Unrivaled 3×3: Rosters, Rules, and How to Watch the Excitement of Women’s Basketball

Unrivaled: The Women’s 3×3 Basketball League Returns with Renewed Excitement

Amid tense negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement in the WNBA, 54 of the league’s most prominent players are in Miami for the start of the second season of Unrivaled, which begins on Monday. This 3×3 basketball league, founded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, both vice presidents of the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA), seeks to offer players a playing opportunity during the off-season, as well as provide them with a six-figure salary and participation in the league, resources they are also seeking to secure in the WNBA. The champion team this season will receive an additional $100,000 per player, a significant increase from the $50,000 of the previous year. Unrivaled’s inaugural season in 2025 generated around $30 million in revenue, double what the league’s directors projected. In September, the league was valued at $340 million. The second season of Unrivaled seeks to maintain momentum, incorporating two new teams for 2026 and a group of reserve players to cover potential injuries. Will the Rose BC be able to repeat their success after winning the inaugural title in 2025? There will be a new MVP, as Collier announced that she will undergo surgery on both ankles and will be out of the courts for four to six months. Before the start of the season on Monday, we review everything you need to know about the eight six-player teams, including preseason power rankings, what’s new this season, and how to follow the weekly matches.

Participating Teams

• Laces BC
• Breeze BC
• Rose BC
• Mist BC
• Vinyl BC
• Lunar Owls BC
• Hive BC
• Phantom BC

Laces BC

Jordin Canada, Naz Hillmon, Maddy Siegrist, Brittney Sykes, Alyssa Thomas and Jackie Young, under the direction of coach Andrew Wade. The Laces finished last season with a 7-7 record. Injuries to Thomas and Young at the end of January affected the team, which had a 1-5 record in February without them. Thomas and Young, with their potential, could form one of the best duos in the league. Young excels in scoring and Thomas’s game is enhanced in 3×3. The depth of the Laces allows them to be consistent no matter who is on the court.

Jackie Young returns to the Laces after missing six games last February.

Breeze BC

Cameron Brink, Paige Bueckers, Rickea Jackson, Dominique Malonga, Kate Martin, and Aari McDonald, with coach Noelle Quinn. The Breeze join Unrivaled as one of the two new teams this season, with a roster full of young WNBA prospects. The Breeze had the first pick in the Unrivaled draft and selected Bueckers, the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft. Malonga and Brink, the No. 2 picks from the last two WNBA drafts, join Bueckers, the WNBA Rookie of the Year. Bueckers’ playmaking and shooting ability, combined with Malonga and Brink’s size and skill in the paint, could make them an elite 3×3 trio.

Rose BC

Shakira Austin, Kahleah Copper, Chelsea Gray, Lexie Hull, Azura Stevens and Sug Sutton, coached by Nola Henry.

Before winning the inaugural Unrivaled championship, the Roses had an irregular season. They started with a 1-4 record and suffered several injuries, including Copper’s, who missed the last five weeks of the season due to a right leg injury. However, in the playoffs, everything worked perfectly. Gray scored a record 39 points in the semifinals and was named MVP of the playoffs.

This year, the Roses are keeping four players (Copper, Gray, Hull, and Stevens), as well as their coach. The absence of Angel Reese, who will not play in Unrivaled this season, is a blow, as the team had a lot of success with a two-center lineup with Reese and Stevens in 2025. Now, Stevens and Austin will be forced to improve their rebounding performance.

Chelsea Gray helped the Rose team achieve the first 3×3 title in Unrivaled history.

Mist BC

Veronica Burton, Allisha Gray, Arike Ogunbowale, Alanna Smith, Breanna Stewart, and Li Yueru, under the direction of coach Zack O’Brien. The Mystics suffered several injuries in 2025, losing DiJonai Carrington and Jewell Loyd for a large part of the season. The team struggled from the start, losing their first four games before finishing with a 5-9 record and becoming one of the two teams that didn’t make the playoffs. The roster this season is packed with recognized players in the WNBA 2025: Smith was co-Defensive Player of the Year, Burton was the Most Improved Player, and Gray was a member of the first WNBA team. Stewart remains the leader of the group, and her combination with Smith could cause problems for rivals. The Mist have the potential to be one of the best defensive teams in the league.

Vinyl BC

Rae Burrell, Brittney Griner, Dearica Hamby, Rhyne Howard, Erica Wheeler, and Courtney Williams, with coach Teresa Weatherspoon. The Vinyls were the last team to secure a playoff spot last season, with a 5-9 record and finishing in fourth place in the standings. They then provided the surprise of the season, defeating the Lunar Owls in the semifinals before losing to the Roses in the championship. Howard, Williams, and Wheeler should combine to form an exciting offensive trio, and Hamby has shown he can be a reliable presence inside who exploits mismatches.

Lunar Owls BC

Rebecca Allen, Rachel Banham, Skylar Diggins, Aaliyah Edwards, Temi Fagbenle, and Marina Mabrey, coached by DJ Sackmann. The Lunar Owls were the favorites for the title before last year’s playoffs, after achieving a 13-1 record during the regular season, their only defeat was against the Rose, but they fell in the semifinals to the Vinyl. Collier was the best player, both of the team and the league, throughout the regular season, leading the league in scoring with 25.7 points per game and winning the season’s 1-on-1 tournament. The team started higher on this list, but dropped after the news of Collier’s upcoming surgeries. Her absence leaves Diggins, who also had a great first season, as the only returning player on the roster. The team adds Mabrey from the Phantom (although she only played three games last season) and newcomers to the league Allen and Banham. The loss of Collier takes away the Lunar Owls’ main option, but the roster has some balance and a mix of size, versatility, and shooting. Fagbenle, center for the Golden State Valkyries, replaces Collier, but few players possess the same two-way repertoire.

