Unrivaled: Phantom trio headlines award winners

The 2026 Unrivaled regular season is the books, and before the playoffs tip off, the announced this year’s award winners.

While the Most Valuable Player announcement is still to come, here’s who has captured the major hardware thus far:

Here’s more on why these stars (and coaching star) were honored as Unrivaled’s very best.

Defensive Player of the Year: Aliyah Boston (Phantom)

It’s been a banner second Unrivaled season for Boston, and that begins with how she distinguished herself on the defensive end. AB’s consistent engagement and effort on that side of the ball anchored Phantom to Unrivaled’s second-best defense.

The Ghost Gang allowed opponents to score 66.5 points per game and just one point per shot attempt; they also held opponents the the second-lowest 2-point field goal percentage. All those markers are indicators of Boston’s influence.

Individually, she led the league with 2.1 blocks per game, which she complemented with almost a steal per contest, giving her a league-high three stocks per game. Boston also finished third in defensive rebounding, helping Phantom close out possessions, and kickstart their transition offense, with almost eight defensive boards per game.

Although some might try to undercut her case due to her fouling, Boston averaged less than three fouls per game; that’s a more than reasonable cost for her overwhelmingly positive impact.

First Team All-Unrivaled: Chelsea Gray (Rose), Paige Bueckers (Breeze), Kelsey Plum (Phantom)

Gray’s case is pretty obvious. (And likely MVP-winning.)

This season, Gray has stamped herself as one of women’s basketball’s greatest winners and competitors. Whenever Rose needed a win, Gray rose to the occasion, digging her team out of a deficit, hitting clutch shot after clutch shot, making the right play and doing whatever was demanded to deliver the W. If not for Gray, Rose would not be returning to the playoffs with a chance to defend their title; they might not even have a single win.

All those intangibles are supported by tangible, top-of-the-league production.

Gray finishes the season second in the league at 24.2 points per game and first with 6.3 assists. She also led the league in 3-point percentage, converting 48 percent for 3.5 3s per game. An absolute offensive maestro, she also averaged 1.3 steals per game, good for sixth in the league.

The 1-on-1 Tournament champion, Gray better be adding (at least) one more trophy to her case.

Bueckers’ All-Unrivaled First Team candidacy is similar to that of Gray’s. Just as Rose would have drowned without the Point Gawd, Breeze would have been lost, and thus suffered a lot more losses, without Paige. Like Gray, Bueckers was responsible for being the offensive orchestrator for Breeze, tasked with balancing her scoring and playmaking in order to produce the best outcomes for her club. At the same time, she also remained an active participant on the defensive end.

And, Bueckers did all that as an Unrivaled rookie for the league’s least-experienced team. Bueckers still thrived under that burden, more often than not making things look easy.

With more the 22 points per game, she was the league’s fourth-leading scorer, which she achieved with her trademark efficiency, with her field goal percentage of 51.5 percent leading all perimeter players. From the line, Unrivaled’s first Free Throw Challenge winner matched Gray at 92.3 percent. Her 5.5 assists per game was second only to Gray. She topped all that off with more than six rebounds per game.

When assigning credit for Phantom’s success, it’s hard to extricate Boston and Plum from each other. Their two-woman game emerged as Unrivaled’s most dangerous action, deadly due to the versatility of both players. So, while Boston was named to the Second Team, let’s discuss them together here.

Plum’s effectiveness in the pick-and-roll is amplified by her ability to pull-up for a 3, stop and pop in the midrange or drive all the way to the hoop. Then, she could find Boston in multiple ways, largely due to Aliyah’s multifaceted skill set. An excellent screener (moving or not), Boston not only can roll at the way to the basket, where she’s an easy target and efficient finisher due to her length and touch, but also can capably operate out of the short roll, receiving the ball at the free throw line where she can take the jumper, drive to the basket or hit a cutter.

Because of the effectiveness of their partnership, they combined to average almost 42 points per game, with KP putting in 22.6 points per night and AB adding almost 19 per game. Boston was one of the league most efficient finishers, converting 55 percent of her shots, while Plum cashed in on better than 40 percent of her nearly seven 3-point attempts per game. Plum also finished third in the league in assists per game with five, with Boston also dishing 2.5 dimes per contest; the two coughed up the ball only slightly more than three times per game combined, captaining Phantom’s league-best-2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Their dynamism as a duo drove Phantom to Unrivaled’s most efficient and cohesive offense. The Ghost Gang averaged 1.10 points per shot attempt, while their 51.9 assisted shot rate outpaced the rest of the league by more than 10 percent.

Second Team All-Unrivaled: Aliyah Boston (Phantom), Brittney Sykes (Laces), Allisha Gray (Mist)

With Boston covered above, this Second Team section will be centered on two of the most dynamic, dangerous scorers of the 2026 season: Sykes and Gray.

It was impossible to ignore Brittney Sykes’ stellar second Unrivaled season.

Slim emerged as the unexpected offensive engine for Laces, bringing consistent aggression and newfound efficiency. She averaged over 20 points per game, a production generated not only through her powerful drives but also sniping from behind the arc. Sykes made more than two triples per game, finishing 40 percent of her long-range attempts. She also added 4.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals to her per game resume.

An arguable All-Unrivaled snub last season, Gray made sure she grabbed a spot this season by being even better.

Like Sykes, a lack of hesitancy defined Gray’s scoring repertoire. She was always ready to bomb away from deep, hitting almost 40 percent of her 6.6 3-point attempts per game. She complemented her 3-point threat with a down-hill drive game that helped her covert better than 56 percent of her 2-point attempts. Those drives also allowed her to earn more than two free throws per game, when she cashed in on to a tune of $50,000, winning the second round of Unrivaled’s Free Throw Challenge by finishing the season 14-for-14 from the line.

Gray’s offensive explosiveness helped Mist register Unrivaled’s highest-scoring offense. And her impact might best be appreciated in absentia. After scoring 90 or more points in three-straight games, Mist barely cracked 70 points in their finale, which Gray missed due to illness.

Gray’s also not just a one-way player. A dogged defender, Gray swiped at least a steal per game, advantaging Mist’s defensive not just with her aggressiveness but also her verstatility.

Coach of the Year: Roneeka Hodges (Phantom)

Whether the qualification for Coach of the Year indexes on season-over-season improvement, the exceeding of expectations or team record, Hodges qualifies on all counts.

Although Phantom benefitted from a better, more cohesive roster, the Ghost Gang’s eventual emergence as the No. 1 seed was still unexpected. Exceptional player performances, headlined by aforementioned excellence of Boston and Plum, certainly explain Phantom’s successes, yet it was Hodges who put them in position to reach these heights.

While understanding the Plum-Boston partnership should be Phantom’s offensive foundation, she still helped foster an egalitarian system that involved all five active players, evidenced by the club’s league-best assist rate referenced above. She also instilled a commitment to the defensive end, not simply allowing the club’s offense to carry them to wins.

Hodges also had the right mien for this team. With a roster that thrived through a joyful competitiveness, Hodges provided the perfect counterbalance with her controlled, attention-to-detail intensity. She meant business, but did not diminish her club’s buoyancy. The combination of her strategy and personality led Phantom to the most-efficient offense, second-stingiest defense, best record and No. 1 seed—and to Hodges being named Coach of the Year.