Unrivaled is a brand-new women’s basketball league starting this year. The league takes place in Miami, Florida, and will have their first game on Jan. 17. Players from the Women’s National Basketball Association were selected in the past few months to be a part of the inaugural season.
The league consists of 3 v. 3 games, making it very different from other leagues. United States Olympians and WNBA All-Stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier founded the league.
Get to Know the Teams
Laces Basketball Club
Laces Basketball Club consists of Stefanie Dolson from the Washington Mystics, Kate Marin from the Golden State Valkyries, Kayla McBride from the Minnesota Lynx, Alyssa Thomas from the Connecticut Sun, and Las Vegas Aces stars Tiffany Hayes and Jackie Young. Thomas is the club captain for the Laces. Andrew Wade, who played basketball at Catholic University and was an assistant coach for the Washington Mystics, is the head coach.
Lunar Owls Basketball Club
The Lunar Owls BC roster includes Napheesa Collier and Courtney Williams from the Lynx, Shakira Austin from the Mystics, Cameron Brink from the Los Angeles Sparks, Skylar Diggins-Smith from the Seattle Storm, and Allisha Gray from the Atlanta Dream. The club captain for the Lunar Owls is Napheesa Collier. DJ Sackmann is the head coach. Sackmann played college basketball for the University of New Haven and is an NBA skills trainer.
Mist Basketball Club
Dijonai Carrington from Connecticut, Aaliyah Edwards from the Mystics, Jewell Loyd from Seattle, Rickea Jackson from the Sparks, and New York Liberty stars Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot make up the team. Breanna Stewart is the club captain.The head coach is Phil Handy who is an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers. Handy also played college basketball and professional basketball in Britain and Australia.
Phantom Basketball Club
The Phantoms include Natasha Cloud and Brittney Griner from the Phoenix Mercury, Sabrina Ionescu from New York, Marina Maubrey from Connecticut, Satou Sabally from the Dallas Wings, and Katie Lou Samuelson from the Indiana Fever. Satou Sabally is the club captain. The head coach of the team is former NBA player Adam Harrington. He played for two seasons, one with the Dallas Mavericks and the other with the Denver Nuggets. Harrington has worked as a shooting coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder and an assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets.
Rose Basketball Club
The Rose Basketball Club consists of Kahleah Copper from Phoenix, Lexie Hull from Indiana, Angel Reese from the Chicago Sky, Azura Stevens from the Sparks, Brittney Sykes from the Mystics, and their captain Chelsea Gray from the Aces. Nola Henry is the head coach, former player at the College of Charleston. Henry has worked for both the Connecticut Sun and the Los Angeles Sparks.
Vinyl Basketball Club
The teams’ roster includes Rae Burrell and Dearica Hamby from the Sparks, Aliyah Boston from Indiana, Jordin Canada and Rhyne Howard from Atlanta, and club captain Arike Ogunbowale from Dallas. The head coach is Teresa Weatherspoon who is also the head coach for the Chicago Sky. Weatherspoon played college basketball at Louisiana Tech and played for WNBA teams, New York Liberty and Los Angeles Sparks.
Who will be Unrivaled in the future?
Paige Bueckers and Flau’jae Johnson both signed a Name, Imagine, and Likeness deal with the league. Bueckers, who plays basketball at the University of Connecticut, is likely to enter the WNBA draft this year. Meanwhile, Johnson plays for Louisiana State University. She is unsure if she will declare for the draft this year, or play another year at LSU. Both Bueckers and Johnson will play in the Unrivaled League once they go pro.
Unrivaled Rules
In each game there are three, 7-minute quarters and a “winning score” fourth quarter. The “winning score” is determined by adding 11 points to whoever has the winning score after the third quarter, whoever gets to that number first wins. An example would be if the third quarter ends and the score is 55-50. Whoever gets to 66 first wins the game. There is no set time for the fourth quarter and the games will never go to overtime.
The court the Unrivaled teams play on is smaller than the WNBA uses. The court will be 49.2 feet by 72 feet. The shot clock will be 18 seconds compared to the WNBA with 24 seconds. Though like the WNBA, a player will foul out after they gave six personal fouls. If a team only has three players that are available to play and one of them reaches six fouls, the player is allowed to stay in the game but will receive a technical foul for each additional foul.
Investors and Sponsors
Unrivaled had gained a lot of traction these last few months since getting closer to the first game of the league. This had brought the league many different investors and sponsors including athletes such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Michael and Nicole Phelps, Juju Watkins, and Coco Gauff.
Dawn Staley, University of South Carolina women’s basketball coach and Geno Auriemma, University of Connecticut women’s basketball coach are also investors along with many more. Unrivaled has gained 11 sponsors before the start of their season. Sephora, Samsung Galaxy, TNT Sports, and Wilson are a few of the big name companies they will be partnering with.
Edited by Brittany Snow
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