Breanna Stewart’s Unequalled struggles now have a potential rationalization

Breanna Stewart didn’t have the most effective Unequalled season — at the very least not by her requirements. The 2-time WNBA MVP nonetheless averaged 19.1 factors and 11 rebounds per sport, making her the league’s sixth-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder, however her effectivity was down and her Mist Membership completed with a 5-9 document and missed the playoffs.

Stewart, one of many two co-founders of the brand new skilled ladies’s basketball 3-on-3 league, was additionally eradicated within the first spherical of its 1v1 match. She fell to Washington Mystics rookie Aaliyah Edwards 12-0.

Now, there’s a potential rationalization for the 30-year-old’s uncharacteristic struggles.

Breanna Stewart underwent a knee scope on Thursday

Per ESPN’s Alexa Philippou, Stewart “underwent a profitable minor scope on her proper meniscus” on Thursday. Philippou reported that, per crew sources, Stewart shall be again on the court docket in time for WNBA coaching camp. A knee scope is a minimally invasive surgical process the place a surgeon makes use of a skinny, lighted tube with a digital camera inserted by way of small incisions to view and deal with issues contained in the knee joint.

Stewart seems to have waited till the conclusion of the Unequalled season earlier than present process the scope. And, contemplating coaching camp is scheduled to start in simply over six weeks, on April twenty seventh, the restoration timeline must be fairly fast.

Breanna Stewart wasn’t her traditional impactful self in Unequalled this season

Although Stewart was nonetheless one of many league’s higher gamers, she shot beneath 50% from the sector in 9 of her 14 contests with the Mist Membership, and solely exceeded 23 factors twice. She additionally wasn’t named to the All-Unequalled First or Second Groups (Napheesa Collier, Chelsea Grey, and Kayla McBride have been named to the First Group, and Angel Reese, Rhyne Howard, and Skylar Diggins-Smith have been named to the Second Group).

Whereas averaging 19.1 factors and 11 rebounds nonetheless made Stewart one of many league’s extra productive gamers, given the very fact she sometimes dominates the WNBA’s MVP dialog, the truth that she wasn’t within the combine for All-Unequalled honors displays a drop-off in her efficiency this winter.

And, whereas it’s at all times potential that her struggles have been merely the results of a taking pictures stoop, studies that Stewart underwent a knee scope seem to replicate that she was coping with some type of knee problem. The Liberty star doesn’t have a identified historical past of knee issues, however she did endure surgical procedure in 2019 to restore a torn Achilles.

The excellent news for Breanna Stewart is that she must be again in time for the start of the Liberty’s title protection — and, she will be able to sit again and watch Unequalled’s postseason, which begins on Sunday, March sixteenth, from the consolation of her residence.