Breanna Stewart Designation Highlights Liberty Moves
The New York Liberty are officially back in the Stew York groove.
Ahead of her new new endeavor's debut, the Liberty assigned a core designation to Breanna Stewart, retaining one of their franchise faces as they set to embark upon their first postseason title defense. Core designation offers teams exclusive negotiation rights and signers of such a deal get a one-year supermax contract.
Granting Stewart core status was one of several moves the Liberty made this week, as the team also extended reserve qualifying offers to Ivana Dojkic, Rebekah Gardner, and Marine Johannes while signing Jaylyn Sherrod to a training camp contract.
There was never any true danger of Stewart moving on and both she and Liberty brass expressed mutual interest in running things back for a third tour. The North Syracuse native has had little trouble endearing herself to her new adoring public and has been included in the Liberty's foundational trio alongside Sabrina Ionescu and fellow 2023 arrival Jonquel Jones. Stewart was cored last offseason but wound up signing a smaller deal.
"I think to be able to be a part of New York and be in Brooklyn and New York City, the potential and the options are limitless," Stewart told Knicks on SI in September. "That means that I can do a lot to impact the community and be at an event like this today or be at a coat drive in the fall months with the Liberty. It's important to me and I think that as me, [wife] Marta, and the family are really getting comfortable here, we want to, I want to make an impact on the court and also off the court."
News of Stewart's designation comes as she's set to headline the tip-off of Unrivaled, the new 3-on-3 domestic offseason league she co-founded alongside Minnesota Lynx star and 2024 WNBA Finals foe Napheesa Collier. Stewart and Liberty teammate Courtney Vandersloot will partake in the debut game on Friday night when they and Mist BC do battle with Collier's group, Lunar Owls BC (7 p.m. ET, TNT).
With Kayla Thornton moving onto the Bay Area through last month's expansion draft, the Liberty also took steps toward re-stocking their depth. Reserved qualifying offers also offer exclusive negotiating rights but if no agreement is reached by Feb. 1, the player in question becomes an unrestricted free agent.
Dojkic was the only reserved player who donned seafoam last season, averaging 3.3 points in 26 appearances last season. It was the second WNBA tour for the native Croatian, who spent the 2023 campaign in Seattle.
Johannes, of course, has generated a strong following among Liberty fans for her highlight-worthy plays and clutch shooting from deep. The Normandy native stayed in her motherland of France this time around to focus last summer's Olympic effort, which saw Les Bleues take the silver medal behind Stewart, Ionescu, and the Americans. Johannes has averaged 8.0 points and 2.4 assists in three seasons with New York (2019, 2022-23) and placed fourth in the Sixth Woman of the Year vote in 2023.
The Liberty also re-upped with Gardner, who came over in a March trade with the Chicago Sky. An injury wiped out her 2024 season but her defense could be a vital substitute for the departed tenacity of Thornton, who will be part of the Golden State Valkyries inaugural roster.
Meanwhile, back for camp is Sherrod, an undersized undrafted rookie who played her way into a season's service that allowed her to partake in the Liberty's championship run. Gaining a strong following after a noticeable preseason, the 5-7 Sherrod was not on the Liberty's initial regular season roster but was invited back on a series of seven-day deals by mid-summer before getting a rest-of-year deal in August.
The Liberty's 2025 season tips off on May 17 when they face the Las Vegas Aces in Brooklyn.