Breanna Stewart has officially made her long-awaited free agency decision, choosing to sign with the New York Liberty after playing the first six seasons of her WNBA career with the Seattle Storm. The 2018 league MVP and 2018 and 2020 Finals MVP announced her decision via Twitter on Wednesday, putting months of speculation to rest.
Stewart’s decision is expected to create a ripple effect throughout the WNBA as other teams that were waiting on her begin to fill out their own rosters. Needless to say, the Storm will be hit particularly hard by Stewart’s decision, which will likely change the course of the franchise as its championship window closes and it enters an era of uncertainty; the team still has All-WNBA guard and Olympian Jewell Loyd on its roster after signing her to a large contract last offseason, but not much beyond that, and barring another star signing in Seattle, the team is closer to a rebuilding phase than any sort of championship contention.
Technically, Stewart has yet to actually sign with the Liberty, and ESPN’s Holly Rowe mentioned during a televised free agency roundtable on Wednesday that a sign-and-trade could be in the works, in which case the Storm would at least get some kind of asset in return. What we do know is that Stewart will not be…
