When the first WNBA game was played on June 21, 1997, Breanna Stewart was just three years old. Before she was 10, though, Stewart was already making headlines in her local newspapers for her skills on the court.
Her college basketball career at the University of Connecticut is the stuff of legends. The winner of four consecutive NCAA Final Four MVPs, Stewart is the only player in Div. I history to collect 300 blocks and 300 assists, and helped UConn to back-to-back undefeated seasons.
In 2016, just four months before her 22nd birthday, the Seattle Storm selected Stewart first overall in the WNBA Draft, and just a few months later she helped the U.S. Women’s Basketball Team win gold at the Olympics in Rio.
Now 26, Stewie — as she’s known to family and friends — has won nearly every basketball accolade possible. This season is no different. With her Storm out to a WNBA-best 12-3 start, Stewart ranks third in the league in scoring (21.1), second in total rebounds (10.1) and first in defensive rebounds (9.1).
Just a few days days removed from the anniversary of the WNBA’s first game, we caught up with Stewart to talk about playing for Team USA at the Olympics and the upcoming WNBA All-Star Game, expanding her brand and the importance of living authentically.
(This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
Congratulations on recently being named a member of Team USA’s Olympic basketball roster. This now means for the upcoming All-Star Game in Vegas that you will be competing on the USA Basketball squad that will be taking on Team WNBA. What has the talk in the league been like about the new format?
Breanna Stewart: I think it is going to be really exciting. When we usually are in an Olympic year there is no All-Star Game, which is kind of unfair because people still have all-star-calibre seasons each year. It’s going to be cool and it will be fun.
It will also be a chance to prepare for Tokyo because as everybody knows we have a limited time between the WNBA’s stop and starting up again after the Olympics. I am excited that Tokyo is going to happen. We had to wait a year, but we are ready.
In less than 365 days you have won a WNBA Title, WNBA Finals MVP, EuroLeague championship, Euroleague Final Four MVP, got engaged and made the Olympic roster. Your list of memorable moments goes on and on from this year. I know most athletes struggle to take in the moment because they are looking for what’s next or how to be better. Are you able to take those moments in and enjoy them, or is that something you are still working on?
It’s definitely something I am still trying to balance to try and appreciate the moment. I think coming off of my Achilles injury (in April 2019), I am appreciating everything so much more.
With women’s basketball, we are always playing non-stop, but there was a large chunk of time where I was not playing. So now to be able to be back and having success, I am super thankful and very appreciative of every time I am able to step onto the court because I never know when it’s going to be my last.
On social media you wrote a letter to ‘Baby Stewie’ that you say is meant to inspire and encourage the next generation of LGBTQ+ athletes.
I think that as I have kind of been in this professional world and being comfortable in my own skin, it’s all about being authentic and being genuine. I want to make sure that I continue to lead in that way where I can show all my peers and everybody else that I can be a survivor of sexual abuse, that I can be a gay athlete and have a fiancé and I can also be the best in the world, and you can do all these things with no regrets.
I love the way that my life is and I want to continue to live my best life. I want people to see that and realize that you don’t have to be a top athlete or anything to live your life genuinely and authentically.
You are one of the founding athletes of PWRFWD, a company started by former basketball player Luke Bonner that is an Athlete-to-Consumer business meant to help empower athletes to connect with their fans. You have a number of companies that want to be a part of your brand, but why did you specifically want to be a part of this one?
I wanted to be part of PWRFWD because they are a company that puts the athletes first and basically gives us a voice to continue to share our message about ourselves and what we believe in. It’s something especially needed in the women’s basketball world and fans need that access to support us, and that is what PWRFWD is doing.
When you look at when we first started last year and just fast forward to this year, to see all the athletes added from the WNBA and other sports as well…. People want that. They want to see themselves on a shirt or their logo on a shirt because it goes to show we are building our brand. And it’s a bit of a selfish thing, but it’s a bit of a collective to build up our sports as a whole.
You played with Kia Nurse at UConn. How have you seen her game evolve over the past few seasons?
I think Kia has evolved in a number of ways from when she was a freshman at UConn when we were playing alongside each other to us playing against each other when she was drafted in New York to now Phoenix. I think that she is continuing to build on what she does, she has always been that hard worker and now she is also being a leader.
She is realizing she is not a rookie, she is not a newbie, and she has taken that in and is really making it work towards her benefit. She is tough. She is a nonstop worker, a nonstop competitor. I definitely like to be on her team rather than against her — that’s for sure.
One last thing: I have heard rumours you like to sing the odd karaoke song. Is this true, and what is your go-to?
To be honest, when I go overseas I have definitely gone to more karaoke rooms than I have in the United States. It’s a fun night when you are with good people. My go-to karaoke is something Beyoncé because I feel like everyone knows those songs and when you are singing karaoke you want to be singing the whole song.
