MIAMI — Breanna Stewart was locked in last month during the WNBA’s first expansion draft since 2008.
She knew the Liberty were at risk of losing a valuable piece of their 2024 championship-winning team to the Golden State Valkyries.
After all, only six players per team could be marked off-limits.
In New York’s case, that meant only one reserve outside the starting five could be protected.
When Kayla Thornton was announced, Stewart’s entire five-step grieving process unfolded on social media.
First, disbelief.
“Bruh,” Stewart wrote on X.
Then, anger.
“Ruby [Stewart’s daughter] gonna be pissed.”
Bargaining.
“Yall don’t even have boroughs!!!!!! Papa John’s?!?!”
After a quick bout of depression, the acceptance set in.
“They got a dawg, we love you KT,” Stewart wrote in a post.
For the first time since Thornton was drafted to the Valkyries, Stewart, on Thursday at the new 3-on-3 league Unrivaled, spoke about what Golden State has in the 6-foot-1 forward — and what the Liberty lost.
“I really tried to live tweet my reaction of losing KT,” Stewart told The Post after her Unrivaled team’s practice. “She’s a dog, she’s a workhorse and really happy for her to continue to kind of lead in a new franchise but obviously sad to have lost her because she was key for us winning and knowing she’s much better playing with than playing against.”
Thornton, 32, averaged 5.5 points and 2.6 rebounds per game while shooting 35.7 percent from deep last season, her second with New York.
During the postseason, she averaged the second-most minutes among the Liberty’s reserves.
Thornton is one of three players the Valkyries have under contract for the 2025 season.
Kate Martin and Stephanie Talbot are the other two.
Martin, who’s participating in Unrivaled’s inaugural season, said she hasn’t spoken to Thornton yet but is excited to have a veteran with championship experience help lead Golden State in its first WNBA season.
“I’m definitely gonna prefer being her teammate than having to play against her,” Martin said. “She’s just a very solid player. She doesn’t really make a lot of mistakes. She’s a really good defender. She’s super strong, has a good shot, corner 3 specialist. But she can do a little bit of everything and so you want those people on your team and she seems like a really good teammate.
“It’s just a really exciting time and I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun to start something from the beginning and to work towards [a] common goal,” Martin continued. “That’s the whole thing about being a team… that’s the best part about basketball is that camaraderie so I’m really excited to get there and meet everybody and start playing.”
