Breanna Stewart’s off-floor savvy has granted the New York Liberty a golden opportunity in offseason absentia.
It may be three-on-three action, but a golden opportunity—or perhaps a seafoam circumstance?—awaits the New York Liberty sixth woman next month.
No matter what happens in the ongoing WNBA labor negotiations, a Breanna Stewart-branded organization will take to the Brooklyn hardwood in 2026. Unrivaled, the domestic three-on-three co-founded by the Liberty star, will stage its second semifinal set under the grassy roof of Barclays Center on March 2. The playoff pair comes two months before the Liberty is scheduled to open its next campaign against the Connecticut Sun.
Things Get Unique in New York
While the Liberty often take residence on Atlantic Avenue between the spring and fall, improvised winter women’s basketball happenings are hardly out of the ordinary.
The respective arrivals of Stewart and fellow hardwood legends Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot were heralded with press conferences three Januarys ago, while new head coach Chris DeMarco was introduced in a showcase this past December. News amidst a fateful offseason, one where the Liberty will seek to atone for a disappointing championship defense, has been hard to come by with the bustling WNBA offseason left in a holding pattern without signatures on a new collective bargaining agreement.
Breanna Stewart shared an update on the WNBA CBA talks during the latest episode of Game Recognize Game with Myles Turner.
T-minus 83 days until the start of the 2026 WNBA season.
Will a deal get done?
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https://t.co/OcYVQ7bkK0 pic.twitter.com/aVZ7mhLeh0
— Ballislife Womens Basketball (@ballislifewbb_) February 13, 2026
Leave it to Stewart, a prominent voice in both on and off-floor matters, to break the spell without while adhering to restrictions.
It stands to reason that Stewart had some role in the crossover, as the Mist maven recently hinted at a “secret” she could hardly contain on her Threads account. The league has since confirmed that there’d be at least two weeks of sleeps until Brooklyn, which previously hosted the Liberty’s 2024 WNBA championship triumph against a Minnesota Lynx group headlined by her fellow Unrivaled founder Napheesa Collier.
Brooklyn’s Unrivaled Moment
Amidst the activity freeze, Stewart found a thaw or two. Her passion project will be staged in the building of those with whom she is negotiating, Liberty owners Clara Wu and Joe Tsai. That no doubt serves to at least partly soothe the otherwise tense rebuttal that has dominated the offseason headlines. But, more importantly from a local standpoint, Stewart and Co. get to put on a pitch that their WNBA sisters might not be able to get.
That’s not to say that Liberty management will be waiting for the postseason participants as they get off the floor. But a de facto Brooklyn dress rehearsal, one likely backed up by a crowd that hardly needs to prove its support, will grant numerous veterans set to hit the free agency front the minute pen is put to paper, a chance to engage in one of the most unique pursuits in recent professional memory. It’s part of what the Associated Press’ Doug Feinberg called a “smart business move” by New York and could solidify Stewart’s legacy of savvy once and for all.
Unrivaled made $2 million playing in front of a record crowd at the 76ers’ arena in Philadelphia.
Now, the league is moving its March semifinals to Brooklyn and eyeing more road games in NYC, LA, Nashville, and beyond.
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) February 15, 2026
One doesn’t have to look far for evidence of the presumed success: the Miami-based Unrivaled is fresh off its first non-Floridian feature, taking its talents away from South Beach to stage a Philadelphia fracas that drew a record crowd to Xfinity Mobile Arena for mere regular-season action. The impact it had on a city without its own WNBA team was significant enough was large enough. Its first visit to an active WNBA city could be—to borrow a term from Stewart’s favorite “Harry Potter”—downright stupefying.
Such a Move Adds to the Stewart Legacy
The Unrivaled co-founder is never one to mince words, in both on-court matters and beyond, as personal and professional causes alike have enjoyed a Stewart spark.
As Stewart enters the second half of a career that’s already destined to go from Syracuse-to-Springfield, a common theme has been leaving the causes she cares about in a better state than she found them. It’s a throne that her co-founder, Collier, seems more than willing to inherit. For now, Stewart continues to pick up the play and her causes, whether they involve a ball or not, a quest that has no doubt gained further fuel once she made it back to New York, an undeniable hub of power and culture both on and off the hardwood.
Huge Unrivaled news:
Unrivaled today announced that the league’s Semifinals on March 2 will take place in New York City (Barlclays center)
The Championship pool also increased to $600,000 pic.twitter.com/AqYUaOqUmM
— Sara Jane Gamelli (@SaraJGamelli) February 13, 2026
“I think to be able to be a part of New York and be in Brooklyn and New York City, the potential and the options are limitless. That means that I can do a lot to impact the community,” Stewart told Ball Is Life of her metropolitan legacy-in-the-making just before the Liberty’s championship chase in 2024. “It’s important to me and I think that as me, [my wife] Marta, and the family are really getting comfortable here, we want to, I want to make an impact on the court—and also off the court.”
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
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