New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart has been named the 2023 WNBA MVP after an impressive regular season that saw her lead New York to a 32-8 record alongside Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones.

Stewart was also named the WNBA MVP in 2018 when she was a member of the Seattle Storm.

Stewart is the first player in Liberty history to be named MVP and the first player in New York professional basketball to win the honor since 1969-70.

Liberty General Manager Jonathan Kolb said in a statement:

"Stewie's first season with the New York Liberty has been nothing short of historic on every level. The constant resiliency, belief, selflessness, toughness, and professionalism she has brought to the Liberty on a nightly basis is an incredibly rare combination—culminating in such a special season, both personally and collectively. We could not be more thrilled for Stewie to receive the highest individual honor in our game, which is incredibly deserved, and for her to continue propelling both our organization and the WNBA to new levels."

Stewart beat out Connecticut Sun star Alyssa Thomas and Las Vegas Aces veteran A'ja Wilson for the honor. Stewart and Thomas were separated by just seven points, which is the second-smallest margin of victory in the award's history, per ESPN's Alexa Philippou.

The 29-year-old won her first MVP in 2018 after averaging 21.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks in 34 games while shooting 52.9 percent from the floor and 41.5 percent from deep.

Stewart led the Storm to a 26-8 record and a WNBA title in 2018. She won two championships in her six seasons in Seattle with the other title coming in 2020.

Stewart put together arguably the best season of her career in 2023 in her first year with the Liberty. She averaged 23.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.6 blocks in 40 games while shooting 46.5 percent from the floor and 35.5 percent from deep.

The Liberty finished the regular season with the second-best record in the WNBA and Stewart helped the franchise capture the Commissioner's Cup. New York is currently down 0-1 to the Sun in the semifinals with a berth in the WNBA Finals on the line.

Stewart is the eighth player in WNBA history to win multiple MVP awards and just the second player to win the award with more than one franchise.

"It's definitely an honor to be able to say this is my second and to be able to do it in a Liberty jersey for the first time ever," Stewart told Philippou. "I'm excited for what's going to come tonight, and hopefully the fans are going to go nuts."

Stewart made what is considered one of the biggest decisions in WNBA history when she opted to leave the Storm and sign with the Liberty as a free agent in February.

"I decided to go to New York because I want to continue to be great," Stewart told ESPN's Malika Andrews at the time. "And I want to go to the place where I can continue to help this league become better, to continue to raise the standard. And I feel like why not go to the biggest market in all of sports. And I'm really excited to go after their first championship."

With the Liberty down 0-1 to the Sun, Stewart and New York will have to dig deep to even the series on Tuesday night at Barclays Center.