WBB: Unrivaled expands to 36 players ahead of inaugural season

The NCAAW season begins tomorrow! But that doesn’t mean all is quite around the rest of the women’s hoops world. Catch up on the latest announcements, developments and more:

Democracy is not a spectator sport

By the time you’re reading this, there are less than two days until Election Day. The WNBA is encouraging everyone to exercise their right to vote, partnering with Rock the Vote to make sure fans, players and coaches make their priorities heard.

As Nneka Ogwumike, leader of LeBron James’ More Than a Vote initiative, discussed with our Zachary Draves, WNBA players’ intersectional identities give them acute awareness of the importance of social and civic engagement.

In 2024, much of that engagement has been directed toward fighting for reproductive freedom and women’s bodily autonomy. Ogwumike told Sports Business Journal:

As you look out in society and feel what’s going on, specifically for this year, it’s clear that there’s a huge issue on the ballot that has to do with women.

You talk about reproductive rights and everyone automatically goes to abortion. Well, I’m an athlete who makes money with her body. Within that, you weave the idea of what it means to think about the future when it comes to my rights as a woman. It’s incredibly nuanced.

On X/Twitter, Satou Sabally likewise emphasized the importance of reproductive freedom, posting:

I used my right to Vote today. I’m grateful to have the freedom over my own body, but so many women don’t. Especially in Texas, our right to reproductive freedom is stripped away year by year.

In Phoenix, Brittney Griner participated in an early voting cabalgata, a traditional Mexican procession where citizens rode to the polls on horseback, motivated by the issues of reproductive justice and child care.

Other voices from across women’s basketball also are using their platforms to underscore the urgency of this election.

Unrivaled is already expanding

Before the inaugural season has even tipped off, Unrivaled is expanding. Originally organized as a 30-player 3×3 professional league featuring six five-player teams, it now will be a 36-player league, with each team rostering six players.

As explained by co-founder Napheesa Collier in a social media video:

We’re able to do this because we outperformed our financial projections, and so now we get to do something that we wanted to do in the future, which is give more people spots in Unrivaled. This is such an amazing time in women’s sports, and we’re so thankful to all the positive people who have come out and supported us.

Soon after Collier’s announcement on Thursday, the league revealed its 30th participant: 2023 Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston.

Boston’s inclusion follows that of Lexie Hull and Kate Martin. That trio has fueled speculation about Caitlin Clark’s involvement, as she is a WNBA teammate of Boston and Hull and played with Martin at Iowa. Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell, who also is Collier’s husband, has reiterated the league’s interest in Clark, while also emphasizing that, with or without the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year, the league is set to be a success. He told Sportico:

We’re always going to have a roster spot for Caitlin Clark. We’re not applying a full court press the way people think. We are letting her decompress from basketball. … She knows that we have a spot for her when she’s ready…. [We are] proud of what we’ve built, and we’re in a position to succeed. But if she played, she would take it to another level. … She knows we would love to have her.

Ionescu tore UCL in WNBA Finals

Last week, ESPN’s Alexa Philippou reported that Sabrina Ionescu suffered a high-grade UCL tear on her right hand during Game 4 of the WNBA Finals. The injury explains Ionescu shooting troubles during Games 4 and 5, when she was 6-for-34 from the field and 1-for-15 from 3.

Ionescu, who will not need surgery, is expected to make a full recovery. Her status will be re-evaluated in four weeks.

Mahomes, Tatum talk WNBA expansion

Conversations about when and where the WNBA will expand to reach the league’s 16-team target by 2028 continue to percolate.

The latest rumblings come from Kansas City and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. An investor in the NWSL’s Kanas City Current along with his wife Brittany, Mahomes told ESPN:

We want to get basketball to Kansas City in general and then WNBA. The success that they’ve had this last season and these last few seasons, it’s kind of a no-brainer. To try to get a WNBA team in Kansas City to this fan base….the city of Kansas City is going to come out and they’re going to fill the stadium.

It was cool that we were able to get this soccer team, this women’s soccer team here in the Current and they’re going into the playoffs now and you see the support that they have. So let’s try to get a WNBA team in here as well [with] that same ownership group. They’ve done the Current the right way, and I want to continue to work with them to take that next step and get a WNBA team here.

ESPN notes that Kansas City already has the infrastructure necessary to house a professional basketball team with T-Mobile Center.

Nearby St. Louis, however, also has eyes on an expansion franchise, with the Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum supporting the bid of local billionaires, according to Sportico. Asked about his involvement, Tatum declined, only saying, “I can’t speak on it too much right now, but there will be a time when I can, and I’ll be able to elaborate.”

Jordan Horston is Unlimited

Another Tennessee Lady Vol is set to join Athletes Unlimited for the league’s Tennessee-based fourth season. Jordan Horston, a four-year standout on Rocky Top, will show off her skills in Nashville. She joins Alissa Pili as one of the league’s newcomers.