STEWART HEADING TO NEW YORK
Breanna Stewart couldn’t turn down a chance to play in New York and potentially help the Liberty win their first WNBA championship.
The most coveted free agent this offseason, who won the WNBA MVP award in 2018, announced on social media that she was going to New York with a photo of her in a Liberty shirt on Wednesday. Stewart had spent her entire career in Seattle since the Storm drafted her No. 1 overall in 2016. She won two championships with the team in 2018 and 2020.
“I feel like why not go to the biggest market in all of sports. I’m excited to go after their first championship,” Stewart said in an interview on ESPN.
The 28-year-old wing has averaged 20.3 points and 8.6 rebounds in her WNBA career. She missed the 2019 season with an Achilles injury.
By coming to New York it brings Stewart closer to home. She grew up in Syracuse, which is an hour flight from New York. It also is an easier flight to Spain to see her wife Marta’s family.
The move turns the Liberty into an instant championship contender. New York is one of the WNBA’s original franchises, but has never won a championship. The Liberty already added 2021 MVP Jonquel Jones and
Kayla Thornton through a three-way deal to complement 2020 No. 1 draft pick
Sabrina Ionescu.
Wednesday was the first day that free agents could sign with teams. Other moves announced included:
Brittney Sykes with Washington; Lexie Brown and Stephanie Talbot with Los Angeles; Teaira McCowan with Dallas, Alysha Clark and Cayla George with Las Vegas and AD Durr and Nia Coffey with Atlanta.
Soccer
Kylian Mbappe’s night went from bad to worse when he missed a twice-taken penalty for Paris SaintGermain against Montpellier and blazed the rebound over the crossbar before limping off injured later in the game.
Goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte saved Mbappe’s first effort and, after the referee ordered it to be re-taken, made an outstanding save to push Mbappe’s effort onto the right post.
Mbappe somehow missed an open goal when the rebound fell to him and he fired the ball high over the crossbar. Leader PSG still won 3-1.
• Manchester United defeated
Nottingham Forest to seal a 5-0 aggregate victory in the League Cup semifinals to move a win away from ending the club’s six-year trophy wait. United will face Newcastle in the final at Wembley Stadium on Feb. 26 for the English season’s first piece of major silverware.
Sports and courts
Josh Sills, a reserve offensive lineman for the NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles, has been indicted on rape and kidnapping charges that stem from an incident in Ohio just over three years ago, authorities said.
Sills, an undrafted free agent who appeared in just one game this season, was placed on the commissioner’s exempt list. That means he can’t practice, play or travel with the team as it prepares for the Super Bowl.
• University of Denver basketball player Coban Porter has been charged with felony counts of vehicular homicide and vehicular assault stemming from a suspected drunken-driving crash that killed a 42-yearold woman. Porter is the brother of Denver Nuggets star Michael Porter Jr.
• A second former North Carolina State athlete has sued the school alleging that he had been sexually abused by the Wolfpack’s former director of sports medicine, Robert Murphy Jr., under the guise of treatment.
Also
Paced by sophomore
Justin Hastings’ tie for ninth out of 66 golfers at 1under 215, the 20th-ranked San Diego State men’s golf team finished in a tie for eighth out of 12 teams at 21over-par 885 in the Southwestern Invitational at North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village.
• Novak Djokovic apparently played with a tear in his left hamstring that was more than an inch long along the way to winning the championship.
• Latvia has threatened to boycott next year’s Paris Olympics if athletes from Russia and ally Belarus are allowed to take part after the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
• Two people familiar with the deal say utilityman
Dylan Moore and the Seattle Mariners have agreed to a three-year contract worth $8,875,000, avoiding a salary arbitration hearing.
• Authorities say a Vermont man died after participating in a brawl among spectators at a middle school basketball game.