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Both benefit from the new popularity of women’s sports
Unrivaled, the new 3-on-3 women’s pro basketball league, begins play this Friday, Jan. 17. It is one of two off-season domestic opportunities for WNBA players to get their game on without going overseas: Athletes Unlimited (AU) begins its fourth season Feb. 5.
While Unrivaled is completely stocked with WNBAers, AU is a traditional five-on-five league with 40 W and non-W players participating without coaches and rotating team captains redrafting players each week.
The Unrivaled games will be played on Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays over a two-month period on a 70-by-50 foot compacted full court. A round-robin schedule is set, and the top four teams will advance to the playoffs. All games are scheduled to be played in Miami.
“It’s like [what] we did in the Wubble back during Covid,” said Dearica Hamby, comparing it to when the entire 2020 WNBA season was played at one site in Florida. She, Jordin Canada, and Aliyah Boston from the Vinyl BC squad spoke to reporters, including the MSR, on the January 7 Zoom call.
“We get to spend time with the other girls,” continued Hamby, the 6’3” forward who plays for the Los Angeles Sparks and has been in the W since 2015. “We’re all hanging out in the training room, sharing stories. We can see just from everybody the energy and the order that’s going around here.”
Hamby also has experience playing 3×3 basketball, selected to fill a vacancy on the USA’s women’s 3×3 basketball team for the 2024 Paris Olympics — 36 players plus six coaches are in the Unrivaled league, which was co-founded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart.
South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley, USC player JuJu Watkins, and Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo are among the first group of investors who helped secure $28 million to fund a players’ salary pool.
“For her to be an investor,” added Boston, who played for Staley at South Carolina, “I think it just shows how much she truly wants to continue to invest in women’s sports. It’s always amazing just having her as a coach, as a mentor, definitely as an investor in something like this.”
The 2025 AU season will be played in Nashville for the first time.
Unrivaled and AU both are riding on the current popularity wave that women’s sports are enjoying, especially basketball. “I think over the last recent years you’ve seen our game grow tremendously, not just in professional but college as well,” said Hamby. “I think people are really starting to recognize the talent level of us and college players as well.
“People are starting to invest in our trajectory, which is on the up and up,” said the LA forward. “We’re still continuing to improve and get better. I think it’s great for what it’s doing for the W, for college basketball, and women’s sports in general. It’s only gonna get better from here.”
Four of the six Unrivaled coaches are Black, including Teresa Weatherspoon. “I love her,” admitted Hamby on T-Spoon, a former WNBA player and coach, and HOF.
“I love her energy. I think that was the first thing when we got on the court — her energy was just amazing. It makes you want to just play hard and give it your all.”
Finally, sistahs also will be involved in the Unrivaled telecasts. W legends Candace Parker and Renee Montgomery will be in the studio, with special appearances by fellow legend Lisa Leslie. A rotation of veteran reporters will include Taylor Rooks, Stephanie Ready and Roz Gold-Onwude.
More than 45 primetime regular season games will be shown live on TNT and truTV, along with all games streamed on Max.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.
