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She could have said no, and no one would have
known. She was coming into the season off a
torn Achilles tendon, an injury you don’t know
how you’ll recover from. But she chose to take on
more responsibility.
The WNBA players made sure everyone knew
that they were playing for Breonna Taylor every
time they went on the court this season, that they
were playing to say Black Lives Matter. Honestly,
I was in awe the whole time I was in the WNBA
bubble in Bradenton, Fla. The players worked to
make sure not only that they had a season but also
that everyone watching their season knew: This is
your place to support Black women, and women,
and equality. Watching Stewie stand in front of
everyone before that first game and ask for 26
seconds of silence to remember Breonna Taylor,
the Black woman who was that age when she
was killed by police in her Louisville apartment,
was powerful.
Then she went on the court and was a contender
for the league’s MVP, won her second champion-
ship with the Seattle Storm and became the Finals
MVP. I don’t know if you can fully appreciate
how difficult it is to accomplish what she did this
season. And she did it in clas-
sic, effortless Stewie fashion.
I first met her four years
ago, after she was drafted to
the Storm and around the time
I began dating her teammate
and my fiancé, Sue Bird. At
6' 4", Stewie has always been
Ms. Gangles, but she was even
more so then, and she was the
youngest one on the team. But
one thing I’ve always noticed
about Stewie is she has this
quiet confidence, where she’ll
just kind of keep it real all the
time. She’s the one who will say
what everyone is thinking, and
she’ll do it with her patented
shoulder shrug and head tilt.
It’s so nonchalant—like the way
she plays, where everything
just seems to slow down for her
on the court. Sue has been the
face of the Storm, but as Stewie
has found her voice over the
past four years, I’ve watched
her blossom right beside her.
What Stewie showed this
year has been building in her
for a while, from the time in
2017 when she talked about the
sexual abuse she experienced
as a child. I remember thinking, Wow, thi s kid
is brave. It takes so much strength and mental
fortitude to share something like that, which
never really goes away or gets easier. But she’s
the kind of person who, when she knows that
something is the right thing to do, is just matter-
of-fact about doing it. I think we both approach
speaking out in the same way: This is true, and
I am going to say it.
What struck
me watching
Breanna Stewart
take the microphone
before the first
game of the WNBA
season was her
willingness to step
up in that moment.
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BY MEGAN RAPINOE
Two-time World Cup champion,
Olympic gold medalist,
2019 SI Sportsperson of the Year