WNBA: Breanna Stewart, now second-best, leads Liberty in playoffs

Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson have been in a best-player-in-the-world race for some time now, with many people believing that they might one day pass Diana Taurasi and become the first- and second-greatest players of all time.

The reality is that Wilson is now clearly ahead of Stewart, although most would have given the title of world’s best to Stewart over the previous six years, going back to when Stewie won her first MVP award in 2018. A big turning point toward Wilson was Game 4 of the 2023 WNBA Finals. Stewart’s New York Liberty had just avoided elimination by winning Game 3 and were again on their home court for a Game 4, when Wilson’s Las Vegas Aces were without 2022 Finals MVP Chelsea Gray and another starter in Kiah Stokes. Wilson put the Aces on her back to secure the championship with 24 points and 16 boards. Meanwhile, Stewart may have had 14 rebounds and five assists, but shot 3-for-17 from the field and scored just 10 points.

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When their careers are said and done, we will inevitably look back at that game—an elimination game in the Finals—and point to Stewart’s lack of clutchness and how Wilson took it upon herself to make up for the absences of teammates with a heroic performance on the road. Stewart can’t undo that, though she can add more data points in her favor.

A’ja’s ascent into all-time territory

After that game, Wilson and Stewart stood at two championships and two regular-season MVPs apiece. Stewart held the edge over Wilson with two Finals MVPs to one, but the tide seemed to be shifting towards Wilson. Then, the 2024 regular season happened. And A’ja unquestionably ascended to the throne of the best player in the world.

By June 3, it was already clear. That day, Swish Appeal’s Hoopers Hierarchy came out and ranked Wilson No. 1. Stewart was No. 2, as Swish Appeal flipped the superstars’ 2023 rankings. And by the end of the season, it was abundantly clear that Wilson should be No. 1, she had just completed arguably the greatest individual season in WNBA history, eclipsing any single-season effort that Stewart had ever put forth. Wilson averaged 26.9 points to shatter Taurasi’s 18-year-old record of 25.3 and became the second unanimous MVP in league history; the first was Cynthia Cooper in the league’s inaugural season in 1997.

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Wilson, age 28, is the youngest player to reach three MVP awards. Lauren Jackson was just one year older, but her career was never the same after the 2010 season, in which she won her third, because of injuries in 2011 and her focusing on the Olympics in 2012. More injuries forced her to retire from the WNBA after 2012. The other two players with three, Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes, were both 34. Wilson has a golden opportunity to capture a record-breaking fourth.

Stewie’s now second-best, but always has been unstoppable

But let’s shift our focus to Stewart, who is currently up 2-0 on Wilson in the 2024 semifinals. Much has been written about Wilson’s greatness this year, but what about how Stewie is handling no longer being the face of the league? It’s worth thinking about because she has been a seemingly unstoppable force for so long.

Stewart, of course, went to UConn and is one of the most successful Huskies of all time, with four Final Four Most Outstanding Player awards. She embodies, perhaps better than anyone, the intimidation factor that comes with UConn. From her first appearance in the public eye up until just recently, she has had an air about her: She just couldn’t be beat. And for much of that time, it wasn’t just a vibe; it was a reality! She won every championship to be won in college from 2013 to 2016. The trend mostly continued in the WNBA. After she got her feet under her at the professional level, the Seattle Storm won titles in 2018 and 2020. If not for injuries that kept her out of the playoffs in 2019 and 2021, she might have captured another two.

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In 2022, as a member of the Seattle Storm, she was bested by Wilson and the Aces in the semifinals, but not without putting up 29.5 points per game in that series. In 2023, the super team she helped form in New York fell short as well, but, despite her poor performance in the final game of the postseason, she was that regular season’s MVP. So her status as the best player in the world was still somewhat in tact through the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Will Stewie’s Liberty deliver a long-awaited title to NY?

