Why Liberty will likely give Breanna Stewart core designation
One of the easiest decisions Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb will have to make this offseason involves Breanna Stewart.The question shouldn’t be if the Liberty will designate Stewart as a core player, but when.Teams can assign core designation to players beginning Saturday, and Stewart is one of the most obvious free-agent candidates to receive what’s essentially the WNBA’s equivalent to the NFL’s franchise tag.Yes, Stewart has already made her intentions to stay in Brooklyn for one more season well known after helping the Liberty win the franchise’s first title in 2024.So why burn a core designation if she plans to come back anyway?In a lot of ways, it’s a win-win for both parties involved.A player under the current collective bargaining agreement can have a core designation a maximum of twice.Stewart was designated a core player in 2024 for the first time in her career.Doing it again this season would make her ineligible of being cored in the future, which would give the 30-year-old more flexibility in the back end of her career to play where she wants.From a team standpoint, the Liberty will maintain exclusive negotiating rights with Stewart.The core designation would automatically put a supermax offer of a one-year, $249,244 deal on the table for Stewart — a massive pay raise for the two-time league MVP that would put the Liberty in a major cap crunch while still needing to flesh out their roster.But should history repeat itself, then Stewart may take a discounted rate to offer the Liberty more financial flexibility to shore up a championship-caliber support cast around the six-time All-Star.Over the past two seasons with the Liberty, Stewart has signed below her value for the betterment of the team.In 2023, her first season in Brooklyn after spending her career with the Seattle Storm, Stewart received a base salary of $180,000, according to HerHoopStats.com.
Last season, the Liberty re-signed Stewart on a one-year deal reported to be worth...