Skylar Diggins made the winning shot in Unrivaled history last season.

Hive BC

Monique Billings, Sonia Citron, Natisha Hiedeman, Ezi Magbegor, Kelsey Mitchell, and Saniya Rivers, under the direction of coach Rena Wakama. Another new team, the Hive, seem to be a team designed to run and play at a fast pace. Mitchell, Hiedeman, and Rivers are known for pushing the pace in the WNBA, and since 3×3 is already played at a fast pace, their skill set could work well. The Hive are a smaller team overall, with Billings and Magbegor (1.93 m) as the tallest players, but they should be entertaining to watch due to their speed and shooting.

Phantom BC

Aliyah Boston, Natasha Cloud, Dana Evans, Tiffany Hayes, Kiki Iriafen, Kelsey Plum and Satou Sabally, with coach Roneeka Hodges. The Phantom had a disappointing first season, with a 4-10 record and failing to qualify for the playoffs. Cloud and Sabally are the only returning players from the roster, but the Phantom could be without Sabally for a while, as she is indefinitely out due to persistent symptoms of the concussion she suffered in the WNBA Finals. Even so, the Phantom’s roster is intriguing with Cloud’s defense, Boston’s presence in the paint, Plum’s scoring, and young prospects Iriafen and Evans.

How to watch Unrivaled

The games will be played in a double-header format on Sundays, Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Friday and Monday games will be broadcast on TNT and truTV and will also be available for streaming on HBO Max. Saturday and Sunday games will be available on truTV and HBO Max. Games usually last approximately one hour.

News for the second season of Unrivaled

This season, two games will be held in Philadelphia. While all games were played in Miami in 2025, the Phantoms will face the Breeze and the Lunar Owls will meet the Rose on January 30 at the Xfinity Mobile Arena, home of the NBA’s 76ers and the NHL’s Flyers. Additionally, Unrivaled is debuting a six-player development group that will remain on-site throughout the season and will be immediately available to any team in case of injury or absence. Hailey Van Lith, Aziaha James, Haley Jones, Emily Engstler, Laeticia Amihere, and Makayla Timpson make up this season’s reserve group. When not assigned to a template, the development group players will train, practice, and participate in practice matches. They may play for multiple teams during the season. The incorporation of a group of players comes after Unrivaled was severely affected by injuries last season, forcing several players to withdraw from the mid-season 1-on-1 tournament. In 2025, the league incorporated six players with “replacement player contracts” as needed to replace injured players, but it sometimes depended on who was available and could get to Miami. The league’s executives expect that having a designated development group from the start of this season will alleviate the stress of finding available players, while also offering younger players a dedicated training opportunity.

How were the teams selected?

In early November, the eight coaches met in Miami to choose teams. The players were divided into six groups based on the position of guards, forwards, and centers. Through six rounds, the selections alternated between the eight teams.

The two new clubs, the Breeze and the Hive, received the first two picks. The four playoff teams from last season (the Rose, the Lunar Owls, the Vinyl, and the Laces) were allowed to protect two players who were not eligible to be drafted. The Phantom and the Mist, the two teams that didn’t make the 2025 playoffs, were allowed to protect one player each.

Paige Bueckers was the first pick in the draft for the second season.The clubs with protected players gave up the corresponding number of draft picks. For example, a playoff team that protected two players gave up their first and second-round picks.

Format and rules

Unrivaled will be played at the renovated and newly named Sephora Arena. The league added 1,400 square meters for the players’ facilities, including a second training court, and 150 seats to the playing arena to increase the capacity from 850 to 1,000 seats. The court has the same dimensions as before: a condensed full court of 15 meters by 22 meters instead of the half court (11 meters by 15 meters) used in the Olympics for 3×3. The WNBA is played on a court of 29 meters by 15 meters.

The rules haven’t changed since Unrivaled’s inaugural season. Each match will have three seven-minute quarters and a fourth quarter played towards a “winning score”. The winning score will be determined by adding 11 points to the leading team’s score after three quarters. For example, if the score is 50-48 entering the last quarter, the first team to reach 61 points wins. There will never be overtime. Matches can be won with free throws, which is how the Roses won the championship last season.

When a player is fouled, they will only have one free throw. The single shot is worth two points for a foul on a 2-point field goal attempt or three points if the foul occurred on a 3-point attempt. A free throw attempt after a made basket is worth one point.

What is the season tournament format?

The mid-season 1-on-1 tournament returns for a second year, and the winner will receive $200,000. The runner-up will receive $50,000, and the other two semi-finalists will get $25,000 each. Last season, Collier won the tournament and donated half of his winnings to the support and medical staff of Unrivaled. On January 23rd, voting will open for coaches, players, media members, and fans to rank the players from 1 to 8 in four separate groups. The number 1 seed from each group will get a direct pass to the second round, which will be played on February 11th. The second round and quarterfinals are on February 13th, and the semifinals and final will take place on February 14th. The matches will be played on the half court and will last 10 minutes (with a running clock) or until a player reaches 11 points. If the match clock expires and neither player has scored 11 points, the player with the highest total points will be declared the winner.