The funny thing is, now that she is clearly behind Wilson individually, she can almost taste the return of that team success she has known throughout her life. The Liberty have history on their side, as Vegas is staring at 18 instances in WNBA history of the team up 2-0 winning the series, compared to zero instances of the opposite happening. On the other side of the bracket, the Connecticut Sun would be underdogs against New York in the Finals. The Minnesota Lynx might not be as big underdogs, but if the Liberty can get over the mental hurdle of dethroning the two-time reigning champion Aces, it will be hard to slow their momentum. So Stewart really is pretty close to delivering the Liberty franchise its first championship.

After all, team success is what sports are really about. New York has found it, in part, by starting 24-year-old rookie Leonie Fiebich over a key 2023 addition who helped the squad garner the “super team” label: Courtney Vandersloot. At 6-foot-4 to Vandersloot’s 5-foot-8, Fiebich adds height to the starting lineup, and she has made at least two 3s in every playoff game so far with at least 50 percent accuracy, including a 4-for-4 effort in Game 1 of the first round. Meanwhile, Vandersloot found a way to be impactful off the bench in Game 2 of the semis, with 12 points and one beautiful block of a Jackie Young transition layup attempt.

Then there’s Jonquel Jones, the 2021 MVP who in the playoffs has the double-double average that is so closely tied to the Liberty’s success. And, of course, there’s Sabrina Ionescu, who, along with Marina Mabrey of the Sun, has been a “Caitlin who?” player in these playoffs, showing fans of only Caitlin Clark (if they’re still watching) that other players can consistently drain logo 3s. Ionescu is tied with Natasha Cloud of the eliminated Phoenix Mercury for second in playoff scoring average with 24.5 points per game. She’s making 3.5 treys per contest at a 42.4 percent clip, while adding six dimes.

Ionescu gave Stewart a run for her money as the Liberty’s MVP this regular season, though Stewart still finished ahead in league MVP voting by coming in third to Ionescu’s sixth. It’s tough to say who is the team’s go-to player, with Stewart close to Ionescu’s playoff scoring average at 20.5 points per game. Stewart played well in Game 1 of the first round, going for 20 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, two steals and three blocks with zero turnovers. She had an off performance in Game 2 of that series, but opened the semifinals by dropping 34 on the Aces.

What was interesting in Game 2 of the semifinals on Tuesday night was that Stewie was one shy of her career high in assists with eight. She has never recorded double-digit assists in a single contest, and thus has never recorded a triple-double. She came somewhat close Tuesday with 15 points and seven boards. Her assist total was high because she was often bringing the ball up to take pressure off New York’s guards. She’s always been a good passer and was simply using whichever of her abilities was needed to get the win.

That’s been the story of Breanna Stewart in the 2024 playoffs: doing whatever it takes to win. Her Liberty are 4-0 so far; they’ve lived up to their status as the No. 1 seed.

Enjoy the Stew’ja semifinal battle!

Of course, Stewie would probably like to still be the best player in the world. She may never get that title back. If she doesn’t, we will still always remember the stretch when she held it; we will still remember the UConn intimidation factor that she embodied and the air about her that made all opponents feel like they could never beat her team. Her skill set and agility at 6-foot-4 is unmatched. She had the edge over A’ja because she had a 3-point game that A’ja has since flirted with but has yet to permanently adopt at high volume.

A’ja’s better than Stewie now, even without the 3-point game, because her mid-range has remained automatic (and she’s making even more difficult shots from mid-range), while her driving ability has improved to that of an elite guard. In short, she now has the agility of a Breanna Stewart, and is simply scoring at will. She’s the best scorer in the game, period. And, of course, there is also the rebounding and the defense and the heart of a champion.

Champagne problems for Stewie, right? Ah, to be the second-best player in the world. The intimidation factor and the air are hard to maintain, as every sport’s GOAT has discovered. But through four postseason games, being No. 2 has been good to Stewie. All that Liberty fans want is for her to bring them that long-awaited championship. She has the opportunity to add to her legacy by ending the longest title drought for any team in WNBA history (the Liberty have been around all 28 years and haven’t won one). And she has the opportunity to compete for championships quite a bit longer.

With all that being said, things are looking good for the Liberty, but we should be far from penciling them in as the 2024 champions. For now, let’s just sit back and enjoy Stewie vs. A’ja in Game 3.