Breanna Stewart’s tank was empty when the clock struck zero on the Liberty’s season.
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She left everything she had on the floor but ultimately limped into the WNBA offseason with a sprained MCL in her left knee — one of several lower-body injuries she suffered during a particularly grueling 11-month stretch.
So if there’s any consolation to the Liberty’s first-round playoff exit, it would have to be that Stewart finally had a chance to rest and prioritize her health.
Stewart said she’s “really happy” with where she’s at as she prepares for Unrivaled’s second season.
Stewart took at least a month away from the basketball court, and she even squeezed in a vacation before arriving in Miami for Unrivaled training camp this week.
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Stewart said none of her injuries required offseason surgery. She said she had the usual platelet-rich plasma with hyaluronic acid injections often used to treat joint pain, but nothing that strayed away from the 31-year-old’s routine maintenance.
“Really, it was the time off,” Stewart said Wednesday. “Like, I can’t tell you the last time where I was just not on the basketball court for a month.”
Liberty’s Breanna Stewarta playoff game against the Phoenix Mercury. AP
Stewart initially injured her right knee in Game 5 of the 2024 WNBA Finals. After taking a brief time off, she did her best to play through knee discomfort during Unrivaled’s inaugural season.
In March, Stewart had what she described as minor cleanup surgery on her right meniscus. The surgery delayed her ramp-up process for the WNBA season, and she had a short-lived minutes restriction early in the season.
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Stewart also missed a month of action after the All-Star break with a bone bruise in her right knee.
The mounting injuries and miles wore down Stewart. It resulted in one of her rockiest campaigns by the standards she’s set to date.
Stewart was the Liberty’s defensive anchor and New York was far better with her on the floor than without her. She averaged 18.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game last season.
Breanna Stewart #30 of the New York Liberty blocks shot against Angel Reese #5 of the Chicago Sky. Michelle Farsi/New York Post
She led the Liberty in scoring, but how she got those points looked different than past seasons.
Around 78.7 percent of Stewart’s field goal attempts were 2s, according to Basketball-Reference.com. (Her career average is 70.3 percent.)
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She shot 46.1 percent from the field, including 74.6 percent in the restricted area and 42.9 percent in the paint (non-restricted area), per WNBA Advanced Stats.
She also averaged a career-high 6.5 free-throw attempts per game, second to only A’ja Wilson.
But Stewart’s 3-point shot has been on a decline the past two seasons. She shot 29.5 percent from deep in 2024. Last season, she shot a career-low 24.7 percent from deep and attempted the fewest 3-point shots (2.8 per game) in her nine-year WNBA career.
The lower-body injuries may have impacted her lift.
Everything is clearer with perspective.
“Rushing back to play, I didn’t give myself the proper time to kind of really heal,” Stewart said.
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Stewart said she “was able to take a step back” after the Liberty’s season and “feel better” before returning to the floor, and now she’s focused on rediscovering her flow.
“Honestly, I’m really happy with where I’m at,” Stewart said. “I think as far as the way that my season ended, obviously not happy with the Liberty and what happened but it gave me time. It gave me time, it gave me time to be off from the court and really work on my body. And I think just really getting the fluidity and the flow back, like, I was on the court with [former Liberty assistant and Mist head coach Zach O’Brien] earlier, and I just feel back to myself, which I’m happy about. And knowing that everything is working together, like, in [tandem], to just give me the rhythm that I need so going to be confident going into Unrivaled and really just getting back to myself. That’s my main idea but having confidence in my shot is huge.”
