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It was something Breanna Stewart thought about earlier Tuesday, between when she received the call from WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert informing her she had won a second MVP award and when the Liberty star stood behind a Barclays Center podium to accept it.
So much had changed for Stewart since she last won in 2018.
She had torn her Achilles. She won another WNBA title.
She was married, with one child — 2-year-old Ruby — bouncing alongside the ceremony stage and her wife, Marta Xargay Casademont, expecting another.
“It’s been a roller coaster of a journey,” Stewart said, “but I wouldn’t wish it to be any other way.”
Stewart, who scored 11 points in the Liberty’s Game 2 series-evening win over the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA semfinals, became the first Liberty player to be named the league’s MVP and the WNBA’s eighth two-time winner.
She topped the Sun’s Alyssa Thomas (439) and the Aces’ A’ja Wilson (433) with 446 voting points, even though Thomas earned more first-place votes in a race that Stewart called beneficial for the league.
Stewart averaged a career-best 23.0 points per game, while adding 9.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists. She set the league record for 40-point games.
She became the fastest player to reach 4,000 career points.
Her first season with the Liberty continued Tuesday night with Game 2 of the semifinals against the Sun, and after believing and trusting that she was a great player, Stewart’s quest to keep “showing what greatness is” culminated with the top individual award.
“Her greatness is not by accident,” head coach Sandy Brondello said. “This has been earned.”
Tuesday turned into a “juggling act” for Stewart. She found out about the award, told her wife and shared an emotional moment. But then her focus turned to Game 2 — a must-win game — and balancing the thrill of the honor with an understanding of reality.
Because for the past seven months, Stewart had become a central character in the plot points of this Liberty superteam.
When Stewart signed, she became the foundational piece.
She joined Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot as the centerpieces of a group that won 32 games, took the Commissioner’s Cup for the franchise’s first regular-season title and set a team record for wins.
Stewart, who’d already made four All-Star appearances across her six-year career, continued advancing her individual legacy, too.
She set the league’s single-season record for points, though the Storm’s Jewell Loyd eventually surpassed that mark — with Loyd’s 939 narrowly topping Stewart’s 919.
Stewart shattered Liberty record after Liberty record, and while Vandersloot became the facilitator and Sabrina Ionescu the 3-point specialist, Stewart, 29, became the indispensable link syncing the spacing and movement of Brondello’s offense into an efficient operation.
“Consistency is hard, and competing in the best women’s basketball league in the world is hard,” Stewart said, “but I take pride in showing up everyday and doing the hard things because that’s what it takes — and why I’m standing here today.”
Stewart reflected on Coco Gauff’s victory speech at the U.S. Open this month, acknowledging that those “who thought they were putting water on my fire, you were really adding gas and now I’m burning so bright.”
She referenced the league’s quest to bring Brittney Griner back to the United States from Russia.
The battle for equality has served as a prominent storyline throughout Stewart’s career.
She advocated for charter flights throughout the entire WNBA, while also continuing her push for gender equality that dated back to her 2016 ESPYs speech.
Motherhood has also helped provide a different perspective, Stewart said. She wanted to become a guide for Ruby, even if, one day, Ruby decided to not play basketball. Stewart smiled as Ruby climbed the stage’s stairs during her pregame ceremony, joking “parenting is hard.”
“To be a role model to you, Ruby, is really what keeps me going,” Stewart said, “and today, you get to see your mommy win MVP.”
The cross-country transition wasn’t easy for Stewart. The only thing that made it smooth was the people around her, Stewart told ESPN Tuesday. Seattle to New York — the Storm to the Liberty — reflected a massive risk.
But those emotions eventually turned to excitement. The Liberty kept winning games. And Stewart’s mid-career leap, however daunting at first, started to pay dividends.
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