Breanna Stewart
Breanna Stewart's career: four UConn titles, two WNBA MVPs, three WNBA championships with Seattle and New York, and her 2026 return to the Liberty.
Breanna Stewart is a 6-foot-4 forward who has won at every level the sport offers. She won four straight NCAA championships at UConn and two WNBA titles with the Seattle Storm. She was then a central piece of the New York Liberty team that won the franchise’s first championship in 2024. Per Basketball-Reference, she was a two-time WNBA MVP (2018, 2023), a two-time Finals MVP and an eight-time All-WNBA selection through the 2026 season. On April 17, 2026, she signed a three-year deal to stay in New York. Her mix of size, shooting and defense made her the template for the modern WNBA forward.
| Vitals | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 27, 1994, North Syracuse, New York |
| Position | Forward |
| Teams | Seattle Storm (2016–2022), New York Liberty (2023–2026) |
| Draft | 2016, 1st round, 1st overall, Seattle Storm |
| Contract status (Nov. 6, 2026) | Under contract with New York through 2028 (three-year deal signed April 17, 2026) |
| Number | 30 |
UConn dynasty
The record. Stewart played at Connecticut from 2012-13 through 2015-16. UConn went 151–5 in those four seasons and won the national championship every year from 2013 to 2016. She was named Final Four Most Outstanding Player all four times, which no other player has done. Sports-Reference lists those four tournament MOP awards alongside four NCAA titles.
The résumé. Per Sports-Reference, she played 152 games, scored 2,676 points and blocked 414 shots, averaging 17.6 points and 7.8 rebounds. The 414 blocks are UConn’s all-time record, and the points total ranks second in program history. She was AP Player of the Year three times, won the Naismith Award three times and won the Wooden Award twice, including in 2016.
Seattle Storm titles
The arrival. Seattle took Stewart first overall in the 2016 draft. As a rookie she averaged 18.3 points and 9.3 rebounds and won Rookie of the Year, per Basketball-Reference. She also made the All-WNBA Second Team and finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
The breakthrough. In 2018 she averaged 21.8 points on .529 shooting and won MVP. The Storm went 26–8 and finished first in the league. Seattle then beat the Washington Mystics for the 2018 championship, and Stewart was named Finals MVP.
The Achilles. On April 14, 2019, Stewart tore her Achilles tendon while playing for Dynamo Kursk in the EuroLeague Women final, per Wikipedia. She missed the entire 2019 WNBA season.
The second ring. She came back for the 2020 season and finished second in MVP voting. Seattle beat the Las Vegas Aces for the 2020 title, and Stewart was again named Finals MVP. In 2021 the league named her to The W25, its list of the 25 greatest players in WNBA history. In 2022, the final year of her Seattle tenure before she signed with New York in February 2023, she won the scoring title at 21.8 points per game, per Basketball-Reference.
Liberty and the 2024 championship
The move. Stewart signed with New York as a free agent on February 1, 2023, per Wikipedia. Her first Liberty season was her best statistically. She averaged 23.0 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 40 games and won her second MVP, per Basketball-Reference.
The title. In 2024 she averaged 20.4 points, made the All-WNBA First Team and finished third in MVP voting. In the playoffs, New York faced Atlanta and then Las Vegas before meeting Minnesota in the Finals. The Liberty won that series 3–2 on October 20, 2024, giving the franchise its first WNBA championship (WNBA.com). Jonquel Jones was named Finals MVP. It was Stewart’s third WNBA title, and she remains the only player to anchor championship teams for both Seattle and New York.
Injuries and the 2026 reset
The 2025 knees. Stewart missed 13 regular-season games in 2025 with a bone bruise on her right knee. She played 31 games and averaged 18.3 points. Her 3-point shooting fell to .241, the lowest of her career, per Basketball-Reference. In Game 1 of the first round, New York beat Phoenix 76–69 in overtime, but Stewart hurt her left knee late in the game (ABC7). She played on, and the Mercury won Game 3 79–73 to eliminate the defending champions. The Liberty then parted ways with coach Sandy Brondello (CBS Sports). On Nov. 21, 2025, the Associated Press reported that New York was hiring Golden State Warriors assistant Chris DeMarco, and the team made the hire official on Dec. 3, 2025 (AP via KSL).
Unrivaled. In July 2023, Stewart and Napheesa Collier co-founded Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 league. On March 4, 2026, Stewart scored 32 points as Mist beat Phantom 80–74 in the league’s championship game and was named MVP of the final.
The contract. The new collective bargaining agreement was finalized in March 2026, which compressed free agency. Some free agents took one-year deals so they could test the market again after the season. Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jones all signed longer contracts. Stewart described hers as a three-year standard max contract worth $1.19 million for 2026, and the team announced all three three-year deals on Friday, April 17, 2026 (ABC7).
