Unrivaled, a new 3×3 winter basketball league co-founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, announced its rosters Wednesday, marking the latest step ahead of its first season beginning this January.
The league, which will tip off on Jan. 17, aims to keep players fresh and provide a domestic alternative to athletes looking to compete and supplement income during the WNBA offseason.
Unrivaled splits a pool of 34 players into six teams, with two teams having still-open wild card roster spots. To determine the rosters, players were organized into six pods — A through F — with each pod featuring guards, wings or bigs. The league’s six coaches then worked together to select one player from each pod, assigning them to one of the six clubs. The coaches set the rosters without knowing which team would be theirs to coach and worked to create well-rounded rosters.
Unrivaled features most of the WNBA’s top players. It promises to pay the highest average salary in women’s professional sports league history and will give equity in the league to its inaugural participants, enabling the athletes to profit from it for years to come. The league has a long list of high-powered investors, including Alex Morgan, Carmelo Anthony, Steve Nash, Megan Rapinoe and former ESPN and Turner presidents John Skipper and David Levy.
The rosters for the six teams
Vinyl (coached by Teresa Weatherspoon):
Arike Ogunbowale, guard, Dallas Wings
Rhyne Howard, wing, Atlanta Dream
Aliyah Boston, big, Indiana Fever
Jordin Canada, guard, Dream
Rae Burrell, wing, Los Angeles Sparks
Dearica Hamby, big, Sparks
Rose (coached by Nola Henry):
Chelsea Gray, guard, Las Vegas Aces
Kahleah Copper, wing, Phoenix Mercury
Angel Reese, forward, Chicago Sky
Brittney Sykes, guard, Washington Mystics
Lexie Hull, wing, Fever
Azurá Stevens, big, Sparks
Mist (coached by Phil Handy):
Jewell Loyd, guard, Seattle Storm
DiJonai Carrington, wing, Connecticut Sun
Stewart, big, New York Liberty
Courtney Vandersloot, guard, Liberty
Rickea Jackson, wing, Sparks
Aaliyah Edwards, big, Mystics
Lunar Owls (coached by DJ Sackmann):
Skylar Diggins-Smith, guard, Storm
Allisha Gray, wing, Dream
Collier, big, Minnesota Lynx
Natasha Cloud, guard, Mercury
Shakira Austin, big, Mystics
Wildcard
Phantom (coached by Adam Harrington):
Jackie Young, guard, Aces
Marina Mabrey, wing, Sun
Satou Sabally, big, Wings
Tiffany Hayes, guard, Aces
Brittney Griner, big, Mercury
Wildcard
Laces (coached by Andrew Wade):
Kelsey Plum, guard, Aces
Kayla McBride, wing, Lynx
Alyssa Thomas, big, Sun
Courtney Williams, guard, Lynx
Kate Martin, wing, Aces
Stefanie Dolson, big, Mystics
How the coaches were chosen
Unrivaled’s six coaches reflect an emphasis on player development as several have served that role on either NBA or WNBA staffs. Prior to her time as the Sky’s head coach, Weatherspoon was a player development coach and assistant coach with the New Orleans Pelicans. Handy, a three-time NBA champion, has been an NBA assistant coach for over a decade. Harrington is a former NBA player with a decade of experience as a shooting coach with the Oklahoma City Thunder as well as an assistant coach and director of player development with the Brooklyn Nets.
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Wade most recently served as the Mystics’ head video coordinator and player development assistant. Henry has collegiate coaching experience and recently wrapped up her fourth season in the WNBA as an assistant coach with the Sparks. Sackmann is an acclaimed NBA and WNBA skills coach with more than 15 years of experience.
After player rosters were created, coaches were assigned one of the six teams.
When and where to watch games
The season begins in January and will run for eight weeks, concluding with a championship set for mid-March.
In mid-October, the league announced it had reached a multi-year deal with TNT Sports, and will have its games broadcast on TNT, TruTV and streamed on Max. Games will air on TNT on Monday and Friday nights, as well as Saturday night on TruTV.
In partnership with Mediapro North America, Unrivaled will host competition at a new, nearly 130,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art production facility in Miami. The facility will feature various spaces, including meeting rooms, training facilities, a cafeteria with nutritionists and a childcare room.
How gameplay will compare to the WNBA
The format of Unrivaled is a modified 3×3 game. The international version is a half-court game played to 21, while Unrivaled games will be four quarters. Unrivaled will also be played on a compressed full court that is about 70 feet long. The extra space is designed to give players room to showcase their skills and also reduce the wear and tear on their bodies.
WNBA players have historically played overseas during the offseason to supplement their incomes from domestic salaries. However, playing year-round puts a strain on their bodies and requires personal sacrifices. It also often keeps WNBA players out of sight, and thus out of mind, for most of the year, hampering their marketability and the growth of the sport for months at a time.
Will Caitlin Clark participate in Unrivaled’s first season?
Clark is not one of the 34 participants currently part of the league. Nevertheless, league president Alex Bazzell told Sportico “we’re always going to have a roster spot” for Clark. Skipper, who is also an advisor to the league, confirmed on a recent episode of “Pablo Torre Finds Out” that Unrivaled has been in discussions with last year’s Rookie of the Year. Still, she has not signed on.
That Unrivaled is interested in Clark should come as no surprise, especially considering Clark’s overall economic impact, that her representation (Excel Sports Management) also reps Collier, and that there are shared partners (State Farm being the most recent) between Clark and the league. Nevertheless, after having almost no breaks between the start of her senior season at Iowa and the end of her first professional season with the Fever, Clark appears to be taking a break from high-level competition.
Other WNBA stars, including A’ja Wilson and Sabrina Ionescu, have also not currently joined Unrivaled. And while UConn star Paige Bueckers will not be playing in the league this season, she signed an NIL deal with the league, making her the first NCAA athlete to receive ownership equity in a league.
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(Photo: David Berding / Getty Images)
