NEW YORK — On a Wednesday evening last October, one of basketball’s greatest winners walked off the court defeated and in disbelief. In front of a sellout crowd of nearly 17,000 fans, Breanna Stewart dominated the ball with 8.8 seconds left in regulation as the New York Liberty trailed by one point. You probably know what happened next.
Stewart certainly does. She rewatched the final sequence several times. Too many to provide an exact count.
Stewart juggled the inside pass and was eventually double-teamed in front of the free throw line. She threw a chest pass to teammate Betnijah Laney, who swung the ball to Courtney Vandersloot, whose jumper missed. Season. Celebrations for the Las Vegas Aces’ second straight championship followed after taking a 3–1 lead in the final. Stewart entered the locker room shocked. “That last possession, I wish I had shot the ball,” she said last week.
It’s safe to say she made the right decision when it came to basketball. However, the end weighed on him. “I should have taken that picture because I want to take it,” she said. “No matter what, as the leader of this team, it’s on me, and I know it.”
A match, much less a championship, is not about a final play. Stewart, double winner of the final, knows it. Her teammates and coaches also pointed this out. She is neither blamed nor scorned for dropping the ball in traffic. She’s already a likely first-ballot Naismith Hall of Famer with a resume that includes two WNBA championships and two MVPs, four NCAA titles in four seasons and two Olympic gold medals before she turned 30. Stewart isn’t used to losing with trophies on the field. double. “I wish I had gone my whole career and not felt like this,” she said.
Yet after accepting the outcome, she was pushed to learn. She reflected this offseason like she never has before.
By signing with New York in the 2023 offseason, Stewart took on new responsibilities. In Seattle, where Stewart was the No. 1 pick in the 2016 WNBA draft, she had always played alongside Sue Bird. They formed one of the most effective tandems in the WNBA. In Bird, she studied a teammate who occupied her position. Olympic gold medals, WNBA titles – Bird had them all, too.
But last summer, Stewart found herself in a situation where she had to deal with difficult situations without Bird, who had retired after the 2022 season. She became the veteran everyone counted on. It wasn’t that she wasn’t ready, it was just a new perspective without its own familiar safety net. “Here she has to do a lot more leadership,” Liberty assistant Olaf Lange said.
Last spring, the Liberty hired Paddy Steinfort, a mental performance consultant who has worked with franchises in the NBA (76ers), MLB (Red Sox, Blue Jays) and NFL (Eagles) as well as with combat sports athletes, such as the UFC. He also served with the United States Army and the New York City Fire Department.
Steinfort focuses on developing the cognitive skills of some of the world’s best athletes. He sees similarities between Stewart and other greats he’s worked with, such as their confidence to say: I will do that. An athlete ready to enjoy the benefits of being a star but, more importantly, the responsibilities that come with the role.
High-performing players, like Stewart, often learn early in their competitive lives to compartmentalize their emotions, Steinfort said. They are taught that they can handle anything and that whatever happens off the field should not affect what happens on it. “Which is fine and true for the most part, until extreme events occur,” he said.
October brought some of these events for Stewart. Her stepfather died earlier this month, plunging her family into mourning on the same day New York flew to Las Vegas for the WNBA finals. A few weeks later, his wife, Marta Xargay, gave birth to their second child. Those big moments sandwiched New York’s loss in the Finals, a series in which Stewart averaged just 16.3 points on 36.2 percent shooting, both well below his career average in the playoffs. The events of the month, she said, were no excuse for the way she played or for the loss, but they were a reality nonetheless.
When Stewart encountered challenges in the past, she said she “sometimes took things as far as I could.” However, as the offseason began, she realized she needed to be more intentional about her emotions and think about each one separately. “I think a leader can also know when to ask for help. And I think that’s something that’s a work in progress, because sometimes you can’t do everything,” she said. “The best thing is to face it, address it and accept it.”
Steinfort said half the battle for anyone dealing with overwhelming emotions, or a variety of emotions, is recognizing them. From there, he encourages his clients to think about how to move forward by putting their feelings into perspective, and sometimes building a narrative around them. An example: Look, I grew from it. It may not have been perfect at the time, but I feel better for it.
How I approach 2024…😀 pic.twitter.com/8mFgF0KFJw
– Breanna Stewart (@breannastewart) January 1, 2024
“What we want to be able to do is turn that around and say, ‘I have to keep things real, I have to be able to stay present and I have to stay committed to who I am.’ do,” he said On that last point, Steinfort uses an acronym appropriate for this context: WNBA — What’s the next best thing?
One of Stewart’s best actions was taking the time to process everything that happened in the fall. She was open and thoughtful with her wife. Every few weeks, she would text, FaceTime or hop on a Zoom with Steinfort to release overloaded emotions in what he calls “verbal vomit or text vomit.”
“Once you can see it, you’re separated from it,” he said. “Then you can start working on (the emotions). I’m going to keep this, or I’m going to feel this one for the next few hours. Then I’m going to go into focus mode and feel that. You can start to decide what you do and what you don’t engage in. Even if they are there, you don’t need to pay as much attention to them because you’re not trying to be perfect.
Stewart took a few weeks off after the final loss. When she returned to the field in early December, she realized she still wasn’t ready to fully dive back into offseason training. She needed more time to refocus before moving on.
There is no single, prescriptive method for athletes to emerge from defeat. For some, mindfulness or meditation can be healing. Others draw inspiration from books on topics such as courage, leadership and grief. Busy with two young children, Stewart knew these methods wouldn’t work for her.
In January, Stewart and his family spent a month in Girona, Spain, a city 60 miles northeast of Barcelona known for its charming, narrow medieval streets. There, in his wife’s hometown, Stewart and his family relaxed in cafes, visited nearby beaches and sipped red wine. While under tension, she attended a FC Girona match. For two weeks toward the end of the month, she also spent time training with Lange, Liberty’s assistant.
Almost daily, for 90 minutes at a time, they practiced at the city’s EuroLeague women’s team facility. Re-energized in a different environment, she focused on speed changes, deceleration and a variety of finishing moves. “His whole game needs to evolve and be more deceptive,” Lange said. They talked about basketball and life.
Lange has already seen a change in the league’s reigning MVP.
“She knows when to lead, where to lead and how to lead,” he said. “I think we’ll all be in a better place because she’s ready for this.”
Head coach Sandy Brondello spoke less than usual throughout training camp. Instead, Brondello said she relies more on her assistant coaches to teach and her veterans to shape Liberty’s culture. In parts of several scrimmages open to reporters, veterans played alongside newcomers in an effort to build more trust and connectivity within the team.
Maybe this will help prepare New York for what’s to come. A possible Finals rematch with the Las Vegas Aces looms, although any series will be months away. Stewart knows she can’t spend the entire season thinking about the past or a potential future match. She hopes to be as prepared as possible every night. “For anything,” she said. “As much as possible.” For good and bad filming evenings. For when the offense clicks, and when it doesn’t. Be present and ready to face feelings.
Liberty’s season is by no means entirely on his shoulders. But she wants to face everything head on.
“I know there’s still a higher ceiling I can reach,” Stewart said. “And really, I took last offseason to go after that.”
(Breanna Stewart Photo: Sarah Stier/Getty Images)