Joe Paige | Sports Editor
The Landscape of the WNBA has shifted with some of the leagues biggest stars moving to new destinations in free agency. It was announced on the beginning of February Wednesday morning that former MVP Breanna Stewart will be signing with the New York Liberty next season. Stewart is considered to be one of the league's top 5 best players right now, she was first overall pick in 2016 by the Storm, won MVP in 2018, and won two WNBA titles with Seattle. She’s coming off of a season averaging nearly 22 points and brought the Seattle Storm to the Semi-finals.
Stewart recently went public about prioritizing charter air travel in her free agency which The Liberty have been known to be in support of. The team was fined $500,000 in March last year for chartering flights without league approval. Unlike the NBA, the 12 WNBA teams only travel via commercial airlines. The WNBA has decided that unless all teams can afford to fly charter, no team may fly charter, regardless of whether its ownership can pay for it. Stewart spoke with ESPN after the announcement saying all the reasons why she chose The Liberty stating “I want to go to the place where I can continue to help this league become better, to continue to raise the standard. I feel like, why not go to the biggest market in all of sports, and I’m really excited to go after their first championship.”
This signing ends a seven-year relationship with Seattle that resulted in two championships and a resume filled with individual accolades, she gave Seattle fans everything they could’ve hoped for, now, she brings her talents to New York where she hopes to give Liberty fans a taste of her greatness. This decision comes right after New York made another massive free agency acquisition when they picked up 2021 MVP Center Jonquel Jones from Connecticut just last month. These are great players to put next to Sabrina Ionescu as they’re both players who can take the pressure off of her when closing games. You can catch Stewie and The Liberty when the WNBA season tips off on May 19th.
| "I want to go to the place where I can continue to help this league become better, to continue to raise the standard. I feel like, why not go to the biggest market in all of sports, and I’m really excited to go after their first championship."
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