In one of the biggest free agent moves in WNBA history, former league MVP Breanna Stewart has decided to play for the New York Liberty, leaving the Seattle Storm after winning two championships in seven years, she announced Wednesday on Twitter.
Wednesday marked the first day WNBA free agents can officially sign contracts and offer sheets for the 2023 season, although sources told ESPN that Stewart is still working through the specifics of the deal she will sign with New York.
Stewart made charter air travel a key factor in her free agency, league sources told ESPN. It was a topic in discussions with the four teams she met with — the Liberty, Storm, Minnesota Lynx and Washington Mystics — to see where they stood on the issue, which she believes is critical to players’ health, safety and performance.
While none of the teams could make a direct pledge on the issue due to salary cap rules, sources said Stewart believes she has raised the issue to a level of importance that meaningful conversations will continue in the immediate future.
“Stewie’s free agency is the story of the WNBA at an inflection point: Players understand their value, the potential of the WNBA, and are eager partners in growing a business that has incredible momentum,” Stewart’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas of Wasserman, told ESPN in a statement Wednesday. “She owned the process and the responsibility that comes with power in ways that hopefully will impact how smart free agents of all genders approach similar opportunities.”
Stewart was picked No. 1 overall by the Storm in 2016 and won two WNBA titles with Seattle and won the league’s MVP trophy in 2018. The 28-year-old has averaged 20.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game in her career, having missed the 2019 season with an Achilles injury.