Breanna Stewart was left dumbfounded after a reporter asked her thoughts on Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello’s job security and if she was still the right person to lead New York
00:20 ET, 21 Sep 2025Updated 00:20 ET, 21 Sep 2025
Breanna Stewart was dumbfounded after a reporter asked her a question regarding Sandy Brondello’s job security(Image: YouTube: @New York Liberty)
Breanna Stewart was left dumbfounded after a reporter asked what she thought about Sandy Brondello’s job security heading into the 2026 WNBA season, after their season was ended by the Phoenix Mercury just days after the former called a loss “embarrassing.”
Heading into the 2025 WNBA season, the New York Liberty were the favorites to defend their championship, and throughout the season, the team’s mettle was challenged. Players repeatedly went down with injuries, with star guard Sabrina Ionescu missing time toward the latter part of the season.
In Game 1 of the Liberty’s playoff series, Stewart herself went down with a knee injury and New York lost Game 2. Game 3 saw the Mercury take down the Liberty, 79-73, ending the season on a sour note as fans, players and the team ponder what went wrong, be it from injuries to coaching.
READ MORE: Breanna Stewart makes feelings abundantly clear on Liberty’s ’embarrassing’ loss to MercuryREAD MORE: Breanna Stewart injured as first WNBA playoff game takes cruel twist
Because the Liberty did not elect to have exit interviews, a reporter asked Stewart if she had a message to fans who want to see New York move on from Brondello. Upon hearing the start of the question, the star immediately said “What the f—” under her breath before fully answering the question.
“I mean, to anybody that kind of questions Sandy being here this is a resilient group and she has our back and we have hers,” the three-time WNBA champion said in defense of her coach. “And the way that she continued to kind of, I don’t know, to deal with the cards she was dealt was incredible.
“It wasn’t easy for anybody, but she came in every day with a positive attitude and a mindset to put us in our best positions possible and best foot forward.” She concluded by stating that the Liberty are not going to make excuses for how a once-promising season ended disappointingly.
Breanna Stewart and Sandy Brondello helped lead the New York Liberty to its first WNBA title in 2024(Image: Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images))
“So we’re not going to be a team that points fingers,” she added. “You know, there’s a lot of us that could have done better this season, but we’re still going to fight and show up for each other every single day. And I think that’s what’s the most important part. So we have Sandy’s back.”
In the same press conference, Brondello was asked how she would categorize the season, especially seeing as New York favored to repeat as champions this year and the head coach was blunt about her assessment.
“Yeah, obviously, we didn’t live up to our expectations that we set out for being the defending champions and, yeah, it was hard to get any kind of rhythm for us,” Brondello began. “I think we had so much, we faced so much adversity.
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“I’ve never been in a team … I’ve had injuries with players before, but not, like, quite like this year, but, you know, proud of these players. We just hung in there and there were games, obviously, when we knew we could be better and we weren’t, so that’s on us finding a little bit more consistency regardless of who’s on the court.
“But, yeah, we’re disappointed. We wanted to, you know, we wanted to try and win another one. We know that’s really hard, but it’s, you know, a lot of things you can learn as you’re prepared to move forward into a new season.”
Ionescu showered Stewart with praise, adding: “So for me, it’s an honor to be able to watch what she does every day, how she leads by example, how I can have a player to look up to like her on my team and go into war with her every day.
“But I mean, there isn’t a player who I would admire more and would love to play alongside for the rest of my career than Stewie because of how she comes out every single day for practice, for games, for anything that she takes kind of head-on. She owns it and she’s the best for a reason.”