The 2026 season. Stewart played 42 games and averaged 20.8 points and 8.3 rebounds. She made the All-WNBA First Team for the seventh time and finished fifth in MVP voting (Basketball-Reference). New York went 26–18 and entered the playoffs as the No. 8 seed. In the best-of-three first round, the Liberty upset top-seeded Minnesota. Stewart had 34 points and 12 rebounds in a 91–75 Game 1 win on September 27, and New York finished the sweep 87–71 at Barclays Center (ESPN). Atlanta then swept the Liberty 3–0 in the semifinals, winning Game 3 85–83. Stewart scored 26 points in that game. As ClutchPoints noted, citing ESPN’s Alexa Philippou, it was the first playoff sweep of her career.
Legacy
The two-franchise standard. Stewart was the centerpiece of championship teams in two cities. She is one of the few players to win MVP in two different decades. Through the 2026 season she also held the third-highest career scoring average in league history, per Basketball-Reference.
The defensive half. Basketball-Reference credits her with eight All-Defensive selections, three of them on the First Team (2022, 2023, 2024). She ranked 12th all-time in career blocks through 2026 (Basketball-Reference).
By the numbers
| Season | Team | GP | PTS | TRB | AST | FG% | 3P% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | SEA | 34 | 18.3 | 9.3 | 3.4 | .457 | .338 |
| 2017 | SEA | 33 | 19.9 | 8.7 | 2.7 | .475 | .371 |
| 2018 | SEA | 34 | 21.8 | 8.4 | 2.5 | .529 | .415 |
| 2019 | — | Did not play (Achilles) | |||||
| 2020 | SEA | 20 | 19.7 | 8.3 | 3.6 | .451 | .368 |
| 2021 | SEA | 28 | 20.3 | 9.6 | 2.7 | .439 | .336 |
| 2022 | SEA | 34 | 21.8 | 7.6 | 2.9 | .472 | .379 |
| 2023 | NYL | 40 | 23.0 | 9.3 | 3.8 | .465 | .355 |
| 2024 | NYL | 38 | 20.4 | 8.5 | 3.5 | .458 | .295 |
| 2025 | NYL | 31 | 18.3 | 6.5 | 3.5 | .461 | .241 |
| 2026 | NYL | 42 | 20.8 | 8.3 | 3.3 | .474 | .254 |
Regular-season per-game figures per Basketball-Reference.
Career totals
Per Basketball-Reference, WNBA regular season through the 2026 season.
Ranks
- 3rd Points per game, WNBA career (20.54)
- 8th Points, WNBA career (6,860)
- 12th Blocks, WNBA career (478)
Per Basketball-Reference career leaderboards (points per game, points, blocks), through Nov. 6, 2026.
Honors
- 3× WNBA champion (2018, 2020, 2024)
- 2× WNBA MVP (2018, 2023)
- 2× WNBA Finals MVP (2018, 2020)
- 4× NCAA champion (2013–2016)
- 4× NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player
- 8× All-Star (2017, 2018, 2021–2026)
- 8× All-WNBA (7× First Team)
- 8× All-Defensive (3× First Team)
- 2016 Rookie of the Year
- 2022 scoring champion
Per Basketball-Reference, Sports-Reference and WNBA.com, through Nov. 6, 2026.
The arguments
Greatest college player ever? A 2024 column in UConn’s student paper, The Daily Campus, argued that Stewart is the greatest player in women’s college basketball history. It pointed to four titles and four Most Outstanding Player awards, a record no one else holds. The counterpoint comes from the numbers. Her 2,676 points rank second on UConn’s own all-time list (Wikipedia), so the case for her rests on winning and tournament play rather than on career totals.
Decline or dip? One reading of her early-30s seasons points to her 3-point shooting. Per Basketball-Reference, she shot .415 from three in 2018, .241 in 2025 and .254 in 2026. The other reading points to how she responded after the injury-shortened 2025 season. In 2026 she played 42 games, returned to the All-WNBA First Team and scored 34 points in a playoff win over the top seed.
The coaching change. New York’s decision to move on from Brondello after the 2025 first-round loss, one season after the title, was widely covered as a surprise. Sports Illustrated called it a shocking move, while High Post Hoops reported that the decision did not surprise Brondello herself. Under DeMarco in 2026, the Liberty upset the top seed in the first round and were then swept in the semifinals, which gave both sides of the argument something to point to.
Why it matters
Stewart’s career covers the period when the WNBA became a big business. She won titles in the 2018 and 2020 seasons, before the league’s growth surge, and then helped bring New York its first championship in 2024. She co-founded a league of her own in Unrivaled. With a three-year contract signed under the 2026 collective bargaining agreement, she tied the rest of her prime to the Liberty. Through the 2026 season, her four NCAA titles, three WNBA championships and two MVPs put her on the short list of the most decorated players in the history of women’s basketball.
