Breanna Stewart is signing with European powerhouse Fenerbahçe Opet in Turkey for the 2026 EuroLeague Final Six, the team announced Monday. The single-elimination tournament to decide the EuroLeague champion will be held in Spain from April 15-19.
Stewart is currently playing with Mist BC in her second season in Unrivaled, which she co-founded. The regular season concludes on Feb. 28, and the playoffs run through March 4. Stewart is scheduled to join Team USA for a training camp in Miami from March 7-8 and then head to Turkey. She is not on the American roster for the FIBA World Cup qualifying tournament from March 11-16.
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Stewart previously played for Fenerbahçe during the 2022-23 season. She led the team to the EuroLeague title and was named MVP of the Final Four (the format of the postseason tournament has since been modified). This season’s Fenerbahçe roster was stacked even before Stewart’s arrival, featuring WNBA All-Stars Kayla McBride, Gabby Williams and Emma Meesseman, as well as Iliana Rupert and Julie Allemand.
Stewart hasn’t played in Europe since that season due to a combination of factors, including injuries and the launch of Unrivaled, but she has always spoken positively about her experiences playing overseas. She previously played in Russia for multiple seasons before joining Fenerbahçe. Stewart is not the only WNBA player to double-dip during the WNBA offseason. McBride also played a short stint for Fenerbahçe in 2025 after the first Unrivaled season. Tiffany Hayes went to Turkey to play for Fenerbahçe rival ÇBK Mersin after the 2025 WNBA season and then came back to the U.S. for the 2026 Unrivaled season.
The schedule of the EuroLeage Final Six also aligns well with Stewart’s WNBA obligations in 2026. Per the prioritization clause of the current collective bargaining agreement, players are required to report by the start of the season or May 1, whichever is later. The last possible game for Fenerbahçe would be on April 19, allowing Stewart sufficient time to return stateside to the New York Liberty, or whichever team she happens to sign with during the WNBA offseason.
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Prioritization is expected to remain in the new collective bargaining agreement, but any new terms likely would not be phased in until 2027.
Stewart, who is a vice president of the WNBA players union, has been recently optimistic about the progress of the WNBA CBA negotiations. On her podcast “Game Recognize Game,” she said, “Our recent CBA proposal that we got, there’s movement, there’s traction, we’re finally headed in a direction, so I’m excited.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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