2018: The Year of Breanna Stewart

Breanna Stewart has certainly made the most of her 2018. The former UConn women’s basketball star won a WNBA championship, a FIBA World Cup gold medal and three MVP awards this year. To add to this year’s accolades, Stewart received recognition for her impressive 2018 from The Athletic, USA Basketball, and ESPN.

In the summer of 2018, Stewart led the Seattle Storm to their third WNBA championship. Her dominant season for the Storm, earned her the title of Seattle’s Person of the Year from The Athletic. The former Husky finished the regular season ranked second in the league for points per game (21.8) and third in rebounds per game (8.4). She also ranked in the top ten for steals, blocks and 3-point percentage to eventually be named MVP.

Stewart was possibly even more impressive in the playoffs scoring 24.6 points per game, including a 30-point performance to seal the championship for Seattle and become the youngest Finals MVP in league history.

She went on to continue her winning ways in September, as she helped lead USA Basketball to their third straight World Cup gold. She scored 98 points over the United States’ 6-0 tournament run, and won her third MVP award of 2018. As a result of her impressive performance, she was also named USA Basketball’s Female Athlete of the Year.

This is Stewart’s third Female Athlete of the Year award for USA Basketball. She also took home the honor in 2011 and 2013. The award originated in 1980, and fellow former UConn star Diana Taurasi currently holds the record with four total.

As her final honor in 2018 (so far), Stewart was also named to ESPN’s list of the 20 most dominate athletes of the year. She placed seventh on the list.

At only 24, Stewart still has plenty of time to top the most dominate athletes list in the future. Her campaign in 2019 with tip-off with the WNBA season in May.