Breanna Stewart is signing with European power Fenerbahçe Opet in Türkiye for the 2026 EuroLeague Final Six, the team announced Monday. The single-elimination tournament to determine the EuroLeague champion will be held in Spain from April 15-19.
Stewart currently stars with Mist BC in its second season of Unrivivaled, which she co-founded. The regular season ends February 28 and the playoffs will run through March 4. Stewart is expected to join Team USA for a training camp March 7-8 in Miami and then travel to Türkiye. She is not on the U.S. roster for the FIBA World Cup qualifying tournament, which takes place March 11-16.
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Stewart previously played for Fenerbahçe in the 2022-23 season. She led the team to the EuroLeague title and was named Final Four MVP (the postseason tournament format has since been changed). This season’s Fenerbahçe roster was built even before Stewart arrived, with WNBA All-Stars Kayla McBride, Gabby Williams and Emma Meesseman, as well as Iliana Rupert and Julie Allemand.
Stewart has not played in Europe since this season due to a combination of factors including injuries and the launch of Unrivaled, but she has always spoken positively about her experiences playing overseas. She already played several seasons in Russia before joining Fenerbahçe. Stewart isn’t the only WNBA player to double down during the WNBA offseason. McBride also played a short stint for Fenerbahçe in 2025 after the unrivaled debut season. Tiffany Hayes traveled to Turkey to play for Fenerbahçe’s rival ÇBK Mersin following the 2025 WNBA season, then returned to the United States for the 2026 Unrivaled season.
The EuroLeague Final Six schedule also aligns well with Stewart’s WNBA obligations in 2026. Per the priority clause in the current collective bargaining agreement, players are required to report by the start of the season or May 1, whichever is later. The last possible game for Fenerbahçe would be April 19, which would give Stewart plenty of time to return to the United States to the New York Liberty, or whichever team she signs with during the WNBA offseason.
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The priority should remain in the new collective agreement, but the new conditions will probably not be phased in before 2027.
Stewart, who is vice president of the WNBA players’ union, has recently been optimistic about the progress of the WNBA’s CBA negotiations. On her “Game Recognize Game” podcast, she said: “Our recent CBA proposal that we received, there’s movement, there’s traction, we’re finally heading in a direction, so I’m excited. »
This article was originally published in Athletics.
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