Courtney Williams and Kayla McBride team up on the Laces while Napheesa Collier will be representing the Lunar Owls.
Unrivaled, the three-on-three league created by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, drafted their rosters today for the first season of the league. For the draft, the six coaches of each team got together to place players in “pods” based on their position. The coaches then drafted teams with one player from each pod to each roster. The catch is the coaches did not know which team they were coaching until after the draft. It was a fun idea and should make for some great basketball when the league starts in January 2025. Three Minnesota Lynx players are represented in this year’s player pool, including Courtney Williams, Kayla McBride, and Napheesa Collier, all bringing their talents to South Beach.
BREAKING: Unrivaled has officially released their roster for each team for the season pic.twitter.com/zjft1hzTN4
— WNBACentral (@WNBACentral_) November 20, 2024
McBride and Williams will team up again and join the Laces with the likes of Alyssa Thomas, Kelsey Plum, Stephanie Dolson, and Kate Martin. Napheesa Collier joins the Lunar Owls with Skylar Diggins-Smith, Allisha Gray, Natasha Cloud, Shakira Austin, and a “wild card” player who will be named later. Unrivaled has announced 34 of their 36 players so far with the Lunar Owls and Phantoms needing to fill out their rosters with one more player. You can see the rest of the teams on the graphic above.
LUNAR OWLS BC YOU ARE UNRIVALED✅ @PHEEsespieces @T_Cloud4 @SkyDigg4 @Graytness_15 @Theylove_kira pic.twitter.com/jmCGjcj2Uv
— Unrivaled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb) November 20, 2024
LACES BC YOU ARE UNRIVALED✅ @athomas_25 @bigmamastef @kaymac_2123 @kate_martin22 @CourtMWilliams @Kelseyplum10 pic.twitter.com/Zt1ZEjqMpS
— Unrivaled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb) November 20, 2024
Unrivaled has provided WNBA players with an option to play high quality basketball while staying in the United States. In years past, many players opted to play overseas in the offseason during the winter in order to continue to hone their craft and increase their earning potential. The games will be full-court, three-on-three, on a smaller court than the standard five-on-five WNBA court. They will play four seven-minute quarters for each game.
Today was the first step for Unrivaled as they march towards their start date on January 17th. The league will run for two months until the middle of March, with the championship game taking place on March 17th. You can watch Unrivaled on TNT or stream it on Max. The full schedule can be found on their website here.
Make sure to add the Laces and Lunar Owls games to your calendars if you want to cheer on the Lynx even in the offseason!
Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 women’s basketball league co-founded by @PHEEsespieces and @breannastewart, is coming to TNT Sports in January pic.twitter.com/b7ansEUk7U
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 16, 2024