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Kendra AndrewsJan 5, 2026, 09:00 AM ET
Amid tense negotiations for a new WNBA collective bargaining agreement, 54 of the league's top players are in Miami as the second season of Unrivaled tips off Monday.
The 3-on-3 league -- founded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, who are also Women's National Basketball Players Association vice presidents -- was created to give players a domestic offseason playing opportunity. Along the way it also has offered players a six-figure salary and equity in the league, resources that they are fighting to secure in the WNBA as well. Each member of this season's Unrivaled championship team will win an additional $100,000 (each player on the title team last year won $50,000).
Unrivaled's inaugural season in 2025 made around $30 million in revenue, a league source told ESPN, which is double what Unrivaled officials had projected. In September, Unrivaled officials said the league had been valued at $340 million.
Unrivaled's second season is looking to build on the momentum, adding two new teams for 2026 and a player pool of reserves to sub in when injuries occur.
Will Rose BC repeat after winning the inaugural title in 2025? There will be a new MVP, as Collier announced Thursday she is undergoing surgery on both ankles and will be sidelined for four to six months.
Before the season tips Monday, we check in with everything to know about all eight six-player teams, including our preseason power rankings, what's new this season and how to watch weekly games.
Jump to teams: Breeze | Hive | Laces | Lunar Owls | Mist | Phantom | Rose | Vinyl
Jump to more info: How to watch | What's new | Team selections | Basic rules | 1-on-1 tournament
1. Laces BC
Jordin Canada, guard
Naz Hillmon, forward
Maddy Siegrist, forward
Brittney Sykes, guard
Alyssa Thomas, forward
Jackie Young, guard
Coach: Dean Wade
The Laces finished last season with a 7-7 record. In late January, injuries sidelined two of their best players, Thomas and Young, and the team went 1-5 without them in February.
Thomas, a perennial WNBA MVP candidate, and Young, a three-time WNBA champion, have the potential to be one of the best duos in the league. Young can score at all three levels, and Thomas' playmaking -- she tallied a WNBA-record eight triple-doubles in the 2025 regular season -- is amplified in a 3-on-3 setting. The Laces' depth allows them to be unrelenting no matter who is on the court.
2. Breeze BC
Cameron Brink, forward
Paige Bueckers, guard
Rickea Jackson, forward
Dominique Malonga, forward
Kate Martin, guard
Aari McDonald, guard
Coach: Noelle Quinn
The Breeze join Unrivaled as one of two new clubs this season and feature a roster full of some of the WNBA's most exciting young stars.
The Breeze had the first pick in Unrivaled's draft and took Bueckers, the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft. (Read more on how teams were selected below.) Malonga and Brink, the No. 2 picks from the past two WNBA drafts, join Bueckers, the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year. Bueckers' playmaking and shooting, paired with the size and ability of Malonga and Brinks in the paint, could make them an elite trio in 3-on-3.
3. Rose BC
Shakira Austin, forward
Kahleah Copper, guard
Chelsea Gray, guard
Lexie Hull, guard
Azura Stevens, forward
Sug Sutton, guard
Coach: Nola Henry
Before winning the inaugural Unrivaled championship, the Rose had a rocky season. They started 1-4 and dealt with several injuries, including losing Copper for the final five weeks of the season with a right leg injury. Yet everything clicked in the playoffs. Gray scored a league-record 39 points in the semifinals and was named playoff MVP.
This year, the Rose return four players -- Copper, Gray, Hull and Stevens -- as well as their coach. Losing Angel Reese, who is not playing in Unrivaled this season, is a blow as the club found a lot of success with a double-big lineup with Reese and Stevens in 2025. Now, Stevens and Austin will be forced to step up their performance on the glass.
4. Mist BC
Veronica Burton, guard
Allisha Gray, guard
Arike Ogunbowale, guard
Alanna Smith, forward
Breanna Stewart, forward
Li Yueru, center
Coach: Zack O'Brien
The Mist were bitten by the injury bug in 2025, losing DiJonai Carrington and Jewell Loyd for most of the season. The team struggled from the start, losing its first four games before finishing 5-9 and becoming one of two teams to miss the playoffs.
This season's roster is loaded with 2025 WNBA honorees: Smith was co-Defensive Player of the Year, Burton was Most Improved Player and Gray was an All-WNBA first-team honoree. Stewart continues to be the leader of the group, and her combination with Smith could cause problems for opponents. The Mist have the potential to be one of the better defensive teams in the league.
5. Vinyl BC
Rae Burrell, forward
Brittney Griner, center
Dearica Hamby, forward
Rhyne Howard, guard
Erica Wheeler, guard
Courtney Williams, guard
Coach: Teresa Weatherspoon
The Vinyl were the final team to clinch a playoff spot last season, going 5-9 and finishing fourth in the standings. They then pulled the upset of the season, beating the Lunar Owls in the semifinals before losing to the Rose in the championship game.
Howard, Williams and Wheeler should combine for an exciting offensive trio, and Hamby has proved she can be a reliable presence inside who takes advantage of mismatches.
6. Lunar Owls BC
Rebecca Allen, guard
Rachel Banham, guard
Skylar Diggins, guard
Aaliyah Edwards, forward
Temi Fagbenle, center
Marina Mabrey, guard
Coach: DJ Sackmann
The Lunar Owls were title favorites heading into last year's playoffs after going 13-1 (their lone loss was against the Rose) during the regular season, but they fell in the semifinals to the Vinyl. Collier was the best player -- on the team and in the league -- throughout the regular season, leading the league in scoring with 25.7 points per game and winning the in-season 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 strong first season, as the only returner on the roster. The team adds Mabrey from the Phantom (though she played just three games last season) and league newcomers Allen and Banham.
