New York Liberty All-Star and 2023 WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart exited Saturday night’s game against the Los Angeles Sparks at Barclays Center in Brooklyn after playing less than four minutes due to a right leg injury. An MRI revealed that Stewart avoided any serious damage, and she is traveling with the team on its four-game road trip, which began Monday in Dallas. However, as of AmNews press time, there is no timetable for her return.
It was her first missed game of the season, and no player on the team has appeared in all 26 contests going into last night’s game versus the Minnesota Lynx, which were 22-5 and have the best record in the league. The Liberty, at 17-8, held the second-best mark just ahead of the Phoenix Mercury, which stood at 16-9 when the WNBA’s schedule tipped off last night.
In their quest to repeat as WNBA champions, injuries have been a major theme of the Liberty’s season. Starting center and 2024 WNBA Finals MVP Jonquel Jones returned to the lineup on July 23 after being sidelined since suffering a right ankle sprain on June 19. Jones was absent for nine games over that stretch. Now, with Stewart out indefinitely, the Liberty’s continuity has again been disrupted.
“We want to put together 40 minutes of great basketball,” Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu said after Saturday’s loss. “We understand that we’re still learning and figuring out what works, what doesn’t.”
Ionescu added that she needs to develop chemistry with forward addition Stephanie Talbot, who made her Liberty debut last Tuesday, and reacclimate Jones into the team.
“There are so many variables, and this is kind of the time where you try and iron those things out and figure out what works,” she said. “I have full trust in our team that by the time we really need to buckle down and put 40 minutes together, we have gone through this adversity and understand what it takes to do that.”
After Stewart’s exit on Friday, New York went on to lose a heartbreaker to the Los Angeles Sparks 101-99 on Saturday at Barclays Center. The short-handed team trailed by as many as 30 points at Dallas against the Wings, and went on to drop the game, 92-82.
“It’s an effort thing,” Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said after Monday’s loss. “We’re not competing at a high level, and we have to get back to playing what we know we’re capable of.”
The Liberty will face the Connecticut Sun in back-to-back games on Friday and Sunday, and then return to Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Tuesday for a rematch against the Wings and this year’s No. 1 overall draft pick, former University of Connecticut star Paige Bueckers.