Players like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese may have been responsible for bringing a wide set of eyeballs to the WNBA. But long before they became household names, players like Lisa Leslie, Candace Parker, and Diana Taurasi, laid the groundwork for the women’s game to go mainstream. 2024 WNBA champion Breanna Stewart wanted to emulate this trio while growing up.
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The New York Liberty star revealed that she spent her formative years watching Leslie, Parker and Taurasi showcase their skillset on the court. She added that it was an honor to get the chance to play against two of them.
“When I was younger, I mean I think the players I definitely paid attention to were like Lisa (Leslie), Candace (Parker), D (Diana Taurasi), not to be like aging them, but obviously to be able to watch them and then play against them in the league has been an incredible thing for me,” said Stewart.
Stewart was drafted in 2016, so she never got the chance to play against Leslie, who hung her boots up in 2009. But the 30-year-old did have a lot of success against her other idols, boasting a 9-7 record against Parker and a 10-6 record against Taurasi in the regular season.
And, Stewie has a soft spot for Parker since she made her WNBA debut against the 3x champion. Stewart had scored 23 points in that game, her first-ever professional outing. She was, understandably, star-struck by both CP3 and her legendary teammate and fellow UConn. legend, Sue Bird.
In an interview earlier this year, she had mentioned that, as a rookie, she wanted to pick Parker’s brain and learn from her despite the Sparks legend being an opposition player.
“Knowing that I was gonna play with Sue was very exciting for me, it was a little bit different because I’ve played National Team since 2014, so I was able to be around her, but in the WNBA it would’ve been Candace, and that was my WNBA debut,” said Breanna.
Stewie won her third WNBA title this year. And there’s no doubt that in the future, there’ll be players who would name her as their inspiration, the same way she credited the legends who came before her.
