Liberty Star Comes Up Short in MVP Vote
The New York Liberty's torch had just a bit of a spark in the 2025 WNBA MVP vote.
For her 2025 efforts, Stewart received a fifth-place vote in the rankings topped by Las Vegas Aces legend A'ja Wilson, who set a new WNBA record with her fourth such honor. That breaks a record previously shared by Lauren Jackson, Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes.
Stewart, 31, recently wrapped up her third season in New York, averaging 18.3 points and 6.5 rebounds. While that wasn't near her normal career averages (and she shot just over 24 percent from three-point range), her impact was felt in a season marred by injuries and inconsistency. Stewart wasn't immune from the medical woes, missing 13 games during the mid-summer stretches of the season due to a bone bruise on her knee.
A new ailment, a sprained MCL, also marred Stewart's brief postseason foray, as she was forced to leave the opening tilt of the three-game set against the Phoenix Mercury early. Though the Liberty did not advance beyond the desert, Stewart's 30-point, nine-rebound tally in the Game 3 finale earned universal respect. Each of the Liberty's 14 points in its final period of the season came from the hands of Stewart.
"It's an honor to be able to watch what she does every day, how she leads by example, how I can have a player to look up to, like her on my team and go to war with her every day," fellow seafoam savant Sabrina Ionescu said after the Game 3 loss. "There isn't a player who I would admire more and would love to play alongside for the rest of my career than Stewie, because of how she comes out every single day, for practice, for games, for anything that she takes kind of head-on. She owns it, and she's the best for a reason."
This time around, the award goes to Wilson, whose own campaign helped the Aces rise to the second seed on the WNBA playoff bracket and end the regular season on a 16-game winning streak. Wilson, who took down the Liberty in the 2023 Finals before New York earned revenge in last year's second round, now faces a semifinal challenge from the Indiana Fever that tips off this weekend.
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.