Unrivaled basketball stars praise league for advancing women’s sports

MEDLEY, Fla. — Angel Reese is happy at work.

“We get to workout, use the weight room, create new bonds/friendships, get treatment, get massages, use the sauna, getting 2 meals a day, and then a facial before I leave for the day??? yea i love it here,” Reese shared in a social media post.

It may not seem like a lot to ask for a professional basketball player, but they’re things WNBA players like Reese have not been accustomed to — until Unrivaled began this month.

The new 3-on-3 women’s basketball league founded by WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart — begins play Friday with goals to break barriers in women sports and sports leagues in general.

Six teams with 36 of the best women’s basketball players in the world, including Sabrina Ionescu and Brittney Griner, will compete in 3-on-3, full-court games for the next nine weeks leading to the March 17 final. The games will broadcast on TNT, TruTV and Max.

More:What is Unrivaled? Teams, players, format, schedule, TV

Unrivaled wants to be a viable offseason option for players, instead of them logging major minutes and miles overseas outside of the WNBA season. It is challenging the pay scale in the sport, offering ownership and equity instead of just a WNBA salary that pales in comparison to their NBA counterparts.

Collier says the 36 players involved can earn up to 15% equity depending on their WNBA accolades. Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell told SB Nation in December the total salary pool is $8 million, which makes the league’s average salary around $222,222 for the nine-week season ending March 17. The average base salary for WNBA players last season was less than $120,000, according to data from Spotrac.

“There’s such an explosion in women’s sports right now, and it kinda felt like everyone was profiting instead of the women in the sport,” Collier said during an interview Tuesday on TNT. “Something we knew from the very beginning is we wanted to give equity to every player that played so we can start to grow that generational wealth and start to pay these players what we think we deserve.”

The league also provides necessities such as proper nutrition, facilities, equipment to weight train and rehabilitate, and child care. Through a partnership with beauty brand Sephora, there’s also a branded makeup room to glam up before interviews or after practices and games.

During interviews with reporters Thursday, multiple players said they hope the amenities and player experience they have with Unrivaled can be used as a bargaining chip when the WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement will be reviewed at the end of the 2025 season.

“This is what women deserve, waking up every day and just not having to worry about anything,” Reese said. “I come in here. I get breakfast. I get treatment. I can come in and get in the gym anytime. … I just have everything here that I need, and everybody has everything here we need.”

Unrivaled will play and broadcast its games from a Mediapro North American production warehouse that has been turned into a basketball facility. The building, roughly 7 miles from Miami International Airport, is outfitted with an arena, an adjacent practice court and team locker rooms.

The players and coaches moved to South Florida in early January to kick off the league, living in an apartment building about five minutes away from the facility. They’ll suit up for six basketball clubs: Laces, Lunar Owls, Mist, Phantom, Rose and Vinyl. And they’ll introduce the basketball world to a new style of the sport.

Games are played Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays. Tuesdays are off days.

“It’s a really fun style of basketball,” said Laces coach Andrew Wade, an assistant with the WNBA’s Washington Mystics. “Obviously, taking two players off the court, so everyone’s involved in every action. The court is just shorter, and so there’s possessions happening every five seconds. You’re basically always in the action. Then the other piece, too, is these are the best players in the world. Every single game is an all-star game of just the best of the best.”

More than that, Unrivaled is an opportunity to further expand the booming footprint of women’s sports in the United States.

The league has raised $35 million in funding through big-name investors, such as former U.S. women’s soccer stars Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe, former NBA player Carmelo Anthony, NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo, Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps, actors Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, basketball coach Steve Nash, golfer Michelle Wie, South Carolina basketball coach Dawn Staley, USC standout Juju Watkins and tennis star Coco Gauff.

Marc Lasry, the former owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, and Linda Henry, a Fenway Sports Group partner and the owner and CEO of Boston Globe Media, are also among the league’s investors.

“This is a breath of fresh air,” Reese said. “Like, who doesn’t want to be in Unrivaled?”

(This story was updated to add a new photo gallery.)