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Is Breanna Stewart Already a Hall of Famer?

(Photo by Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images)

Breanna Stewart belongs in the Hall of Fame.

That was my first thought when I saw her ring collection, recently flexed on social media. To say the least, it is one of a hardened veteran, not someone with just three years to her name in the WNBA.

She had a ring for each of her four national championships with UConn. She had rings for some of her eight gold medals at various levels with the USA national team, including a 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics gold. There was also a ring for the time she won a WNBA championship with Seattle’s basketball team.

Syracuse, where Stewart was born, has already inducted her into the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame in the Class of 2019.

“Hall of fame, hall of fame,” was her caption at the time.

At the same time, maybe it’s too soon. Stewart has just three seasons in the league. True, she was a Rookie of the Year, an All-Star (twice), a regular season and Finals MVP, and a champion, but if she retired today, would she really be an Hall of Famer?

To answer the question, I looked to the Basketball Reference Hall of Fame probability calculator. James Bowman did some work on a calculator for the WNBA back in the day, and I adopted some of his conversions.

The original Basketball Reference model was based on a logistic regression of predictor variables to find what Hall of Fame voters have most valued historically. In order of importance, the algorithm spit out All-Star appearances, number of championships, peak single-season win shares, and sustained effectiveness as measured by appearances on leaderboards. Interestingly enough, a player’s height had a negative statistical impact.

For leaderboards, a player got points for being in the top ten in the league in points, total rebounds, assists, minutes played, steals, and blocks.

In order to equate WNBA data with NBA stats, I added seven inches to a player’s height, which is the difference in average height between the two leagues, with the assumption of equal distributions. I also multiplied peak win shares by 1.9, which was the difference between the means between the leagues last season.

As a sanity check, I first checked the numbers on Sue Bird. 100.00% probability of being in the Hall of Fame. Good, that makes sense. Now, for Stewart: 76 inches, 1 championship, 90 leaderboard points, 7.7 peak win shares, and 2 All-Star appearances.

Drum roll, please: if she retired today, the model says Stewart would have a 16.51% chance of being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“What? That’s crazy,” some of you might say. “She’s only played three seasons!”

And yet some of you might say the opposite, that in just three seasons, Stewart has already cemented herself as one of the greatest of all time. Some even thought that was true after just her second season.

For reference, Crystal Langhorne also has one championship and two All-Star appearances. Her peak win shares is an impressive 6.5. The model gives the twelve-season, 393-game veteran just a 4.32% chance of entering the Hall of Fame.

An important caveat: according to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, are not based solely on professional contributions. To be considered, one must meet a minimum of two out of the five criteria — Stewart passes with flying colors.

The first is being an All-American at the community college or collegiate level at least one year. Stewart was a three-time consensus first team All-American at UConn.

The second is to be a Player of the Year recipient. Stewart was thrice named Naismith College Player of the Year, USBWA Women’s National Player of the Year and Associated Press Women’s College Basketball Player of the Year. In her junior and senior seasons, she also won the Wade Trophy and the John R. Wooden Award.

The third is to be a contributing member of a team that competes in an Olympic or World Championship competition. Stewart averaged 8.1 points and shot 73% from the field as the youngest member of the 2016 gold-winning U.S. Olympics team.

The fourth is to have professional experience with honors and championships. Stewart is a two-time All-Star, a Rookie of the Year, league MVP, and Finals MVP.

The last is to be a significant contributor on more than one national championship team. Check.

Another caveat is that the Basketball Reference model was built for players with more than 400 NBA games, or about 5 seasons. Scaled, that is equivalent to 180 WNBA games. Stewart has played in just 101 regular season games.

So Stewart meets the baseline requirements, no surprise there, but she has barely reached the century mark in games. As far as narratives go, in the unfortunate (and highly unlikely event) that her Achilles injury were to derail Stewart’s career after three of the most promising seasons in WNBA history, you could really go either way.

On the one hand, her impact on the game over seven seasons at the collegiate and professional level and on the national team is undeniable. On the other, no player with a similar number of games has ever warranted consideration. For comparison:

And if I had to vote today?

It’d be a yes. The back and forth is fun, but ultimately Breanna Stewart belongs in the Hall of Fame, even if she never picked up a basketball again.

As a fan of the game, I would love to see her play twenty more years and erase any doubt that she belongs among the greats of the sport, but her accomplishments in college alone likely merit induction. While it is true that her time in the league has been short to this point, the fact that she has done so much with it already is a credit to her case.

