Breanna Stewart couldn’t help but break out in a wide grin during media availability Friday ahead of the 2023 WNBA All-Star Game.
The former UConn star was seated next to longtime USA basketball teammate Brittney Griner, who she’d drafted to play for Team Stewart in Saturday night’s game in Las Vegas.
Just a year ago, Stewart and her other WNBA counterparts were using this weekend as a platform to bring attention to the fact that Griner was being wrongfully detained overseas.
“Looking back to last year, especially at All-Star and really throughout the entire season, it was like there’s a void in the WNBA and there’s something that’s missing, and that was BG,” Stewart said. “We continued to kind of do whatever we could to make sure that she knew that we were still thinking of her, we were still fighting for her.
“But fast forwarding to this year’s All Star, it’s incredible to have here, obviously to have her sitting next to me, to have her on my team — that was like my number one, I mean I had to do some behind the scenes negotiations to make sure I got everything right in the way I wanted it. But it’s incredible.”
After discussing how great it feels to be back competing in the All-Star Game after not even knowing if she would be stateside at this point, one of the first things Griner was asked about was Unrivaled, the recently launched women’s basketball league started by Stewart and former Husky teammate Napheesa Collier to combat the WNBA’s new prioritization rules and give top players an option to play domestically instead of overseas during the offseason. The league was a common topic of discussion Friday.
“Well, I’m never going overseas again, so I think I’m free,” Griner said with a laugh. “But I think it’s amazing what they’re doing. Whether I play in it or not, I’m definitely going to be around and watching and being there. So I’m gonna have to go ahead and hop on — not one on one though, I don’t about that one.”
“That’s OK, you don’t have to,” Stewart chimed in. “She doesn’t have to.”
Beyond concerns that Griner’s situation brought to light and prioritization rules that are now going into effect, there are also marketing concerns in regards to playing overseas, which the Unrivaled league hopes to help alleviate. Those were addressed by some players on Friday.
“Definitely, it’s not easy,” Atlanta Dream forward Cheyenne Parker said. “I’ve been over there every season in between WNBA season and I have no endorsements right now, so that kind of shows the disconnect there. It’s hard because you’re in another country, so you kind of, you become irrelevant. So just being able to have more opportunities to stay in the country and kind of equal out that amount of money that you’re making, it would be helpful.”
Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray, who has shown public support for Unrivaled already, echoed that sentiment.
“Being overseas, you’re just away, right. Out of sight is kind of out of mind a little bit, to kind of put it in a broad perspective,” Gray said. “And so, being able to be home and our faces and our images and appearance we’re able to go there, but overseas is where we make our bread. That’s where it’s always been at least since I’ve been in the league. My rookie year, they were just like, ‘You need to go overseas, you need to go overseas.’
“Now it’s the culture and the perspective is kind of changing. But it didn’t allow for the growth off the court as much as far as like brand-wise, seeing our face. So the new league that’s coming up will allow for kind of that life to be able to happen, to still hoop, play basketball, be in the states, be with our families, experiences and still make money.”
Both Collier and Stewart reiterated that the response since announcing the launch of Unrivaled on July 6 has been great. And that’s clearly showing with excitement building around All-Star weekend.
“A lot of people have reached out to me — players, staff, people who want to invest — just learning more and the possibility of how to do that and where to go about that,” Stewart said. “So I think that yeah, it is the perfect timing for All Star Weekend, but really for Phee and I with approach, it’s if players want to know more about it, then we’ll talk to them about it.
“But everybody has enough going on this weekend, you know, everybody’s schedules are pretty busy. But these players in the All Star game are obviously players that hopefully will be a part of Unrivaled.”
