As expected, the Liberty designated Breanna Stewart as a core player this week.
The news broke Tuesday, though the WNBA’s transaction page shows the move was dated Monday.
With the core designation, New York will officially take the biggest free agent off the market as the Liberty now have exclusive negotiating rights with Stewart.
Stewart had already shared her intentions to return to Brooklyn to help the Liberty defend their title in 2025, but the move burns Stewart’s last available core designation for her career.
Stewart’s designation was one of a few administrative moves performed by Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb this week.
The Libs on Monday also extended reserved qualifying offers to Ivana Dojkic, Rebekah Gardner and Marine Johannes.
And on Tuesday, the Liberty signed 5-foot-7 guard Jaylyn Sherrod to a training-camp deal.
Other players who’ve received franchise player designations since the window to assign them opened Saturday include Kelsey Plum (Las Vegas Aces), Satou Sabally (Dallas Wings) and Gabby Williams (Seattle Storm).
The core designation comes with an automatic one-year qualifying offer at the WNBA’s maximum salary of $249,244, though it’s not unheard of for a player to take less for the betterment of the team.
Stewart is a prime example of doing just that.
Stewart took less than maximum in 2024, despite being cored.
She was the Liberty’s highest-paid player last season, with a salary of $205,000.
Teams have through Jan. 20 to issue franchise designations and qualifying offers to reserved and restricted free agents.
Teams and free agents can begin negotiating a day later, though contracts can’t officially be signed until Feb. 1.
