Fever's Sophie Cunningham Reacts to Breanna Stewart Playing Through Knee Injury

"It's not an Olympic year, it's not a big year outside of the WNBA," she started. "You play through it if you can and I think that's what she's done and they had a great game, a hell of a win against Phoenix in Phoenix, which is hard to do - especially in the playoffs."

"You could kind of tell that she was injured, but Stewie's just a dawg, man. She's one of those people that will play through it because she was out earlier with her opposite knee earlier this year...Honestly I talked a lot of s***, but deep down I don't ever want anyone to be injured...that's sad for everyone. She did just strain it and I completely tore mine. Completely tearing is like I had no option to keep playing whereas she literally just strained it so I'm assuming it was a Grade 1 or maybe a really low Grade 2, but I'm sure it's still f***ing painful."

Following the series loss to the Mercury, Stewart came to the defense of her coach, Sandy Brondello, when a reporter asked if she should be back next season.

"To anybody that kind of questions Sandy being there, this is a resilient group," Stewart said. "She has our back and we have hers. The way she continues to deal with the cards she was dealt was incredible. It wasn't easy for anybody, but she came in with a positive attitude and a mindset to put us in our best position possible and best foot forward. We're not going to be a team that points fingers. There's a lot of us that could've done better this season. But we're still going to fight and show up for each other every single day, and I think that's the most important part."

Stewart's character was on full display in a tough playoff series loss.