Unrivaled — the professional women’s basketball league co-founded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart — is entering Year 2, and with that, a plethora of new players are joining.
Unrivaled reveals first 6 player — including 2 standout WNBA rookies
Paige Bueckers, Saniya Rivers, and Erica Wheeler are all among Unrivaled’s first crop of player announcements.
NBAE via Getty Images
Noa Dalzell is a senior writer covering the WNBA and all of women’s basketball for Breakaway, SB Nation’s women’s sports vertical, as well as the Celtics for CelticsBlog.
Earlier this month, the 3-on-3 league announced that its valuation has ballooned to $340 million and that two new teams of six players would join the league.
That means that the total number of Unrivaled players will increase from 36 in the inaugural season to 48 next season. In addition, the league announced a development pool of six players that will fill in when teams deal with injuries.
On Monday, Unrivaled shared the names of six participating players — 3 of whom are brand-new to the league, and 3 of whom are returners.
- Alyssa Thomas, Phoenix Mercury (returning player, played inaugural season for the Laces)
- Rickea Jackson, Los Angeles Sparks (returning player, played inaugural season for the Mist)
- Satou Sabally, Phoenix Mercury (returning player, played inaugural season for the Phantom)
- Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings (new player)
- Saniya Rivers, Connecticut Sun (new player)
- Erica Wheeler, Seattle Storm (new player)
Thomas is fresh off the best season of her WNBA career and is third in MVP voting; she averaged 15.4 points, 9.2 assists, and 8.8 rebounds this season, and shot a career-best 53.2% from the field.
Jackson just finished her sophomore season with the Sparks and averaged a career-best 14.7 points, helping lead the Sparks to a near-playoff berth.
Sabally averaged 16.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in her first season with the Phoenix Mercury, being named an All-Star for the third time in her career.
Bueckers was named Rookie of the Year last week after averaging 19.2 points, 5.4 assists, and 1.6 steals in her rookie campaign with the Wings.
Rivers averaged 8.8 points, 2.7 assists, and 1.5 steals as a rookie, while also immediately establishing herself as one of the league’s elite guard defenders.
Wheeler experienced a career revival in Seattle, averaging 10.3 points and 3.3 assists in her age-34 season.
In total, 48 players will participate in Unrivaled across 8 clubs of 6 players each. The league will continue to roll out player announcements throughout the week.
The season is set to tip off on January 5th at the MediaPro Studios in Miami, with games airing across TNT Sports networks on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and one additional network yet to be determined.
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