Candace Parker hypes Chelsea Gray as she consolidates Unrivaled MVP case with stellar performance

WNBA legend Candace Parker was hyped for former teammate Chelsea Gray as the Rose BC player essayed a scintillating performance on the final regular season play of the 3-on-3 league on Monday to pad her cause as a possible Most Valuable Player winner at the newly formed Unrivaled Basketball League.

Gray scored 33 points, built on eight 3-pointers, to go along with six rebounds and four assists to lead her team to a dominant 74-46 win over Vinyl BC. The win solidified their hold of the second seed in the Unrivaled semifinals with an 8-6 record.

TNT Sports talent Parker, who won a WNBA title with Chelsea Gray in 2023 with the Las Vegas Aces, took to Instagram stories to share Rose’s photo card of its star guard’s impressive stat line.

Parker highlighted her celebration of Gray’s performance with “yelling fire” emojis.

“🔥🔥🔥🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️,” she wrote.

Gray played in all 14 games for Rose in the regular season, producing team-high numbers of 21.3 points, 5.4 assists and 1.1 steals, to go along with 5.1 rebounds in 19 minutes per game. It thrust her as among the leading contenders for the MVP.

Led by Gray’s steady stellar play, Rose finished the regular season as the No. 2 team heading into the semifinals, where they are to face off with Laces BC.

Apart from Gray and Reese, other members of Rose are Kahleah Copper, Azura Stevens, Brittney Sykes and Lexie Hull.

Chelsea Gray joins Napheesa Collier and Kayla McBride as top contenders for the Unrivaled MVP award

Along with Chelsea Gray, league co-founder Napheesa Collier and her WNBA teammate Kayla McBride are making strong claims for Unrivaled MVP.

Minnesota Lynx superstar Collier was outstanding for Lunar Owls BC in the 14 games she played in the regular season. She leads the league in scoring with 25.7 points, to go along with 10.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists, two steals and 1.4 blocks in 19 minutes per game.

On her lead, Lunar Owls nearly swept the competition to end up with a 13-1 record and earn the top seed heading into the playoffs.

McBride, who is Collier’s Lynx teammate, was the league’s second-leading scorer with 22.2 points on 53.1% shooting. She also had averages of 5.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists and a steal in the 13 games she played for Laces BC (7-7).

All top MVP contenders are now gearing up to lead their respective teams in the playoffs, beginning with the semifinals on March 16 and then the final thereafter on March 17.

Edited by Ruth John S