FILE - New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart drives to the basket past Minnesota Lynx forward Bridget Carleton (6) during the first half of Game 4 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr, File)
FILE - New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart drives to the basket past Minnesota Lynx forward Bridget Carleton (6) during the first half of Game 4 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr, File)
NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 Breanna Stewart and her New York Liberty teammates are focused on the present and that includes defending the WNBA championship.
The Liberty opened camp Sunday along with in the league. Stewart knows exactly how hard it is to repeat as champion, having won two titles in Seattle and failing to repeat each time. The only repeat champion in the past two decades in the WNBA was the Las Vegas Aces in 2022 and 2023.
鈥淭he mentality is turning the page,鈥 she said. 鈥淜nowing what we did last year, we had a lot of time to celebrate it and now it鈥檚, building to be better. You know, we talked about, being consistently great night in and night out. And that starts with building great habits in training camp and keeping them sustainable throughout the entire season.鈥
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The Liberty have most of the core back from last season’s title run that was the first in franchise history. They also added Natasha Cloud and Isabelle Harrison.
鈥淚 thought it was a great start. And like, I always said, you can鈥檛 bring back the same when you win and we have a real good, nice freshness about us,鈥 New York coach Sandy Brondello said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got some players that were really going to help us. Obviously, you know, no one greater than Natasha Cloud,鈥
Brondello wasn’t concerned that Stewart is working her way back from last month. Stewart took part in the early part of practice Sunday and said she’s 鈥渇eeling great鈥. She will integrate more fully into live practice next week.
Stewart said she felt she did something to it in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals last year and waited until after the inaugural season of Unrivaled was over to take care of it.
鈥淚 just needed to kind of clean up things in there and clean up the meniscus,鈥 she said. 鈥淎nd, it was just a little bit uncomfortable to be dealing with. And I want to when I鈥檓 on the floor, I want to be playing and, free flowing and not really thinking about other things.鈥
While Stewart will be back before the regular season begins, the Liberty are going to be missing Betnijah Laney-Hamilton for a few months as she recovers from her own knee injury.
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鈥淲e鈥檙e definitely gonna miss her a lot this season,鈥 Stewart said. 鈥淚 think, you know, with her being out, it gives people opportunities. You know, Leonie (Fiebich) will have a bigger role. Marina (Johannes’) coming here. ...It鈥檚 just going to be like next woman up mentality and knowing that they鈥檙e not going to take her place. But they鈥檙e going to be the best version of themselves.鈥
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