The 2024 WNBA season has come to an end after the New York Liberty defeated the Minnesota Lynx in a highly competitive five-game series. After the season concludes, the biggest stars of the league will typically travel to play in offseason leagues overseas. However, this season they will not have to look far as the “Unrivaled” league is set to launch in the U.S. The league, created by Liberty star Breanna Stewart and Lynx star Napheesa Collier, will feature 30 of the biggest stars in the WNBA playing against each other in 3v3 basketball games.
The league will have six teams with five players on each. Teams will be chosen by a section committee that determines how a team is created based on their possession and skill level. Each team will also have a head coach, an assistant coach and a team manager throughout the entire duration of the league.
There are 29 confirmed players for January 2025, including UConn alums Breanna Stewart and Aaliyah Edwards, Angel Reese, Kelsey Plum, Britney Griner and Arike Ogunbowale.
For the league’s rules, games will be played on a basketball court that is “smaller than usual.” The dimensions are 70 feet by 50 feet and there will be four seven-minute quarters taking the place of the normal 10-minute quarters that are in the WNBA. Additionally, there will be a shot clock along with the regular game clock.
Currently, the regular season of this league will be played from January to March, with a one-on-one single elimination mid-season tournament. There will be three games a week, played on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays, with two games played on those nights on a custom-built court in Miami. There will be a total of 45 games.
As for the players, they will be given housing with access to a gym and practice facilities throughout the season. At the end of the regular season, the four teams with the best record will move on to the playoffs, where the teams will compete for the cash prize which has a minimum of six figures.
One of the main purposes for the creation of the Unrivaled league was to help supplement a player’s income by allowing players to remain in the U.S. during the offseason and to bypass the league’s prioritization rules. In usual circumstances, in order for a player to make money in the offseason, they would sign with a league or a team overseas.
The importance of having a league that will help supplement the WNBA’s players was explained by Unrivaled president, Alex Bazzell.
“We have an obligation to the players to build the most highly competitive product we can and the best business we can because they’re all owners in this business,” he told Front Office Sports. “Having the freedom to just go out to the open market freely and figure out who the best partner for us would be was everything for us.”
In preparation for the league, it was reported that TNT sports pitched a deal with Unrivaled for an undisclosed amount to broadcast the league once it is fully kickstarted in the winter.
Don’t blink, because women’s basketball is still growing each and every day. The popularity of women’s basketball is on the rise and Unrivaled is just another way to grow the game and bring more attention to women’s sports as a whole. Now we will just have to wait until January to see how the newest and highly anticipated league will play out.