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Women’s basketball has reached unprecedented levels of recognition from new stars like Cailtin Clark and talented vets like Aja Wilson. That being said, women’s basketball players have rather low-paying salaries and are mostly required to compete overseas during the offseason to continue producing income. Players often leave their families, spouses and kids to provide financially. That is, until Unrivaled.
In 2023, two WNBA players, Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, cofounded Unrivaled: a league that allows women to compete domestically during their offseason in a 3×3 style game, with special events like the 1×1 tournament. 48 players across eight teams participate over the course of eight weeks. The season runs from January to mid-March. Players can now remain in America and do what they love most: play basketball.
This season has already kicked off! It’s just the second year of Unrivaled’s existence, but the league has taken off with two additional teams and over twenty new players. All matchups are streaming on HBO Max.
The 3×3 game is played over four quarters, where the first three quarters are each seven minutes long. The last period is untimed and goes until one team reaches an 11 point lead above the other’s score, aka the winning score. For example, if a game’s third quarter ends with a 45–43 scoreline, the first team to post the target score of 56 points in the final period walks away with the victory. Contrastingly, the 1×1 tournament goes until one player hits 11 points in a sudden death round. The championship, however, is slightly different, with three rounds: best of three wins it all.
We have seen Unrivaled already begin to thrive, with financial benefits novel to the women’s league. It’s expected to add $50,000 to each player on the winning team and over $200,000 dollars to each of the players’ salaries. In the 1×1 tournament, the winner receives $200,000 dollars, second place wins $50,000 and both the winners’ teammates and the 1×1 semifinalists get $10,000 each.
The 1×1 tournament has already concluded. Chelsea (Point Gawd) Gray won the grand prize. The money was more than her salary last year playing for the LV Aces. She displayed utter perseverance throughout the tournament. During the semifinals, she endured an 0–8 scare and then went on a 12–0 run to make it to the finals. Then, out of the three finals rounds, she lost the first and won the next two. The second place woman Allisha Gray and the semifinalists won their respective cash prizes.
In the 3×3 bracket, there are eight total teams: the Breeze, the Hive, the Laces, the Lunar Owls, the Mist, the Phantom, the Vinyl and the Rose. The Rose were last year’s champions, while this year, the Laces have the leading record with nine wins and two losses.
Whether Unrivaled becomes a permanent fixture or a catalyst for broader change, its arrival has already marked a shifting landscape in women’s sports. The league challenges traditional models of player development, compensation and fan engagement. In doing so, it raises a larger question for professional sports: What happens when players take control of the system itself? The answer may shape not only women’s basketball but the economics of emerging leagues across sports. Unrivaled gives players greater agency over how they spend their time, energy and careers. And for many, that autonomy may prove just as meaningful as the competition itself.
