WNBA Star Breanna Stewart Talks Joining Puma Hoops, Creating a Signature Shoe —and Getting Engaged!

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Breanna Stewart is the newest PUMA Hoops athlete!

On Wednesday, the company announced Stewart, 26, as the latest athlete to join the already star-studded roster of her fellow WNBA players Skylar Diggins-Smith, Katie Lou Samuelson and Jackie Young. On the NBA side, players LaMelo Ball and Kyle Kuzma also rep PUMA Hoops as ambassadors.

Stewart's new deal with PUMA comes after Nike signed her in 2016 when she was the No. 1 pick in the 2016 WNBA draft.

"The partnership came about because I was a sneaker free agent and to be able to kind of switch gears and go over to PUMA was the change that I needed," the Seattle Storm star tells PEOPLE. "I'm excited to see what the future holds with PUMA, being a part of their team, and also continuing to elevate the game for women in sports, women's basketball and bringing the industry and setting the standards to new heights."

The reigning WNBA champion adds, "When you get on the court, one of the first things that people look at is, 'What shoes are they wearing?' So the odds of me rocking the PUMAs for my first game back in the WNBA to start the season is something that I'm really looking forward to."

RELATED: WNBA Star Breanna Stewart Engaged to Marta Xargay Casademont: 'She Said Yes'

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Stewart, who won two championships in 2018 and 2020 with the Seattle Storm, recently secured the EuroLeague championship title overseas with Russian team UMMC Ekaterinburg in April and was named MVP. Both on and off the court, Stewart has been making waves with her athletic skills and being an advocate for equal pay in sports.

"You have the opportunity to use your shoe to tell a story and send a message. I'm excited to be able to do that going forward and continuing to kind of share the same story as PUMA," she says, noting that she hopes her footwear pushes especially the "idea of equality, continuing to fight for equality because unfortunately, we aren't there yet. Not everybody is treated the same."

Along with "continuing to put an emphasis on making our world a better place" and creating an "industry better for the next generation" of women athletes, Stewart will soon be working on her first signature shoe with PUMA. "A signature shoe has been in the talks and it's something that I'm happy to say is going to become a reality," she says, noting the brand has been "instilling confidence and faith in me to be able to do that."

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In addition to the announcement of her new PUMA endorsement deal, Stewart has had many other exciting developments in her life. "I'm probably in the best place I've been as far as my career. I'm ready to go," she says of the next WNBA season, which tips off May 14.

Stewart hopes to "level up" her game in "all aspects on and off the court." And level up she did: Earlier this month, she proposed to her now-fiancée Marta Xargay Casademont in Arizona.

"I was so nervous and I don't know why, because I knew the answer was going to be yes," she recalls worrying about "setting the scene and making sure everything was perfect." Xargay, a Spanish basketball player on the Phoenix Mercury roster, had gone to a workout and left Stewart in their room.

"I was just in the room, like freaking out. I felt like there was a weight on my chest, shortness of breath. I was like, 'Am I having an anxiety attack?' I did yoga, I was trying to do all the things to calm the nerves," Stewart says. "Then we went to this area near Scottsdale. I wanted to kind of go to the Hole in the Rock in [Papago Park] in Phoenix, but it was too busy and especially with COVID, we didn't go there. So I was just making her walk around almost in the desert and she was not feeling it. Then, I was like, 'Oh, let's just do it here. Let's take another picture.' She kind of figured it out when she saw the ring box."

The athlete adds, "It was an awesome moment for us. [We're] just excited to continue our lives together and take that going forward."

Though wedding planning is in the very early stages, Stewart has thought about wearing a special PUMA shoe for their big day. "That would be fire," she says. "I don't know exactly what my outfit is going to be, but if it can, if it goes, if there's some way that it can kind of tie it all together, wearing my signature suit on the aisle would be cool."

Also exciting is that Xargay, who had played for the Mercury in 2015 and 2016, is back in training camp with Phoenix for the first time since. "To be with someone who's been in the basketball world for so long, she gets it. She understands the ins and outs. She's had so much success. It's really cool for the opportunities that we have the ability to both be in the WNBA," Stewart shares.

Just days before the Storm plays the Las Vegas Aces for their first game of 2021, Stewart is more excited than ever to be back at Alaska Airlines Arena in Washington.

"I haven't played in Seattle since 2018 because, in 2019, I was injured. And in 2020, we were in the bubble [in Florida]. Looking forward to being back here to appreciate this city, the fans, and really enjoying the moment with my teammates and coaches," she says. "We are going to have a limited number of fans in Seattle, maybe it's only going to be 2,000 fans. But I'm sure they're going to be extremely loud. I'm really looking forward to being back home in Seattle."