{"id":478707,"date":"2026-02-16T15:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T15:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/478707\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T15:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T15:13:09","slug":"breanna-stewarts-overseas-signing-raises-eyebrows-amid-ongoing-wnba-cba-negotiations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/478707\/","title":{"rendered":"Breanna Stewart\u2019s Overseas Signing Raises Eyebrows Amid Ongoing WNBA CBA Negotiations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"54\">New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart has an impeccable resume, from her time at UConn, to the WNBA, to international play, to co-founding Unrivaled. But despite all she has accomplished, Stewart isn&#8217;t done chasing accolades.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"57\">This was further proven via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fenerbahce.org\/haberler\/basketbol-kadin\/2026\/2\/dunya-yildizi-breanna-stewart-yeniden-fenerbahce-opet-te\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">an announcement<\/a> from Turkish basketball club <br \/>Fenerbah\u00e7e Opet revealing that Stewart would be joining the squad ahead of the EuroLeague Final Six. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5a\">Per the release, Stewart, who played for Fenerbah\u00e7e in 2023 and helped lead the team to its first EuroLeague championship, will join in April for the stretch run. She will be added to a roster that features Liberty teammate Emma Meesseman and Seattle Storm star Gabby Williams.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5h\">Of course, there is obviously tons of precedent for WNBA players competing overseas, but the timing of the Stewart commitment has led to some speculation among fans about whether it should be taken as any signal regarding the state of WNBA CBA negotiations.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5k\">RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/onsi\/womens-fastbreak\/news\/adam-silver-issues-11th-hour-warning-amid-unfortunate-wnba-cba-stalemate-01khf4axrfmh\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Adam Silver Issues 11th Hour Warning Amid &#8216;Unfortunate&#8217; WNBA CBA Stalemate<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5n\">NBA Commissioner Adam Silver recently stated that the collective bargaining talks have reached the 11th hour when it comes to being able to reach a deal in time for the WNBA season to start as scheduled. Which is why this Stewart news being announced just a couple days later has raised some eyebrows.<\/p>\n<p>EuroLeague Competition Will Conclude Prior to the Start of WNBA Season <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/01khkc20n3ssts7wej6b.jpg\" alt=\"Breanna Stewart of New York Liberty\" title=\"Breanna Stewart of New York Liberty\" width=\"7023\" height=\"3950\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"60\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Sep 19, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart (30) shoot against the Phoenix Mercury during the first half of game three of round one for the 2025 WNBA Playoffs at PHX Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"64\">With that said, there is no direct conflict between the EuroLeague Final Six and the WNBA season. Unrivaled concludes at the beginning of March, giving Stewart ample opportunity to rest prior to joining Fenerbah\u00e7e. <\/p>\n<p>And<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fiba.basketball\/en\/events\/euroleague-women-25-26\/final-six\/venue\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> per FIBA<\/a>, the EuroLeague Women Final Six will be hosted at the Pabellon Principe Felipe in Zaragoza, Spain from April 15-19, 2026. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"67\">WNBA training camp is scheduled to begin April 19, with the season commencing on May 8\u2014so assuming Stewart plays the maximum number of contests overseas, at worst her arrival for camp will be slightly delayed if the season starts on time.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">considering the Final Six ends on April 19th, the same day WNBA training camp opens, this feels like either<\/p>\n<p>A: a belief the season won&#8217;t start on time <br \/>B: a middle finger to the prioritization clause and its  penalties<br \/>C: both <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/YE0vdxOxyP\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/YE0vdxOxyP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Seerat Sohi (@seeratsohi) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/seeratsohi\/status\/2023379801256718419?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">February 16, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6d\">The Liberty star, who is a Players&#8217; Association Vice President, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/onsi\/womens-fastbreak\/news\/breanna-stewart-gives-telling-update-on-wnba-cba-negotiations\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">has been optimistic<\/a> about a deal being reached, recently stating that she was &#8220;excited&#8221; about movement toward an agreement following a recent proposal sent by the league.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">So, despite the uncertain state of the 2026 WNBA season, perhaps too much shouldn&#8217;t be read into Stewart&#8217;s decision to compete in Europe\u2014as she may just be looking to add to her impressive trophy case.<\/p>\n<p>Recommended Reading:<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart has an impeccable resume, from her time at UConn, to the WNBA,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-478707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}