We Spoke With Breanna Stewart, CBA Hero

…After many months of work, insurmountable anxiety, and intense negotiation, the WNBA and WNBPA are finally exhaling. And so am I. The WNBA season will go forward as planned. First things first, Toronto and Portland need rosters. See you at the expansion draft. Scroll to read my interview with Breanna Stewart, by the way. Sorry to brag! 

JPMorganChase, which I just learned is one word, has tapped several notable athletes for its “Athlete Council.” Their initiatives include encouraging financial literacy among athletes during and after their careers. Do you think they’d teach a newsletter writer about financial literacy, too, or…?

With a last name like Beers, Raegan was basically a shoo-in for a hilarious NIL deal. Especially since her number is in the double digits. The irony? The Oklahoma basketball star doesn’t drink beer. Throwback to when I was watching her in the Elite Eight while drinking 15 beers myself. 

Some of the best parts of sports are the dumb little (positive) traditions and trinkets. Like the Masters gnomes, which the tournament might be saying goodbye to. If they get rid of these, I’ll riot (I won’t).

Your favorite soccer players (actually, every type of athlete) have finstas. As a result of constant curation and brand deals, the magic of having their own personal posts is lost. Enter the finsta.

Yesterday morning, I woke up to many, many unread texts from my most sus friends (why were they awake at 2:30 a.m. on a school night?) celebrating the announcement of a new collective bargaining agreement between the WNBA and the league’s Players’ Association. I wiped my eyes and remembered, in a beautiful strike of serendipity, I had a previously scheduled call with Breanna Stewart. 

Stewie, along with Nneka Ogwumike, Alysha Clark, and Brianna Turner, was one of the central figures in the negotiations, spending upwards of 100 hours of meetings in a seven-day span. 

Although we didn’t get too much into the weeds of the deal, we had a wide-ranging chat about all kinds of stuff, from her bagel spot to the dedication of her podcast co-host Myles Turner to saving cats.

I asked how she was celebrating all of her recent wins, and she told me she hasn’t had time, but she’s got a (much-needed, if you ask me) family trip to Turks and Caicos on the horizon. She ranked our Mist puns (I think I’ll save that clip for social) and told me how Samsung — who kindly facilitated the conversation we had yesterday — is a special partner because the tech company is invested in who they are as athletes, business people, and human beings. She told me she only drinks beer when she’s having tacos. I’ll let you read the rest. 

Ashtyn Butuso: As you’re looking back at Unrivaled and looking forward to the W, what does the next era of women's hoops look like?

Breanna Stewart: I think the next era of women's basketball is only going to continue to grow…I think that knowing that we're going to be valued everywhere we go—and that's an on-the-court and off-the-court thing—while also really showing our appreciation to those that have got us here…for the W specifically, going into our 30th season, we're still a young league and and we're having [an] insane trajectory of success, and we really want to keep that going for generations to come.  

AB: Now that you’re going to be able to just be back in the city, we need some recommendations. Where is the best bagel in NYC?

BS: Oh, I live in Brooklyn, so Court Street Bagels.

AB: I hear a lot about Court Street, actually. I'm moving to Brooklyn, so I'm going to become a Brooklyn girl. 

BS: You’re gonna love it. 

AB: I know everyone's like, “Stop being sad. Shut up!” Where are you grabbing beers with friends?

BS: Fun fact, I don’t really, like…beer is my “taco” kind of time. But where am I having drinks with friends? Dumbo House. Of course. With the view of the city, the bridge, like all that? Yeah. 

AB: I'm asking everyone if they have a prediction for a Song of the Summer.

BS: Oh, a Song of the Summer. That song “Raindance” right now. I like that one. So maybe. 

AB: I feel like it has staying power. In this next season [in free agency], players are going to be flying all over the place. Who's the swaggy player that you would bring into the Liberty?

BS: We have some pretty good swag already. But I'll just give a shout-out to my Mist teammate, Arike.

AB: She's about as swaggy as it gets. Pivoting a bit to your projects, I love your podcast with Myles Turner. 

BS: So shout out to my podcast Game Recognize Game. You guys want to tune in! [Laughs] It's been a little bit hard to schedule recordings this past week because my life has been insane. 

AB: What is something you've learned about [Myles]?

BS: His love for cats, like, he has a foundation supporting and continuing to support animals. So that's really cool. Also, it’s “LEGO,” not “LEGOS.” 

AB: Okay, that's good to know.

BS: That's one of the things that I'll never forget.

AB: Predict a March Madness upset?

BS: Honestly, I just filled out my bracket with Reese's yesterday. I didn't really have any upsets. I had all the one seeds going to the Final Four, because I think that they're just solid. And I want to see those matchups. And of course, I got UConn-South Carolina matching up in the Final Four. As always.

AB: I was going to say, is anyone going to touch UConn?

BS: No.

AB: What's something that you hope players won't have to think about at all in five years?

BS: That's tough…I hope they don't have to feel the stress of knowing if they need to do more or if there's just going to be enough or if they're going to be valued enough because now between leagues like WNBA and Unrivaled, there's going to be reassurances that players are valued.

AB: So basically, you just want them to be able to chill and maybe take a nap. You know, not have to be in marathon meetings.

BS: I just want them to be able to be their best. Like I want them to be able to focus on what they're supposed to do. 

Colby Dorfman is the mind behind the NBA-focused account you absolutely need to be following. halfpast*noon features gorgeous graphics and in-depth YouTube stories. You wouldn’t even believe that they’re only a two-person team, with the quality and quantity of content halfpast*noon is posting. 

Colby told me his inspiration comes from the larger-than-life personas of the players he watched as a kid. He loved magazines and longform stories on athletes that touted their heroism. That early influence became the foundation for everything he’s built now. 

halfpast*noon was also born out of a frustration with what basketball media had become. Since social is “so much fluff on social media and hot takes,” substance can become an afterthought. halfpast*noon is an alternative, built from scratch. “I really wanted to kind of throw it back to what I grew up with…and take a magazine format and put it on social media,” he told me.

halfpast*noon is an act of resistance against the hot takes, rapid-fire content, and surface-level analysis designed more for engagement than substance. But the amazing thing is, despite not posting ragebait or engagement farming, he’s getting the engagement that those other brands are reaching for. 

And that’s because even in this self-fueling clickbait ecosystem the internet has become, his content stands alone in quality. It’s beautiful, it’s informative. You feel something when you watch or look at it, and you can tell he felt something making it.

The balance between old-school editorial, digital aesthetics, and ease of consumability allows halfpast*noon to occupy what he calls “such a weirdly unique spot,” he told me. 

Not to be hyperbolic, but I believe this kind of thoughtfully produced content can save the world. 

Listen to Young Miko.

People of Miami: go to GAME TIME, an art, sports, and headlines conference this weekend at Pérez Art Museum Miami. 

Bake something! And by bake, I mean throw these in the oven.