Breanna Stewart Makes Commitment to Liberty, Sandy Brondello
One Breanna Stewart quote from the aftermath of the New York Liberty's season-ender was no doubt uttered by the legions of seafoam at some point during the three-game set with the Phoenix Mercury.
"What the f***?" Stewart said quietly when informed by Madeline Kenney of the New York Post that some critics were seeking a replacement for head coach Sandy Brondello.
New York will no doubt have to make some decisions on the road ahead after the franchise's first postseason championship defense ended in heartbreak in the desert: despite the best efforts of Stewart, who played the game with an MCL sprain, the Liberty dropped a 79-73 decision in the winner-take-all finale of the first-round clash against Phoenix.
The disappointing finish has led to a fledling fan fracas that calls for Brondello's ousting after four years at the metropolitan helm. Once allowed to elaborate, however, Stewart offered a ringing endorsement for Brondello's campaign, nothing that her spirit kept the team afloat as it dealt with numerous injuries throughout the campaign.
"This is a resilient group, and she has our back, and we have hers," Stewart emphatically declared. "The way that she continued to deal with the cards she was dealt was incredible. It wasn't easy for anybody, but she came in every day with a positive attitude and a mindset to put us in in our best positions possible and best foot forward."
"There's a lot of us that could have done better this season, but we're still going to fight and show up every single day, that's the most important part. We have Sandy's back."
Brondello, who became the all-time winningest coach in Liberty history this season, has been in charge of plenty of supposed super squads, including Phoenix groups previously led by Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi.
New York has made the playoffs in each of her four years at the helm and made it to each of last two editions of the WNBA Finals, the latter of which produced the franchise's first postseason championship after nearly three decades of chasing. The early exit, featuring a lack of New York physicality at points and an incredibly shortened postseason rotation, will likely generate some raw feelings but the ball does appear to be in Brondello's court for the time being.
Time will tell when Brondello reunites with her metropolitan group, as ongoing discussions centered around a new collective bargaining agreement (which heavily involve Stewart and several other New Yorkers) could delay the 2026 reunion.
Stewart, however, made it clear that, whenever the season gets underway, she'll take the floor in seafoam, declaring "I'm coming back" when the future was discussed after the elimination. She has previously took core designation (a supermax one-year deal that allows teams exclusive negotiating rights, which can be used once an offseason) last season but also worked a set of team-friendly deals to help the Liberty add complementary talent.
"Only one team gets to feel good at the end of their season, and, this year, we weren't that team, and it really, really hurts," Stewart said. "I think it'll continue to hurt for days, weeks, months from now, but at the same time, we're really proud of the group. This team is more than resilient with all the [stuff] that we've gone through this season, and we left it all out there. People could have thought the game was done when it was 72-64 and we still clawed back, fought back, and just were a few plays off.
"It's tough. It hurts, but I wouldn't want to have any season like this with anybody else. So I'm happy to be here in New York, and happy to be alongside [Brondello and Sabrina Ionescu] fighting every day."
Geoff Magliocchetti is a veteran sportswriter who contributes to a variety of sites on the "On SI" network. In addition to the Yankees/Mets, Geoff also covers the New York Knicks, New York Liberty, and New York Giants and has previously written about the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Staten Island Yankees, and NASCAR.