The fireworks didn’t stop until well past midnight in New York City. The Knicks had just ended a 53-year championship drought, and across the boroughs, the city erupted. In a quiet corner of that celebration, a two-time WNBA champion was watching from home with a knowing smile.
Breanna Stewart, the New York Liberty’s superstar forward, didn’t just watch Game 5 of the NBA Finals—she studied it. And what she saw in Jalen Brunson’s 45-point performance against the San Antonio Spurs felt deeply familiar.
Parallel Paths to New York Glory
When Brunson signed with the Knicks in 2022, he carried the same promise Stewart brought to the Liberty a year later: I came here to win. On Monday night, he delivered. The Knicks closed out the series 4-1 with a 94-90 win, Brunson drilling four three-pointers, grabbing three assists, and swiping two steals while dropping 45 on a desperate Spurs defense.
“Really happy for Jalen,” Stewart told reporters, via Liberty reporter Myles Ehrlich. “The way he closed it out, he was literally going to do whatever he could to finish the series last night.”
A Message That Hit Home
Stewart saw Brunson’s postgame comments and recognized the weight behind them. He said he came to New York specifically to end the drought—not just to play, but to change the city’s basketball narrative. Those words weren’t lost on Stewart, who joined the Liberty in 2023 with a similar mission: bring the first WNBA championship to a franchise that had been hunting one since 1997.
“He said something in the postgame, where he came to New York to win a championship, and very similar sentiments to when JJ and I first came to New York,” Stewart said, referencing Liberty co-owner and minority stakeholder JJ Redick. “We wanted to be the first ones to bring a championship to the Liberty, and people take pride in doing something that hasn’t been done in a long time—or at all.”
Stewart would go on to capture her third WNBA title in 2024, leading the Liberty past the Minnesota Lynx in five games. That ring now sits alongside the Larry O’Brien Trophy that landed in Manhattan this week.
The City That Refuses to Sleep
“New York is the best city in the world,” Stewart added. “For them to be able to bring an NBA championship home after 53 years, it’s huge.”
The Knicks’ victory sparked spontaneous block parties, horn-honking parades through midtown, and a collective exhale from a fanbase that had watched decades of near-misses. Stewart noted the celebration from her own living room: “There were fireworks going off until who knows when.”
But the Liberty forward knows the party won’t last forever—and neither will the focus on just one New York team. She reminded reporters that the Liberty currently sit at 10-4, holding the third-best record in the WNBA and leading the Eastern Conference standings. The question she posed carried a clear message: “Let’s talk about that in October.”
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