{"id":481845,"date":"2026-02-18T00:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T00:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/481845\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T00:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T00:39:16","slug":"is-breanna-stewart-going-back-to-the-euroleague-a-message-to-the-wnba-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/481845\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Breanna Stewart going back to the Euroleague a message to the WNBA?"},"content":{"rendered":"

At this point, every move WNBA players make is easy to connect to the ongoing gridlocked CBA negotiations<\/a>. Monday was no different, when news broke that Breanna Stewart was heading back to the Euroleague.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s right, Breanna Stewart will be returning to Fenerbahce in April for the EuroLeague Final Six, for a possible four games only. These games would be from April 15-19. What WNBA fans quickly realized is that WNBA training camp is *supposed* to start on April 19 as well, meaning that if Stewart\u2019s team makes the Final (and probably even if not), she will be late to camp. And that\u2019s if camps start on time, a big IF given how CBA negotiations are going.<\/p>\n

Now, Stewie has played in the EuroLeague a lot in her career, so that\u2019s not the shocking part. This also doesn\u2019t conflict with Unrivaled, which ends on March 4. Stewart is also not on the Team USA World Cup Qualifier team, which also isn\u2019t that much of a surprise, given that A\u2019ja Wilson isn\u2019t on there either. It\u2019s a little shocking, though, that Stewart is going to play overseas so close to the WNBA season, and potentially missing a bit of training camp in the process. She also doesn\u2019t need to go win a EuroLeague championship \u2014 she\u2019s won many already. It all begs the question\u2026 what\u2019s the point?<\/p>\n

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She has until May 1 to report to camp without suspension consequences under the current prioritization rules. For those saying new rules are likely to come in the next CBA, much like new scheduling and season-length rules, any new prioritization rules likely wouldn\u2019t be enacted this year. Given Stewart\u2019s precarious health over the past few seasons, her competing in a competition so close to the WNBA is also a little anxiety-inducing for fans.<\/p>\n

This reads a lot like a negotiation tactic. One of the WNBA\u2019s best players, a leader on her New York Liberty team, who will be welcoming a new coaching staff in camp \u2014 missing the first days of training camp. Essentially, starting to make other plans in case the WNBA season is pushed or doesn\u2019t happen. There is speculation going around that if a new CBA isn\u2019t agreed upon in the next week or two, the currently scheduled WNBA season will start being affected.<\/p>\n

Stewart, as one of the members of the WNBPA\u2019s executive committee, essentially just sent a coded message that she doesn\u2019t think a deal is happening in the next few days or weeks. A lot of players will be playing in this Euroleague tournament, but Stewart\u2019s doing so sends a bigger message. She\u2019s one of the most outspoken and influential players in the WNBA. Her actions and words carry a ton of weight.<\/p>\n

So, while it\u2019s completely possible that she just wants to go hoop in Turkey and win a tournament, you can\u2019t help but wonder WHY a player who has already won every prize in the basketball world wants to randomly go compete in this. Unless, of course, it\u2019s being used as a message.<\/p>\n

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What do you think about Breanna Stewart playing in Turkey this spring?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At this point, every move WNBA players make is easy to connect to the ongoing gridlocked CBA negotiations.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[4662,4657,49,48,4233,455,113705,131525,3638,194719,3457,45721,82,1722,630,30324],"class_list":{"0":"post-481845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-aja-wilson","9":"tag-breanna-stewart","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-cba","13":"tag-czech-republic","14":"tag-euroleague","15":"tag-euroleague-women","16":"tag-fenerbahce","17":"tag-fenerbahce-alagoz-holding","18":"tag-new-york-liberty","19":"tag-prague","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-training-camp","22":"tag-wnba","23":"tag-wnba-season"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481845","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=481845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}