The Liberty intend to designate Breanna Stewart as a core player within the next 10 days, The Post learned Saturday.
Stewart, the WNBA’s top unrestricted free agent, was an obvious candidate for the Liberty’s core designation — the WNBA’s equivalent to the NFL’s franchise tag.
Stewart has led the Liberty in scoring in each of her two seasons in Brooklyn.
In 2024, Stewart averaged 20.4 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.3 blocks per game while helping deliver New York its first professional basketball title in 51 years.
Once official, the Liberty will have exclusive negotiating rights with their top free agent priority.
Stewart made it clear last year that she planned to return to New York on a one-year deal to defend the Liberty’s 2024 WNBA title.
But by being cored for a second consecutive year, Stewart will be ineligible to be designated a core player in future seasons under the current collective bargaining agreement.
That means Stewart, 30, will have even more personal flexibility on the back end of her career to play where she wants.
Under current core designation rules, Stewart will be immediately eligible for one-year deal at the supermax price of $249,244.
However, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Stewart were to take a discounted rate in order to ensure the Liberty have more financial flexibility to flush out the rest of their five open roster spots.
Per HerHoopsStats, Stewart received a base salary of $180,000 in 2023, her first season in Brooklyn after spending the first seven years of her career with the Seattle Storm.
Last season, the Liberty re-signed Stewart on a one-year deal below the player maximum.
The Liberty also plan to extend reserved qualifying offers to Ivana Dojkić, Rebekah Gardner, Marine Johannès and Jaylyn Sherrod before the Jan. 20 deadline.
By doing so, New York will also have exclusive negotiating rights with those four players, though it doesn’t automatically guarantee they’ll be back next season.
The window to do so runs from Saturday through Jan. 20.
Teams can start meeting with unrestricted free agents the next day, but can’t officially sign deals until Feb. 1.
It’s worth noting that the Liberty also retain the rights of Han Xu, who has the designation of “suspended, contract expired.”
Even with Stewart a lock to return for 2025, Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb has his work cut out for him this offseason.
As of now, New York has six players — including Finals MVP Jonquel Jones and 2020 top pick Sabrina Ionescu — under contract through next season, with $698,293 in cap space to re-sign Stewart and add up to five other players.
