Report: Breanna Stewart Suffers Torn Achilles Injury After Collision with Griner
April 15, 2019
Reigning WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart reportedly suffered an Achilles injury after colliding with Brittney Griner in a Euroleague game.
WNBAinsidr called the injury a "huge blow" but did not note the severity. Paul Nilsen, a basketball consultant whose clients include FIBA, reported "many" are saying Stewart suffered a torn Achilles. That injury would cost her the entire 2019 WNBA season.
Stewart, who plays for the Dynamo Kursk in Euroleague, landed on Griner's leg awkwardly while attempting a jumper and crumpled to the ground in pain in the second quarter Sunday. She was on the ground for several minutes and needed help leaving the floor.
The Seattle Storm star has emerged as perhaps the WNBA's best player in her three-year career. She led the Storm to a championship in 2018 as part of an MVP campaign and already has two All-Star berths, a pair of All-WNBA selections and a 2016 Rookie of the Year trophy in her mantle.
That, of course, came after the most decorated career in women's college basketball history in which she won four national titles and three National Player of the Year awards.
Losing Stewart for the season would cost the WNBA one of its brightest stars and the Storm any chance of repeating as champion. The WNBA has not had a repeat champion since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001-02.
Stewart's injury also highlights the unfortunate truth regarding women's basketball. A number of high-profile WNBA stars play in Euroleague or somewhere overseas during the offseason because European markets pay higher salaries. Minnesota Lynx guard Maya Moore will sit out the 2019 season by choice in part to recover from her years of round-the-clock basketball.
While injuries can happen anywhere, it's fair for Storm fans to be disillusioned and feel Stewart would have entered the 2019 season healthy if she weren't forced to play overseas.