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On Jan. 17, the new Unrivaled 3-on-3 women’s basketball league will make its debut. The league will consist of six teams comprised of WNBA players competing for a title and various prizes, including an eventual one-on-one tournament where the winner picks up $250,000.
If you’re new to the world of women’s basketball, and wondering what the heck this is all about, you’re in the perfect spot. Unlike the NBA, WNBA players stay quite active in the offseason. In the past, players have gone overseas to make extra money when the WNBA season has ended.
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There are two factors behind that. One is, of course, the love of the game. And the other has to do with making more money. After all, WNBA salaries pale in comparison to NBA salaries. The average WNBA player makes $119,000. That’s why the story about Liz Cambage making more in a week on OnlyFans than her WNBA income made headlines.
This league will pay its athletes a six-figure income closer to $200,000, along with equity stakes in the league moving forward. It also landed broadcasting rights on TNT and TruTV, which adds more exposure to the sport.
Everything to Know About Unrivaled
The other cool aspect of this is that it was founded by two of the league’s brightest stars, New York’s Breanna Stewart and Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier.
“Coming together for something that’s bigger than us has been amazing as well. I think we both see the vision, even with women’s sports already exploding, that it can grow even more,” Collier told Bleacher Report in December.
Stewart added in a recent presser per USA Today’s Meghan L. Hull that the success of the league will be determined by ensuring “the player experience [is] the best one possible” along with coming out with a profit. That profit is boosted with sponsorships they have landed, including Sprite, State Farm, Samsung, and Miller Lite, among others.
The teams won’t be associated with any one city, either. This is essentially pickup ball where the teams were drafted back in November. ESPN went ahead and ranked the teams based on which one is the best, so shout out to Lunar Owls BC—anchored by Collier along with Skylar Diggins-Smith and Shakira Austin —for being the preseason No. 1 team.
Personally, I’m banking on Vinyl BC to be a top team. Dearica Hamby, Aliyah Boston, Rhyne Howard, and Arika Ogunbowale are a ridiculous foursome. And if you’re wondering, no, Caitlin Clark isn’t playing in the league.
Games will all be played in Miami with state-of-the-art facilities and will occur every Monday, Friday, and Saturday for the next eight weeks. Each team plays 14 games in a round-robin format before the top four teams move on to the playoffs on March 16.
Anytime elite athletes get together for something of this nature a la a 3-on-3 tourny, it’s bound to be exciting. Unrivaled has been very impressive in building its foundation, so the debut of this league will be highly anticipated.
Heck, this will be a far better product than watching your favorite NBA players sit out every other game (yes, I’m a bitter 76ers fan).