Losing Collier takes away the Lunar Owls' No. 1 option, but the roster has some balance and a mix of size, versatility and shooting. Fagbenle, a Golden State Valkyries center, replaces Collier, but few players possess the same two-way repertoire.
7. Hive BC
Monique Billings, forward
Sonia Citron, guard
Natisha Hiedeman, guard
Ezi Magbegor, forward
Kelsey Mitchell, guard
Saniya Rivers, guard
Coach: Rena Wakama
Another new club, the Hive look to be a team built to run and play with a quick tempo. Mitchell, Hiedeman and Rivers are known to push the pace in the WNBA, and with 3-on-3 already played at a fast tempo, their skill set could work nicely.
The Hive are a smaller team overall -- at 6-foot-4, Billings and Magbegor are the tallest players -- but they should be entertaining to watch because of their speed and shooting.
8. Phantom BC
Aliyah Boston, center
Natasha Cloud, guard
Dana Evans, guard
Tiffany Hayes, guard
Kiki Iriafen, forward
Kelsey Plum, guard
Satou Sabally, forward
Coach: Roneeka Hodges
The Phantom had a disappointing first season, going 4-10 and failing to make the playoffs. Cloud and Sabally are the roster's only returning players, but the Phantom might be without Sabally for a while as she's indefinitely sidelined due to lingering symptoms from the concussion she suffered in the WNBA Finals.
Still, the Phantom's roster is intriguing with Cloud's defense, Boston's paint presence, Plum's scoring and young up-and-comers Iriafen and Evans.
How to watch Unrivaled
Games will be played in a doubleheader format on Sundays, Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays. Games on Fridays and Mondays will air on TNT and truTV and will also be available to stream on HBO Max. Saturday and Sunday games will be available on truTV and HBO Max. Games typically last about an hour.
What's new for Unrivaled's second season
Two games will be held in Philadelphia this season. Whereas all games were played in Miami in 2025, the Phantom will play the Breeze and the Lunar Owls will meet the Rose on Jan. 30 at Xfinity Mobile Arena, home of the NBA's 76ers and NHL's Flyers.
Additionally, Unrivaled is debuting a development pool of six players who will remain on site throughout the season and be immediately available to any team in case of injury or absence. WNBA players Hailey Van Lith, Aziaha James, Haley Jones, Emily Engstler, Laeticia Amihere and Makayla Timpson make up this season's reserve pool.
When they're not assigned to a roster, players in the development pool will train, practice and participate in scrimmages. They can play for multiple teams throughout the season.
The addition of a player pool comes after Unrivaled was hit hard by injuries last season that forced several players to drop out of the midseason 1-on-1 tournament. In 2025, the league brought in six players on "relief player contracts" as needed to step in for injured players, but it sometimes depended on who was available and could get to Miami.
League officials hope that having a designated development pool from the start this season will alleviate the stress of finding available players while also giving younger players a dedicated training opportunity.
How were the teams selected?
In early November, all eight coaches met in Miami to draft teams. Players were divided into six position-based pods of guards, wings and forwards. Through six rounds, picks alternated among the eight teams.
The two new clubs, the Breeze and Hive, were awarded the top two picks. The four playoff teams from last season -- the Rose, Lunar Owls, Vinyl and Laces -- each were allowed to protect two players who were not eligible to be drafted. The Phantom and Mist, the two teams that didn't make the 2025 playoffs, were allowed to protect one player each.
The clubs with protected players forfeited the corresponding number of draft selections. For example, a playoff team protecting two players surrendered its first- and second-round picks.
Format and rules
Unrivaled will play in the renovated and newly named Sephora Arena. The league added 15,000 square feet for player facilities -- including a second practice court -- and 150 seats to the game arena to bring the capacity from 850 to 1,000 seats. The court has the same dimensions as before: a 49.2-by-72-foot condensed full court rather than the half court (36 feet by 49 feet) used at the Olympics for 3x3. The WNBA is played on a 94-by-50-foot court.
The rules are unchanged from Unrivaled's inaugural season. Each game will have three seven-minute quarters and a fourth quarter played toward a "winning score." The winning score will be determined by adding 11 points to the leading team's score through three quarters. For example, if the score is 50-48 heading into the final quarter, the first team to reach 61 points wins. There will never be overtime. Games can be won on free throws, which is how the Rose won the championship last season.
When a player is fouled she will get only one free throw. The single shot is worth two points for a foul on a 2-point field goal or three points if the foul occurred on a 3-point attempt. A free throw attempt after a foul on a made basket is worth one point.
What is the in-season tournament format?
The midseason 1-on-1 tournament is returning for a second year, with the winner receiving $200,000. The runner-up receives $50,000, and the other two semifinalists get $25,000 each. Last season, Collier won the tournament and gave half of her earnings to the support and medical staff at Unrivaled.
On Jan. 23, voting will open for coaches, players, media members and fans to rank players 1 through 8 in four separate pods. The No. 1 seed in each pod will get a bye in the first round, which will be played Feb. 11. The second round and quarterfinals are on Feb. 13, and the semifinals and finals will take place Feb. 14.
Games will be played in the half court and will last 10 minutes (with a running clock) or until a player reaches 11 points. If the game clock expires and neither player has scored 11 points, the player with the higher point total will be declared the winner.
