Breanna Stewart

After spending the first six seasons of her career in Seattle, Stewart joined the Liberty ahead of the 2023 season to help the organization build a superteam. The abundance of talent around her led to questions regarding whether she could maintain the same level of elite production she had with the Storm, but she responded with one of the best seasons of her career. She appeared in every game and averaged 23.0 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.8 steals, 1.6 blocks and 1.5 steals in 34.1 minutes per game. Even though the Liberty could not beat the Aces in the WNBA Finals, these results earned Stewart the second MVP award of her career. The 29-year-old joined New York on a one-year deal last year but is widely expected to remain with the Liberty after the team extended her a core qualifying offer during this offseason. Jonquel Jones will be back with the team in 2024, and the Liberty have kept most of their key players in the fold. However, Stewart should continue to be the focal point for the team. She rewarded fantasy managers who drafted her last year and should be the top name off the board in most drafts this year.

After spending the first six years of her career with the Storm, Stewart heads the Big Apple to form one of two WNBA "superteams" along with the Aces. Stewart will join forces with Sabrina Ionescu, Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot in what is one of the more elite starting fives in recent memory. While Stewart may not sport quite the same usage rate as last year with the Storm (28.0 percent - second-highest in the league), the Liberty should boast one of the best offenses, and there should be plenty of scoring to go around. Stewart is still the best player on any team she joins and figures to remain among the elite fantasy options in 2022. The main concern regarding her fantasy value may be how often her nights finish early due to blowout scores.

Stewart is one of the more productive players in the WNBA year in and year out, asserting her dominance again in 2021. She finished third in scoring (20.3 points per game), fifth in rebounding (9.5 per game) and third in blocks (1.7 per game) last season while taking a career-high 5.1 shots per game from beyond the arc. Unfortunately, her high-water mark in three-point attempts also paired with a career-worst 33.6 percent conversion rate. The primary downside to Stewart's fantasy profile is her injury history. Stewart underwent offseason surgery on her Achilles, marking the second time she's undergone Achilles surgery since entering the league in 2016. So while Stewart should be available to open 2022, she has more injury risk to weigh than others at the top of the draft board.