"Breanna Stewart is a super team merchant": Fans revisit 3x WNBA champ's championship ultimatum on Caitlin Clark's college legacy

New York Liberty superstar Breanna Stewart's previous comments about Caitlin Clark's inability to win a national championship with the Iowa Hawkeyes resurfaced on social media, with basketball fans continuing to debate the impact it will have on Clark's legacy.

In 2024, Stewart was asked by SiriusXM's Nicole Auerbach whether Clark had to win an NCAA championship to be regarded as one of the greatest women's college basketball players of all time.

"Yeah. She does," Stewart said. "Anybody knows your goal when you play college basketball is to win a national championship."

Stewart, who has four NCAA titles to her name from her days with Connecticut, and three more rings in the WNBA, knows how hard it can be to secure a title. Her comments, however, seemed to rattle many fans with a few of them bringing up UConn's "super team" and the support that Stewart has received from teammates over the years.

"Breanna is a super team merchant," said on fan.

"Stewie and her teammates went 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the draft," said a fan.

Best PLAYER of all time. Not team. Why are yall so dense? One-on-one Clark beats Stewart 9 games out of 10," said one fan.

"Stewie went to UCONN and played with some of the top women recruits and the best women’s college coach," commented a fan.

"It's easy to say that when you're on a stacked team," said a fan.

While many fans pushed back on Stewart's views on the subject, others found themselves agreeing with the All-Star forward.

"And she is absolutely correct," commented one fan.

Thing is: for people who actually excel & win championships in sports, it's an insult to compare them to those who haven't," said a fan.

Caitlin Clark's otherwise impressive college career is incomplete without an NCAA championship. During her four years in Iowa City, the skilled point guard broke Iowa, Big Ten, and NCAA records, most notably the NCAA's all-time points record, which was previously held by LSU's Pete Maravich.

While Clark's Hawkeyes teams were always competitive (they reached the title game in her junior and senior years), Iowa never made it across the last hurdle.

Breanna Stewart guides New York Liberty to first-ever WNBA championship

New York Liberty forwards Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Breanna Stewart celebrate after winning the 2024 WNBA Finals at Barclays Center. Photo Credit: Imagn

2024 was a special year for the New York Liberty and Breanna Stewart. While Stewart had already won two rings with the Seattle Storm, the New York Liberty were still in search of their first title going into the 2024 season.

Coach Sandy Brondello's team entered the campaign as one of the early-season favorites, and they did not disappoint. Led by All-Stars Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu, the Liberty won 32 regular season games and defeated the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA Finals.

The Liberty were founded in 1997, one of the eight original WNBA franchises. They had come close in the past, but after a long 27-year wait, the Liberty finally brought home the city's first WNBA trophy.