Just for fun, here are the odds for every active WNBA player with at least 180 career regular season games (plus Breanna Stewart). Players with more than a 90% chance of inclusion have also been highlighted.

USC’s McKenzie Forbes: From Gap Year to the NCAA Tournament

As part of our 1-v-1 video series, USC’s India Otto sat down to interview her teammate McKenzie Forbes. 

Here are five things to know from our conversation with the graduate transfer from Folsom, California.

#1 Inspired by USC’s Head Coach, Lindsay Gottlieb, McKenzie wants to be a basketball coach or work in the front office in the future.

When weighing in on what makes a good coach, McKenzie said x’s and o’s are important but “Coaching is a lot of relationship managing and people managing. I think you have to be a good people person and be able to build those relationships, but also in that same breath, you can’t be afraid to have people dislike you in moments. I think that’s a big part of leadership.”

#2 McKenzie says the trajectory of her career changed when she made the decision to transfer from Cal to Harvard.

 In order to transfer, she was forced to take a gap year and spend a lot of time in the gym. “I completely transformed my body and, going into the Harvard season, felt like I was a completely different player. Going to Harvard and playing in a more mid-major conference, I had the ball in my hands a lot more than I might have if I transferred to another Power 5. It really developed other parts of my game.”

#3 How does McKenzie think USC will do in the Women’s College Basketball Tournament?

“I’m not going to give a typical interview answer. I want a Final Four. We have that potential and capability. Like why not? Why not us? I think we have all the pieces.”

#4 Her older brother, Marcus, was her biggest mentor growing up.

“He was basically my trainer from Elementary school on until he went to college.”

#5 Fun facts about Forbes:

She can juggle and she was the quarterback of her Pop Warner football team. “I was slow but I could throw it!”

Watch the full conversation on the Just Women’s Sports YouTube channel.

Christen Press back training with Angel City FC

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 15: Christen Press #23 of Angel City FC waves to fans following a game between the Portland Thorns and Angel City FC at BMO Stadium on October 15, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Katharine Lotze/Getty Images)

Christen Press continues to inch her way back to a return, having returned to training with her club team Angel City. 

Angel City FC coach Becki Tweed said on Wednesday that Press is back with the team full-time as she continues to make her way back from an ACL injury. While she’s still working on rehab, her being back with the team gives staff a better picture of her progress. 

"Christen [Press] is back with us full time which is amazing,” she said. “Having her in and around the team every day, continuing to work hard on rehab ... she's in a space where being in with the team is really important to her and her progression as well.”

The status update comes days after Press posted videos to social media that featured her doing lateral movement in cleats on grass. 

“Look out world she’s on the move !” Press captioned it. 

Press has been sidelined with an ACL injury since 2022, which caused her to miss the 2023 World Cup. She’s since had four separate surgeries to help repair her ACL.

Press told The Athletic a month ago that she’s been “relentless” in her optimism with her recovery despite it being a “slow process.”

“I have a bit of relentless optimism,” she told The Athletic. “I never, ever doubted that I would make it back on any of the timelines I’ve been on."

"Every single time I’ve heard, ‘You have to have surgery,’ I’m completely shocked,” she said. “When somebody asks me how it’s going, I’m like, ‘It’s going great. And it was going great every time. So I don’t know what to tell you anymore!’”

Sophia Smith re-signs with Portland on record deal

(Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports)

Sophia Smith is now the NWSL’s highest-paid player. 

The Portland Thorns announced on Wednesday that they have signed Smith to a new contract through the 2025 season, with an option for 2026. While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, the team did reveal that Smith is now the highest-paid player in the league on an annual basis.

It’s the latest in what has been a series of record-breaking contracts in the NWSL offseason. 

Chicago Red Stars forward Mallory Swanson, Bay FC forward Racheal Kundananji, and Orlando Pride forward Barbra Banda all signed multi-year deals worth between $2 million and $2.5 million in total. While Smith’s contract is shorter and not worth as much over the long-term, the annual worth is higher. 

“We are over the moon to have Soph commit again to the Thorns. She is a proven, world-class talent and one that we are excited to have contribute to the team’s continued success,” said head coach Mike Norris in a statement. “We look forward to working with her in a Thorns jersey as she continues to shine as one of the top strikers in the world.”

In just four seasons in the NWSL, Smith has led the Thorns to five trophies – including the 2022 NWSL championship – while winning league and championship MVP in 2022. In 61 appearances with Portland, she has 34 goals – including a brace to start this season against Kansas City. 

