With Griner in jail, WNBA players skip Russia in offseason
Brittney Griner's highly publicized legal woes in Russia and the country's invasion of Ukraine has the top WNBA players opting to take their talents elsewhere this offseason. For the past few decades, Russia has been the preferred offseason destination for WNBA players to compete because of the high salaries that can exceed $1 million โ nearly quadruple the base salary of top WNBA players -- and the resources and amenities teams offered them. โHonestly my time in Russia has been wonderful, but especially with BG still wrongfully detained there, nobodyโs going to go there until sheโs home,โ said Breanna Stewart, a Griner teammate on the Russian team that paid the duo millions.
news.yahoo.comYoung beats buzzer, Aces top Storm 110-98 in OT in Game 3
Jackie Young sent the game in overtime with a buzzer-beating basket and then Chelsea Gray and Kelsey Plum hit big shots in the extra session to help the Las Vegas Aces beat the Seattle Storm 110-98 to move within a victory of advancing to the WNBA Finals.
Breanna Stewart earns AP WNBA Player of the Year honors
Breanna Stewart is always looking for ways to improve her game and this season her efforts culminated in a couple more career milestones. The Seattle Storm forward led the WNBA in scoring for the first time in her career, averaging 21.8 points, and Tuesday she became the first player to repeat as The Associated Press WNBA Player of the Year. Stewart received six votes for AP Player of the Year by the 10-member media panel narrowly edging A'ja Wilson, who received the other four votes.
news.yahoo.comWNBA honors its top 25 players all-time
The WNBA honored its past and present when it announced the league's top 25 players Sunday. The โW25โ has 10 current players, including Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Sylvia Fowles, Candace Parker and Breanna Stewart. Former stars Lisa Leslie, Tamika Catchings, Katie Smith and Sheryl Swoopes are among 15 retired players selected by a panel of media members and women's basketball pioneers and advocates.
news.yahoo.comStewart and Storm could be poised to win more WNBA titles
Breanna Stewart and the Seattle Storm never really got a chance to defend their 2018 championship because of key injuries. โI donโt know if any of us are thinking that way,โ Stewart said after the Storm completed a three-game sweep of the Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday night by setting a WNBA Finals record with a 33-point win. The 26-year-old won a second WNBA Finals MVP as a unanimous choice and was nearly unstoppable in the championship round. Bird, who turns 40 next week, has been a part of all four of the Storm championships during three decades. I just kind of start working out and see how I feel,โ said Bird, who averaged 11 assists in the WNBA Finals.
Stewart leads Seattle to 2nd WNBA title in 3 years
Stewart scored 26 points and Seattle completed a sweep of the Las Vegas Aces with a 92-59 rout Tuesday night. It was the biggest margin of victory in WNBA Finals history. Seattle had pretty much the same core group that won the 2018 championship back for this year, led by Stewart, Bird and Jewell Loyd. Seattle has now won a record 11 games in a row in the WNBA Finals, dating to the team's first championship in 2004. She led the Dream to three WNBA Finals appearances but the team was swept in each one.
Stewart, Bird help Storm rout Aces; go up 2-0 in WNBA Finals
Las Vegas couldn't respond. A'ja Wilson had 20 points to lead Las Vegas while Angel McCoughtry and Emma Cannon added 17 each. The Aces led 65-64 with 3:22 left in the period before the Storm closed with a 11-3 burst. The Storm, who had 17 assists on their 18 baskets, built the lead to 13 before Las Vegas rallied to the six-point halftime deficit. ... Stewart had her fifth consecutive 20-point game in the WNBA Finals spanning back to the 2018 season.
Aces hope for winning hand in Game 2 of WNBA Finals
โYou impose on them it's a five-game series, even if you lose one game so what? โHe trusts us and knows what weโre capable of.โThe Aces feel that they have fixable problems. It was also the first finals for many of the Aces players, including Wilson and Jackie Young. Stewart had a career-high 37 points โ one short of the WNBA Finals record. The biggest thing is to make them contested shots," Wilson said.
Stewart lifts Storm to Game 1 WNBA Finals win over Aces
Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart (30) celebrates after the team defated the Las Vegas Aces during Game 1 of basketball's WNBA Finals Friday, Oct. 2, 2020, in Bradenton, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)BRADENTON, Fla. โ The Seattle Storm's lead down to two with a quarter left, Breanna Stewart took over. The big-game player scored the first 11 points of the fourth quarter and finished with 37 to help the Storm beat the Las Vegas Aces 93-80 on Friday night in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals. She was a point short of the WNBA Finals record set by Angel McCoughtry. McCoughtry scored 20 points to lead Las Vegas, which was playing in the WNBA Finals for the first time since the franchise moved to the Nevada city three years ago. Eight players had reached 11 assists in a finals game before Bird's record performance.
Aces' A'ja Wilson earns AP WNBA player of the year honors
โShe knows who she is, she knows where sheโs going,โ said Las Vegas coach Bill Laimbeer. โI feel like I'm a more complete player now then when I first got into the league,โ Wilson said in an online interview. The second team included Phoenix teammates Diana Taurasi and Skylar Diggins-Smith, Connecticut teammates DeWanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas, and Minnesota's Napheesa Collier. POWER POLLThe Las Vegas Aces finished atop the AP Power Poll, a spot they held for three of the final four weeks of the season. A'ja Wilson also received votes after she led Las Vegas to the top seed in the postseason.
Breanna Stewart, Seattle Storm sit atop AP WNBA power poll
NEW YORK The Seattle Storm are healthy to begin the season with Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird back in the lineup and sit atop the preseason Associated Press WNBA poll. 1 in the preseason since the AP has been doing the poll. You have to go out there and play the games, said Bird, who missed last season while recovering from knee surgery. Connecticut and Washington, who met for the WNBA title last year, were sixth and seventh in the poll. The first regular season power poll will be released on Tuesday, July 28___Follow Doug on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dougfeinberg
WNBA players adjusting to life in their Florida bubble
Sue Bird has seen a lot in her storied playing career in the WNBA, overseas and the Olympics. While nothing the 39-year-old Seattle Storm guard experienced has prepared her for life in the WNBA bubble, she is making the best of the situation. The bubble is part summer camp, mixed in with the Olympic village, playing overseas and an AAU tournament with a little bit of college life thrown in, Bird said in a phone interview. Two weeks into the experiment, players and coaches have been adjusting to their temporary homes. The WNBA has gone far and beyond what I thought would happen.Even with the WNBA in the bubble, the virus is still on everyones mind.