New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart will join Fenerbahçe in April ahead of the EuroLeague Women Final Six, the European team announced Monday.
The tournament is from April 15-19 and Stewart would be back in time for WNBA training camp — if the season tips off on time. The WNBA regular season is set to begin on May 8 if the league and union can come to a collective bargaining agreement soon. Training camps would start a few weeks earlier.
The major sticking point between the two sides is revenue sharing.
Stewart, who is a vice president of the players' union, said on her podcast earlier this month that "I’m feeling like the owners are finally really acknowledging and being receptive of what we want and the players as well.”
Under the previous CBA, the prioritization rule stipulated that veterans under contract had to report by the start of training camp or May 1, whichever fell later on the calendar. If a player missed that deadline they would be suspended for the entire year.
Stewart played for Fenerbahçe in the 2022-23 season where she helped the team win the Turkish League title and was the Euroleague Final Four MVP. She averaged 18.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists for the Liberty last season before they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by Phoenix.
The 31-year-old forward is currently playing in Unrivaled — a 3-on-3 league she co-founded with Napheesa Collier. That season ends in early March and Stewart is set to train at a U.S. national team camp for a few days after that.
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
FILE - Connecticut's Breanna Stewart starts a fast break against Mississippi State during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the regional semifinals of the women's NCAA Tournament, March 26, 2016, in Bridgeport, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
