Unrivaled makes the WNBA look bad. Here’s why that’s a good thing

Unrivaled, the latest pro women’s basketball league is already making waves, and it’s putting the WNBA in an uncomfortable spotlight.

Earlier this week, Rose guard Kahleah Copper, who also plays for Team USA and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, gave a candid answer about what fuels her for Unrivaled’s inaugural 1v1 tournament.

“The money,” she said when asked about her motivation to perform.

Similarly, when Allisha Gray defeated Jordin Canada in the tournament’s first round, she quipped, “Who don’t want no money?” during her postgame interview.

Unrivaled, founded by former WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, is flipping the script on professional women’s basketball. And the new league’s benefits are, well, unrivaled.

The 1v1 tournament alone offers a $200,000 cash prize to the winner, and the 3-on-3 league boasts a player-friendly model, shorter seasons, and higher paychecks, all benefits that have long been out of reach for WNBA players who often have to supplement their incomes by playing overseas during the offseason. The Unrivaled average salary is $220,000 for a three-month season. That’s the highest average salary of any professional women’s sports league and far more than the WNBA’s average of $119,590 in 2024. And that doesn’t include bonuses like the 1v1 cash prize and other player and team bonuses.

Although Copper, who is one of the best-paid players in the WNBA, lost to Gray in the second round of the 1v1 tournament, she would have nearly doubled her 2024 salary of $241,059 with an overall win. Gray, who earned $185,000 as her base WNBA salary in 2024 and lost to rookie Aaliyah Edwards in the quarterfinals of the 1v1 tournament, would have more than doubled her salary as the overall champion. And the rookie Edwards, who is still in the running as the tournament’s Cinderella after defeating Gray in the quarterfinal round, can nearly triple her rookie salary of $74,909 if she comes out on top of the 1v1 field.

You read that right. Edwards, the sixth-overall 2024 WNBA draft pick, earns just shy of $75,000/year as a professional basketball player. Before taxes.

With Unrivaled offering players salaries that rival their WNBA earnings for significantly fewer games, the question becomes obvious: Why has the WNBA struggled for so long to compensate its athletes fairly?

Much of this can be attributed to the NBA’s control over the WNBA. The NBA owns roughly half of the WNBA and exerts control over WNBA operations, such as revenue-sharing, which, in the W, comes largely from localized rather than national revenue. WNBA players have advocated for better salaries, travel conditions, and overall treatment for years, but these have only been met with incremental changes. The introduction of Unrivaled signals that elite talent is no longer willing to wait for slow-moving reforms.

If players can earn as much as they can while playing fewer games and enduring less wear and tear on their bodies, why shouldn’t they continue to demand that from the W?

This disruption is ultimately a good thing for the WNBA. Competition breeds progress, and Unrivaled’s emergence could pressure the WNBA to improve financial opportunities for its athletes. The league now faces a crucial inflection point where it must adapt to the changing landscape of elite women’s basketball or face further scrutiny from within its talent pool.

Unrivaled offers players an appealing addition to their WNBA play without having to go overseas in the offseason. Viewership is surging, players enjoy increased exposure, and the format offers fans a spectacle that is wholly different from the 5-on-5 play we’re used to.

In other words, the league is popular and invests in its athletes in ways the W has failed to do. Perhaps most importantly, the rise of Unrivaled highlights what WNBA players have been saying for years: their labor is undervalued. The question now is whether or not the WNBA will step up to meet this moment.

The 1v1 semifinals, featuring Aaliyah Edwards, Azura Stevens, Napheesa Collier, and Arike Ogunbowale, will air on TNT on Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET.