She’s not having a profession 12 months, however she and her teammates have carried out sufficient to maintain the Liberty on the high of the standings.
At 21-4, New York at the moment holds the very best document within the league, and Stewart appears poised to compete for her third championship.
She’s launching Unrivaled, a three-on-three basketball league for the WNBA high stars
Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier are co-launching Unrivaled, a three-on-three basketball league set to tip off in January and maintain the WNBA’s finest gamers within the US through the offseason. The league might be based mostly in Miami, and embody 30 of the league’s stars, ten of whom have already been introduced, and already guarantees a minimal $100,000 wage.
“The need for Unrivaled is because we have a seven-month gap in our season and a way to keep players home, continue to build brands and be in a different market than a ‘W’ team and just build off of that,” Stewart informed Fox NY. “You see the moment and the movement that’s happening behind women’s sports — specifically the WNBA and women’s basketball, continuing to just make sure that people can find us wherever they want.”