Winning one championship is already hard enough. Repeating can seem almost impossible. Only three teams have done it so far. The Aces won consecutive titles in 2022 and 2023, the Sparks did it in 2001 and 2002, and the Houston Comets are still the only team to win more than two consecutive titles, winning the first four championships in league history.
Nevertheless, Breanna Stewart believes that the Seattle Storm could have won three consecutive championships in 2018, 2019, and 2020—if she hadn’t missed the 2019 season with an injury.
“I think it’s a hot topic,” Stewart said when she appeared on The Pivot Podcast hosted by Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor, and Channing Crowder. “We won in 2018. In 2019, I ruptured my Achilles, so I didn’t play in 2019, but I think we would have 2018, 2019.”
She added, “You’re never gonna know but we would have run it back with the same team.”
What if Stewart hadn’t gotten hurt? For Stewart, the answer is clear, and, perhaps, that makes it hurt even more for fans.
The Storm had a strong core for several years
The Storm went into the 2018 season with a core of Breanna Stewart, Sue Bird, Jewell Loyd, and Natasha Howard. All four of them averaged between 10.1 and 21.8 points per game. Stewart also led the team in rebounds with 8.4 per game, and Bird dished out 7.1 assists. Howard averaged 1.3 steals and 2 blocks per game.
They were surrounded by a supporting cast of Alysha Clark, Jordin Canada, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Crystal Langhorne, Courtney Paris, Sami Whitcomb, Noelle Quinn, and Mercedes Russell.
The Storm breezed through the 2018 season with only eight losses. They also took down the Mercury and Mystics in the playoffs.
A year later, Stewart, Loyd, Howard, and Bird were ready to run it back. Stewart ruptured her Achilles, and Bird needed knee surgery. Led by Howard, Loyd, Canada, and Clark, the Storm still made the playoffs, but lost to the Sparks in the second round. If Stewart and Bird had been healthy, the playoffs could have looked much different.
The Storm’s 2020 season certainly proved that Bird, Stewart, Loyd, and Howard were a championship core. They lost only four games in 2020, despite the added strain of playing in the bubble and watching the entire world struggle with COVID. They didn’t lose a single game in the playoffs, sweeping the Minnesota Lynx and Las Vegas Aces.
After that, the core four didn’t last much longer. In 2021, Howard was traded to the Liberty. Bird retired after the 2022 season, and Stewart signed with the Liberty in free agency. Loyd was traded to the Aces ahead of the 2025 season.