She’s also a member of the USWNT, having scored 16 goals in 44 international appearances.  Set to become a free agent at the end of this season, she told ESPN she “thought of all the options” but ultimately Portland felt like the right decision.

"There is no place like Portland," Smith said in a small roundtable interview that included ESPN. "I don't believe there's an environment like Portland to play in and it's a city that's so special to me and a city that I feel like I've grown up in almost and become who I am."

She also told ESPN that the team’s new ownership “changes everything.” The club is now led by the Bhathal family, who bought the club after Merritt Paulson was forced to sell it following his part in the NWSL’s abuse scandal. 

"Since I've been here there has been a lot of things going on with this club -- a lot of not-great things going on with this club -- and I have just been waiting for some stability and some reassurance that this club is headed in the right direction, and the Bhathal family coming in is doing exactly that, if not more,” Smith said. 

"Their vision for this club is so exciting, and you can just tell how passionate they are about making this what it should be and continuing to push the standard in women's soccer globally.”

Caitlin Clark offered $5 million to compete in Ice Cube’s league

IOWA CITY, IOWA- MARCH 25: Guard Caitlin Clark #22 of the Iowa Hawkeyes celebrates as time runs out in the second half against the West Virginia Mountaineers during their second round match-up in the 2024 NCAA Division 1 Women's Basketball Championship at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on March 25, 2024 in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images)

Caitlin Clark has been offered $5 million to play in Ice Cube's Big3 league, he confirmed on social media Wednesday after the offer leaked.

"We intended the offer to remain private while Caitlin Clark plays for the championship," Ice Cube wrote on social media. "But I won't deny what's now already out there: BIG3 made a historic offer to Caitlin Clark. Why wouldn't we? Caitlin is a generational athlete who can achieve tremendous success in the BIG3."

While there has yet to be a women's player in the league, both Nancy Lieberman and Lisa Leslie have been part of the league as coaches and won championships.

"The skeptics laughed when we made Nancy Lieberman the first female coach of a men's pro team, and she won the championship in her first year," Ice Cube continued. "Then Lisa Leslie won it all in year two. With our offer, Caitlin Clark can make history and break down even more barriers for women athletes."

Ice Cube, whose name is O’Shea Jackson, says that the offer was made with the intention that Clark be able to compete in the WNBA “offseason.” Clark is largely expected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft in April. But it’s unclear how the scheduling of the two leagues would work. 

The 2024 Big3 season is set to tip off on June 15, with 10 games spanning through mid-August. The WNBA regular season, meanwhile, begins on May 14 and ends on Sept. 19.

On “The Pat McAfee Show” on Wednesday, Jackson said that the league has yet to hear back from Clark. 

“We just need an answer, as soon as they are ready to give it to us,” he said. “It’s always 50-50 till we get a no. At the end of the day, it’s a generous offer.”

The offer – as well as the confusion on Jackson’s part about the timing of the WNBA season – caused some current WNBA players to react. 

"It's funny cause I be seeing his son at W games.. they don't talk?" wrote former No. 1 pick Rhyne Howard

"So no other women's basketball player has came to mind in the last 7 years?" wrote Lexie Brown, adding that she'd support if Ice Cube wanted to build a women's iteration of the league. She later discussed it on the Gils Arena Show, noting that his reasoning of wanting to “uplift and support WNBA players and women athletes” is a “cop out.”

Kalani Brown, meanwhile, told Clark to "take that money" and start a women's Big3.

WNBA salaries has been a talking point in recent months as more collegiate stars declare for the league. WNBA stars have often made more money playing abroad than they have in the WNBA. Clark is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft on April 15, with a rookie salary of $76,535 for lottery draft picks (Nos. 1-4) that rises to $97,582 by her fourth season. But she also has an NIL valuation of almost $3.5 million.

Diana Taurasi famously skipped the 2015 WNBA season at the request of her Russian club, who paid her more to sit out than she would have made in the W. Her contract with the club was reportedly near $1.5 million per year.

Jackson also seemed to suggest that his league could be an alternative to going abroad

“America’s women athletes should not be forced to spend their off seasons playing in often dismal and dubious foreign countries just to make ends meet,” he wrote. Although it’s unclear whether or not the rapper intends to make offers to additional WNBA players. 

While the league does hold prioritization rules in its CBA, those typically apply only to players playing in overseas leagues. It’s unclear whether or not that would prevent Clark’s participation in the Big3 league.

WNBA players that don’t want to go overseas currently have the option of playing in Athletes Unlimited, which competes in the WNBA offseason.

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