Breanna Stewart isn’t any stranger to championship stress or the joys that comes with lifting the trophy. From dominating the faculty ranks at UConn to amassing WNBA titles in two cities, she’s made successful appear like routine. However for Stewart, that starvation for an additional championship run remains to be very a lot alive. Now in her ninth professional season, Stewart is as soon as once more within the thick of a title hunt with the New York Liberty.
As a WNBA veteran, Stewart performs with the calm depth of somebody properly accustomed to the highlight and expectations that comply with a championship crew. A 3-time WNBA champion, two-time Finals MVP, and now the chief of a 10-2 Liberty squad, Stewart understands the burden that comes with defending a title. However she is all in for it.
Breanna Stewart Desires to Soak within the New York Celebration Once more
Stewart’s nonetheless doing every little thing: scoring, rebounding, defending, and main her crew. Her 2025 regular-season numbers are robust throughout the board: 21.1 factors, 5.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.1 blocks per sport on 53.2 p.c taking pictures. Whereas her 3-point share has dipped to 22.2%, the remainder of her sport has been rock strong.
However for Stewart, this season is about greater than stats; it’s about that feeling, that one-of-a-kind second of celebration that got here final 12 months when she led New York to its first WNBA title in franchise historical past. That’s what she’s after once more. Talking along with her former teammate, Sue Fowl, on her podcast, Bird’s Eye View, Stewart revealed she is all in for an additional title.
“The chance to return to again — I don’t know, like, I simply, I wish to really feel that feeling once more of like celebrating with town and in New York as a result of that celebration was like no different,” Stewart stated.
“However I additionally suppose again to what you stated is like — and this was after we had been in Seattle — successful is so onerous, you understand. You win as soon as, and also you’re like, ‘Oh, we’re going to be proper again there the subsequent 12 months.’ After which it’s not for like years later.”
These phrases carry extra weight coming from somebody who’s lived it. Stewart received titles with the Seattle Storm in 2018 and 2020, experiencing each the highs of successful and the wrestle to get again. Now with the Liberty, she will do it once more, as New York seems to be to seize a second straight championship after their 2024 title run. At 30, Stewart is able to battle by way of it.
“So not shedding sight of that and understanding that in some unspecified time in the future all through this season, there may be going to be adversity and the way are we going to beat that to proceed to the place we wish to go,” she added.
“It’ll be attention-grabbing. There’s gonna be one thing that occurs for certain. However we’ll work by way of it.” With that sort of management and perspective, and Stewart on the helm, the Liberty seems to be locked in for an additional title run.
Liberty Surges Forward Using on Stewart’s Heroics
By 12 video games, Stewart and the Liberty have made a transparent assertion. Their 10-2 report within the Western Convention is spectacular, particularly after a red-hot 9-0 begin. Regardless that Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever snapped that streak on June 14, the Liberty nonetheless seems to be like a crew constructed for the lengthy haul.
Within the 2024 WNBA Finals, Stewart was a pressure, averaging 18.6 factors, 11.0 rebounds, and three.4 assists over 5 video games. That sort of postseason manufacturing doesn’t occur accidentally. It comes from expertise and understanding how onerous successful is, however nonetheless wanting it anyway.
Stewart has been a champion at each stage. She received 4 nationwide titles at UConn and three WNBA rings. Her resume says “legend,” however her mindset says nonetheless extra to do.
