Stew York and the Sabtue of Liberty are staying put.
Two of the pillars of the New York Liberty’s 2024 WNBA championship-winning team intend not to exercise their upcoming unrestricted free agency and instead simply re-sign with the Liberty.
Stewart shared her news on her podcast with NBA player Myles Turner, “Game Recognize Game with Stewie and Myles,” stating:
I’m gonna just set the record straight here: I will be staying in New York. I’m not planning on taking any free agency meetings, even though
I am an unrestricted free agent. My family is set up here, we’re solid here.
I’m going to be back in New York and that’s all there is to it.
Ionescu followed suit during media availability at USA Basketball training camp, which began in Phoenix on Wednesday. Ionescu expressed:
Obviously I’m where I’m supposed to be.
Never thought anything different, and so excited to be able to sign and get started. It’s coming up really quickly, so excited to get all this behind us and just be able to start our season and get going in New York.
The declarations from Stewart and Ionescu are the second big free agency news to drop ahead of the start of the still-yet-unannounced WNBA free agency period. The Las Vegas Aces already indicated that the organization intends to furnish four-time MVP A’ja Wilson with a $1.4 million supermax contracts.
Neither Stewart nor Ionescu outlined their salary expectations, although Ionescu did speak to the difficulties of roster building due the new CBA, compressed timeline and upcoming expansion draft, suggesting:
I think it’s going to be difficult because you’re kind of forcing players and teams to make decisions really quickly.
Obviously, GMs and teams have been doing their homework ahead of time and understanding that they kind of had to prepare for a quick flip in a short amount of time, with decisions being made and free agency being such a short window.
But I do think we’re going to see a lot of change, because I think people are not going to have as much time to sit and think and go talk to teams and visit. It’s going to be real quick-hitting, and there’s obviously a lot of money on the table as well. So I think people are also going to have that to consider and they didn’t always have that.
If Stewart and Ionescu re-sign, it could be a challenge for New York, entering a renewed era of still-high expectations under head coach Chris DeMarco, to retain unrestricted free agents Jonquel Jones, Natasha Cloud and Emma Meesseman, as well as reserved player Betnijah Laney-Hamilton.
It will also be interesting to see if other players follow the example of Stewart and Ionescu and announce their free agency intentions before the free agency period begins.
