Breanna Stewart just changed the game for women in sports everywhere
“It’s been a long time coming.” Or how about “It’s about time,”? Those are the things we normally hear when people talk about Breanna Stewart’s new signature sneaker model, the Stewie 1.
She joined us on this week’s episode of Special Delivery to talk about what it means and how this changes the future for so many WNBA athletes to come.
The WNBA’s prioritization rule is getting in the way of one of its best players
Breanna Stewart is one of a few players who most people would consider to be one of the best 3 or 4 players in the WNBA.
It’d be disastrous to have a WNBA season without her — especially when it’s not due to injury. But, with the way things are shaping up right now, it’s looking like that might be a real possibility.
Stewart’s WNBA future is up in the air in more ways than one. First, she’s a free agent this offseason. She signed a one-year, $228,094 deal last year to return to the Seattle Storm for another season. That deal is up and she can go where she pleases now.
But she also might not be playing anywhere in the W because of the WNBA’s “prioritization” rule that’s part of the league’s most recent collective bargaining agreement.
In trying to ensure they’re keeping their best players committed to the league, the W might actually be pushing one of its best out. It’s weird. It’s wonky. But it also might be necessary too. Let’s talk about it.
The Las Vegas star is doing things we’ve literally never seen.
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In case you missed it, the Las Vegas Aces advanced to the WNBA Finals on Tuesday night with a Game 4 win over the Seattle Storm. They overcome a halftime deficit and 42(!) points by Breanna Stewart to earn the 3-1 series victory and put a bow on the legendary career of Sue Bird, who had her own awesome moment.
At the center of it all was point gawd Chelsea Gray, continuing what has truly been one of the greatest playoff runs in WNBA history. Reminiscent of her Game 3 overtime heroics, Gray hit clutch bucket after clutch bucket in the fourth quarter, including the 3-pointer that broke a tie with around one minute left and the next basket to push the lead to five with 30 seconds left.
Gray finished the game with 31 points on 13-of-22 shooting, six rebounds and 10 assists, becoming the first player in WNBA history with 30 points and 10 assists in a playoff game. And that’s just the tip of what she’s doing this postseason.
Through six games and two series, Gray is averaging 24.0 points on 62.6% shooting from the field and 59.5% from three. She’s also averaging 7.7 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.2 steals. No one has been that efficient while scoring that many points and averaging that many assists in the short history of the W. According to The Sporting News, her 74.7 effective field goal percentage would be the highest of any player to average 20 points in a postseason.
All this is coming from Vegas’ fourth-leading scorer during the regular season! Now, the Aces await the winner of Game 5 between the Chicago Sky and Connecticut Sun on Thursday. And with a large thanks to Gray, they look very much the part of the favorites they’re supposed to be.
The Tip-Off
Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.
Federico Gambarini/dpa via AP
The WNBA playoffs aren’t the only hoops action happening right now. The group stage of EuroBasket 2022 is nearing a conclusion, and Luka Doncic put on an absolute show Wednesday against France to clinch the top spot in Group B for Slovenia.
And before you go calling it luck, my colleague Bryan Kalbrosky wrote that it’s not the first time the Mavericks star has pulled this off:
“Doncic, who scored 22 points in the first 14 minutes of the game against France, finished the first half with 27 points on 8-for-12 from the field and 5-for-8 from beyond the arc.
None were more impressive than the one-handed, running fadeaway jumper that he hit as the shot clock expired. It’s almost too much to comprehend.
But one aspect that makes it easier: Doncic has made a similar shot before. During his final game for Real Madrid before declaring for the 2018 NBA Draft, he made a comparably unfathomable field goal.”
Hey man, Doncic was already a problem. But if he’s gonna start making one-handed, running threes, we can all just pack it up.
Shootaround
— Speaking of Slovenia, one of the team’s players was injured on a tip-off after landing on a ref.
In 1995, Sheryl Swoopes and Nike debuted the Nike Air Swoopes, to make Swoopes the first woman in sports history to get a signature shoe. From there, many of the sport’s icons like Lisa Leslie, Dawn Staley and Diana Taurasi, carried the torch in an era of WNBA stars with signature shoes. A nearly 15-year era that ultimately ended with Candace Parker’s Adidas Ace Commander and Versatility in 2010.
But the return of the signature sneaker is back in the WNBA, with Puma Basketball and Breanna Stewart officially introducing the Stewie 1 Quiet Fire, Stewart’s first signature shoe.
And it only makes sense that the first signature women’s basketball shoe in years goes to Stewie, a two-time WNBA champion, two-time Finals MVP, four-time All-Star, one-time league MVP and one of the faces of the modern WNBA.
Perhaps we’ll see Stewart debut her new shoe in this weekend’s All-Star Game between Team Stewart and Team Wilson.
Regardless, there’s a chance this could be the shoe that ushers in Stewie’s second MVP (+220 odds at Tipico Sportsbook), and third WNBA championship (+400).
Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. See Tipico.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ only. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO).
Saturday afternoon was quite the day for WNBA fans.
ESPN showcased a 2021 Finals rematch between the Phoenix Mercury and Chicago Sky, which went exactly how it did last fall.
And then the rematch was followed up by the 2022 WNBA All-Star Team Selection Special, a draft live draft with each selection made by captains A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart.
The two squads are stacked, as expected. And from Stewie’s draft clipboard to some specific teammate pairings, there were plenty of nuggets to go along with the overall fun process.
Here’s a look at the two teams and what we make of the selections.
[autotag]Muffet McGraw[/autotag] isn’t long removed from coach, so her legacy in form of WNBA players will continue for some time. Eventually, we hope to see the same effects from [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag]’s coaching. For now, Notre Dame fans should be pleased that four former Irish players have been named to the 2022 WNBA All-Star Game. No other university has more representation in this year’s event.
The number of Irish alumni in this year’s game became official with the announcement of the 12 reserves, On Saturday, they, along with the 10 selected starters, will be split up into teams captained by A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces and Breanna Stewart of the Seattle Storm. The teams then will face off in the game, which is being held in Chicago.
If you’re a Notre Dame women’s basketball enthusiast, you won’t be disappointed with this game. Here are the players for you to watch and reminisce about:
That was quick! More than a quarter of the WNBA season is in the rearview, which means the league is just one month away from its July 10th All-Star Game, which will be held in Chicago. With that date quickly approaching, the W has released its first returns of fan voting for the game.
As expected, Las Vegas Aces’ center A’ja Wilson is the leading vote-getter after the first returns. Her 21,688 votes are the most not only of any frontcourt player but also of any player in the league this season, which is a tip of the hat to her MVP-caliber 2022 campaign.
Breanna Stewart pulled in the second-most votes (20,866), and Wilson’s Las Vegas teammate, Kelsey Plum, earned the most votes amongst guards (17,158) and the fourth-most votes overall.
First returns are in! A'ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart lead in first returns of fan voting for @ATT#WNBAAllStar 2022 🤩
Other noteworthy tallies include rookie sensation Rhyne Howard of the Atlanta Dream receiving 8,516 votes, and Brittney Griner getting 3,833 votes — a very kind gesture from the fans to the future Hall of Fame center who is still being wrongfully detained in Russia.
Brittney Griner received 3,838 WNBA All-Star first returns fan votes.
Welcome to Bet For The Win’s weekly WNBA column, where we cover everything women’s basketball from highlight plays and signature moments to bad beats and best bets. Be sure to check back here every week for your W fix.
The sample sizes are growing! Last week’s column covered just the opening weekend of the W, which basically served as reactions to one game (maybe two) from each team. A full week later we’ve got more data, more moments, more everything. From the Atlanta Dream’s surprising start to the league’s continued struggles with chartered flights, let’s break down what went on in the W— during the past week.
The countdown to opening night of WNBA’s 26th season has officially reached single digits. Training camps are well-underway, preseason games are happening and rosters are being trimmed to their regular-season form in preparation for the W’s May 6th start.
And while the fringe roster players are sweating out the days of training camp, wondering what their futures as WNBA players hold, the established players and team leaders are gearing up for what they hope will be a magical season. There are a select few who have the power to make that happen, we call those MVP candidates.
We take a look at the elite players’ odds to win the MVP award, while also pinpointing the sleepers and longshots.
Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports broke news on Friday morning, reporting that WNBA star Breanna Stewart met with the New York Liberty and their brass this week in Los Angeles.
Stewart, a former league MVP (2018) and two-time Finals MVP (2018, 2020) was drafted by the Storm in 2016 and has played there since joining the W. Now she’s at least willing to listen to what other teams around the league have to say about her future.
Free agent WNBA superstar Breanna Stewart – in move that could end Seattle Storm tenure – met with New York Liberty this week in LA and it included owners Joe and Clara Tsai, full front office staff, business leads and head coach Sandy Brondello, league sources told @YahooSports.
The details of exactly which non-Storm team Stewie met with isn’t necessarily what’s newsworthy here, although it’s super fun to imagine a Sabrina Ionescu-Betnijah Laney-Breanna Stewart-Natasha Howard Big 4 (?) in the Big Apple. Rather, it’s the fact that Stewie is treating her unrestricted free agency as an unrestricted free agent should—by meeting with other teams and testing the market.
Stewart indicated ahead of free agency that she has every intention to return to Seattle, so Haynes’ report comes as a surprise to those who figured the Storm-Stewart renewed partnership was a lock. Maybe it is and we just don’t know it yet.
Nevertheless, the biggest free agent is still on the market and her pending decision could impact the landscape of the WNBA.
Expect things to continue moving slowly until Stewart has a home for the upcoming season. The Storm are currently +425 to win the title in 2022 at Tipico Sportsbook, but that will quickly change if Stewart leaves Seattle this offseason.
Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. See Tipico.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ only. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO).
