Breanna Stewart Bolsters Fenerbahce for EuroLeague: Details and Expectations

Breanna Stewart Joins Fenerbahce Before Women’s EuroLeague Final Six

New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart will join Fenerbahce in April, prior to the Women’s EuroLeague Final Six, the European team announced on Monday. The tournament will take place from April 15 to 19 and Stewart would return in time for the WNBA training camp, if the season starts on time. The WNBA regular season is scheduled to begin on May 8, as long as the league and the union soon reach a collective bargaining agreement. Training camps would begin a few weeks earlier. The main point of disagreement between both parties is the distribution of income.

I am feeling that the owners are finally recognizing and being receptive to what we want and also the players.

Breanna Stewart

Stewart, who is the vice president of the players’ union, said on her podcast earlier this month: According to the previous collective agreement, the prioritization rule stipulated that veterans under contract had to report at the beginning of training camp or May 1, whichever occurred later on the calendar. If a player did not meet that deadline, she would be suspended for the entire year.

Stewart played for Fenerbahce in the 2022-23 season, where she helped the team win the Turkish League title and was the MVP of the EuroLeague Final Four. Last season she averaged 18.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists for the Liberty, before they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by Phoenix. The 31-year-old forward currently plays in Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 league she co-founded with Napheesa Collier. That season ends in early March and Stewart plans to train at a U.S. national team camp for a few days after that.