Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart has been named the 2018 WNBA Most Valuable Player.
Stewart becomes the second player in Storm history to earn the title after Lauren Jackson.
“It feels really good to win the MVP,” Stewart told The Seattle Times. “But it feels even better to be back in this type of environment and in this type of groove if you know what I mean.
“I’m happiest when I’m winning and doing everything I can to consistently get these wins and to leave it all on the court and show that I’m the best one out there.”
In her third WNBA season, Stewart averaged 21.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, helping the Storm to achieve the league's best record at 26-8. In addition to setting the franchise's single-season record for points at 742, Stewart broke her own personal record of 20-plus points per game, averaging 22. She scored more than 25 points 15 times and 30 points five times.
Three of Stewart's five 30-plus point games came in the month of July, making the forward an easy candidate for the WNBA Western Conference Player of the Month, the first Storm player to win the award since Jackson in 2010.
Stewart led the Storm to 26 wins, the second all-time highest in franchise history (28 in 2010). The Storm won 13 games on the road, setting a franchise record and tying a league-high number.
Stewart will be awarded the league's MVP award before Sunday's WNBA Semifinals Game 1 at 2 p.m. PT between No. 1 seed Seattle and No. 5 seed Phoenix Mercury. The Storm then hosts Game 2 on Tuesday, August 28 at 7 p.m. PT.
The WNBA also announced that Storm guard Sue Bird has been named the recipient of the 2018 Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award. This is the third such honor for Bird, who also received the award in 2017.
