Unrivaled Basketball League - Women's 3v3
What is Unrivaled basketball? The Unrivaled basketball league is a new 3-on-3 women's league that tips off for the first time on January 2025 in Miami, Florida. Its purpose is to give WNBA players an opportunity to make money hooping without going overseas. It will be composed of six teams, five players each. At the time of writing this, 26 of 30 players have been announced including Angel Reese, Brittney Griner, Kelsey Plum. No A'ja Wilson. No Caitlin Clark. They'll also have a 1-on-1 single elimination tournament in February. All of this will be broadcast on TNT Sports.
Founders Face Off in WNBA Finals
Breanna Stewart (New York Liberty) and former University of Connecticut (UConn) teammate Napheesa Collier (Minnesota Lynx) founded and started working on the Unrivaled 3v3 league over a year ago. The two recently faced off in the 2024 WNBA Finals where the NY Liberty won the best-of-five championship series. Congratulations to Breanna "Stewie" Stewart and the New York Liberty on their controversial, first WNBA championship.
Rachel Annamarie DeMita does a great job breaking it down.
What is Unrivaled to the Founders
Below are two interviews where the co-founders speak on the league's plans and goals.
Napheesa "FeFe" Collier on ESPN a year ago:
Stewie on Good Morning America a few months ago:
Questions About Unrivaled Basketball
A few questions came to mind after watching these interviews.
How Are Unrivaled Players Chosen?
As stated earlier, there are four (4) slots left on the Unrivaled roster. I've seen nothing about how the 26 selected hoopers were chosen. Yeah, many of them are superstars and all-stars. There must be more than 30 superstars and all-stars currently in the WNBA. Where are the story lines explaining how each player was chosen? That keeps fans and media engaged. It also helps everyone understand the league's intent...
Unsurprisingly, there seems to be plenty of politicking behind the scenes regarding who won't join the Unrivaled league.
How Will the Draft Work?
Who will be team captains for these six teams? Gil Scott-Heron said the revolution will not be televised. Will the draft? Regardless of whether its live, will they talk about why like Lebron James and Kevin Durant did during the 2022 NBA All-Star Draft.
Who Will Sponsor and Support Unrivaled?
"We are actually looking to have partnership with [WNBA]" - FeFe in her ESPN interview
I don't expect to see the WNBA support Unrivaled. Even with their own games, stars, and major stories, WNBA is seemingly intentionally incompetent with digital marketing. WNBA likely sees Unrivaled only as competition, similar to how NBA ignores BIG3. But it would benefit both leagues to work together. The Unrivaled stars could carry that momentum into the next WNBA season and boost ratings.
What other companies will sponsor or support Unrivaled basketball games? I think it would make sense for some LGBT-centric organizations to be on that last since approximately one third are openly gay. A few years ago, I argued that males identifying as trans or non-binary should still compete against males or have a league specifically for gay athletes. Some already exist:
- National Gay Basketball Association (NGBA)
- United States Gay Sports Network (USGSN)
- The Federation of Gay Games
Who will support the league?
I'm curious about how many Black female-owned businesses will push Unrivaled. The only time I hear women talk about the women's basketball is when they're claiming WNBA players should get paid just as much as men simply because "they're doing the same thing." This shallow, feminist argument doesn't account for the supply and demand NBA players, especially stars, create on and off the court. Women should be part of that solution by supporting WNBA players' games and business ventures. I wonder if men still make up the overwhelming majority of WNBA supporters.
How Will Unrivaled Affect the BIG3 Basketball League?
Ice Cube caught a lot of mainstream attention when he offered Caitlin Clark five million dollars to join the BIG3. Last time Cube had that much attention was when he was pushing the Contract with Black America. There was also the disrespect he received regarding it from FOX Soul's Cocktails with Queens.
Unrivaled being successful could lead to more basketball fans bouncing from WNBA and NBA in hopes of more competitive games, competent refereeing, and less "scripted outcomes." This could benefit BIG3.
I'm going to give it a chance and watch Unrivaled basketball.
Tags: sports
