NEW YORK (AP) — Breanna Stewart will be a paid ambassador for the WNBA this season.
The reigning MVP tore her right Achilles tendon while playing overseas this winter and because the league has no injury list for teams, the Seattle Storm suspended Stewart without pay to free up a roster spot.
The WNBA will pay Stewart in excess of the roughly $65,000 base salary she would have made with the Storm, agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas confirmed to the AP on Friday.
Colas told the AP that the deal was done Thursday in discussion with deputy NBA commissioner Mark Tatum, who has been serving as the interim WNBA President. This was after Seattle and Stewart mutually agreed on the suspension.
Seattle offered to keep Stewart on the roster and pay her full salary, but the reigning MVP said she wanted to help the team be the best it could be by not taking up an active roster spot.
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