The New York Liberty have officially secured their franchise cornerstone, locking down superstar Breanna Stewart and signaling their championship intentions for years to come. Stewart was not alone in returning to the Liberty, as her star teammates Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu are set to return as well.

“Officially official, just signed my contract with New York. Obviously, everybody knew I was staying in New York, but now that it’s a done deal, it’s a three-year standard max contract, which is like 17% of the cap. That will fluctuate as the cap fluctuates. But I think the biggest thing is for us we needed to make sure we can keep all the best players in the team,” said basketball’s beloved Stewie on the “Game Recognizes Game” podcast with Myles Turner.

New York’s inclination to retain Breanna Stewart made sense as she averaged 18.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in 31 games last season. She was named an All-Star for the seventh time. However, Breanna isn’t the only Liberty player who was retained in the squad. That too with a delectable salary figure of $1.19 M, which is a huge climb from the $200,000-$230,000 which she was getting before the CBA.

However, Stewart isn’t the only one who Liberty chose to retain; Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu also found themselves returning. Jones averaged 13.6 points and 8.1 rebounds in 31 games (all starts) last season and has a career average of 13.4 points and 8.4 boards in 306 career games (259 starts) with the Connecticut Sun and Liberty. “It was always about staying here in New York, because this is home,” said Jonquel Jones. “This is my foundation, and this is where I want to be.”

Ionescu, too, has been an omnipresent factor in Liberty’s lineup, accumulating 16.7 points, 5.9 assists, and 5.5 rebounds in 181 games (177 starts), winning a WNBA title with Liberty in 2024.

“Continuing to play for the New York Liberty means everything; this city is truly home,” said Sabrina Ionescu. “We’ve built something special here, and I’m locked in on bringing another championship to the city and our fans.”

Stewart coming back, along with a roster that has previously been here and done that, would really help, as the team won’t have to get into excessive drills to see if the new acquisitions have chemistry or not. More so, having a player like Breanna to lead the bunch is nothing short of having an asset in your roster, and even the Liberty GM seconds that belief.

Liberty GM Calls Stewart The “Personification Of Wins”

If Breanna Stewart is in your team, you know beforehand that she is going to command attention, and even Liberty GM Jonathan Kolb knows her true value.

“Breanna Stewart is the personification of winning. From the moment she arrived in New York, she redefined what winning looks like and relentlessly raised the bar across our organization. Stewie pushes everyone around her to be better, holds herself to the highest standard, and prioritizes winning the right way above all else.”

“She is the embodiment of a superstar who puts the team first every day. Stewie continuing to play in New York, her home, is one of the most special storylines in WNBA history, and she is central to the legacy and championship standard we continue to define in this city,” said Kolb on how essential Stewart is for the team.

Well, Kolb has his reasons. Stewart’s record with Liberty and her involvement will probably go down in the franchise’s history books. Jones won the 2024 WNBA Finals MVP with New York and recorded eight consecutive double-doubles in the 2023 playoffs to tie the longest such streak in WNBA postseason history.

It was certainly due to her that Liberty posted a perfect 34-0 record in regular-season games, where Jones finished with a double-double during her tenure with the team. Breanna Stewart also happens to be the only player in WNBA history to post at least 10 postseason double-doubles with multiple teams.

And now Stewie will have her crime partners again to aid her in her onslaught. The dynamic trio can again create mayhem. The group boasted a +16.8 net rating, and New York posted a 70-16 record (81.4 percent) in games with all three stars in the starting lineup, the best winning percentage by any trio with at least 50 starts together since at least 2002.

It’s not a surprise that these three became the first trio in Liberty franchise history to earn All-WNBA Team honors in the same season in 2024. The fact that Liberty chose not to make sudden changes and disrupt this trio from playing together shows the amount of faith they have in them, which has always paid off.

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