Unrivaled is a three-on-three women’s basketball league founded by USA Olympians Napheesa Collier and three-time WNBA Champion and former Seattle Storm player Breanna Stewart. There are currently six teams: the Laces, Lunar Owls, Mist, Phantom, Rose, and Vinyl; taking a friendly format of pickup basketball and transforming it into a professional league. The inaugural season began on January 17 of 2025 and will be played for eight weeks at the MediaPro Center in Miami, Florida. A new Hulu show called Unrivaled Unlocked explains the development and background work in making the Unrivaled league happen. As of this article, there are two episodes released. For the full scheduled games, visit their website: https://www.unrivaled.basketball/schedule.
Unrivaled allows players to keep playing basketball in between WNBA seasons. 36 WNBA players are taking part in this new game featuring stars such as Jewell Loyd, Aaliyah Edwards, Chelsea Gray, Brittney Griner, and Sabrina Ionescu. With the drastic wage gap between WNBA and NBA players, Unrivaled is actively shrinking it. On average, a WNBA salary is $150,000 while the NBA is $11 million. Making history, Unrivaled players’ contracts pay almost double what they earn in the WNBA: $222,000, being the highest average salaries in women’s sports history! In addition, all initial 36 players have equal ownership over the league.
There are differences in the game compared to the WNBA. For example, the court is compressed to 70 by 50 feet instead of the regular 94 by 50 feet. Consisting of four quarters, the first three quarters are seven minutes long and the last quarter is untimed. In the fourth quarter, the scoring rule called the Elam Ending is used; the team with the highest score after three quarters will add 11 points to make the target score for the win. The shot clock is cut down to 18 seconds instead of the usual 24 seconds for a more rapid paced game. Whenever a free throw is given, only one shot is given for the foul. The amount of points reflects the foul type (two/three-point shot, and-1, or technical) on the single attempt. The top four teams after the eight week regular season make the playoffs. Uniquely, the league is adding in a mid-season one-on-one tournament to crown the best player.
Unrivaled is on streaming services such as Max, TNT, Hulu with Live TV, truTV, and DirecTV on Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Support women in sports by watching Unrivaled during their first ever season to see who comes up on top!
