Unrivaled 3v3 League (January 2025)

[theforumblue]

per sbnation skylar diggins-smith joins bringing roster to 17, with Paige who apparently is gonna join later and 2 more rookies-to-be, so that's 20.

no one from fever and mystics with 10 more spots to fill. i dont know anyone on the mystics though so i dont know who's good or marketable.

Allisha Gray (Dream)
Rhyne Howard (Dream)

Angel Reese (Sky)

Arike Ogunbowale (Wings)
Satou Sabally (Wings)

Breanna Stewart (Liberty)

Chelsea Gray (Aces)
Kelsey Plum (Aces)
Jackie Young (Aces)

Jewell Loyd (Storm)
Skylar Diggins-Smith (Storm)

Kayla McBride (Lynx)
Napheesa Collier (Lynx)

Kahleah Copper (Mercury)
Natasha Cloud (Mercury)

Dearica Hamby (Sparks)

Marina Mabrey (Sun)

[hermes]

13 more right? the college kids won't be able to play this year, they'll be in the middle of their own season

[theforumblue]

13 more right? the college kids won't be able to play this year, they'll be in the middle of their own season

good point. who knows. they said 6 teams with 5 per team. 27 wont work, neither would 33.

[zimpy27]

This seems like a bad idea. They risk eroding the WNBA brand just as it's taking off.

[jc23]

Once salaries start to increase in the W i think this league will die out.

[rmontro]

Watched the 3v3 at the all star game. Honestly, I didn't really care for it. It got a little exciting at the very end, but that was about it.

[MrDollarBills]

This seems like a bad idea. They risk eroding the WNBA brand just as it's taking off.

Why do you think it will erode the brand?

Each player gets equity and a six figure salary. This is allowing for players to stay home in the offseason instead of having to play in places like Russia to help make ends meet.

[MrDollarBills]

Once salaries start to increase in the W i think this league will die out.

That won't be for awhile unfortunately. We need to see minimum salaries hit six figures.

We have players right now making like 64k a year. That's not gonna cut it especially in areas where COL requires you to make 90k and up just to survive on your own to rent a place, afford food, bills, etc.

[Ghetto Gospel]

Once salaries start to increase in the W i think this league will die out.

That won't be for awhile unfortunately. We need to see minimum salaries hit six figures.

We have players right now making like 64k a year. That's not gonna cut it especially in areas where COL requires you to make 90k and up just to survive on your own to rent a place, afford food, bills, etc.

minimum players probably aren't playing in this league outside of rookies. it seems like it's a league for the WNBA elite and outside of the elite on rookie deals, presumably they wouldn't need this league to "make ends meet" especially with the new upcoming CBA, though additional supplemental income is nice, and i'm sure they're always looking to do things during the offseasons.

it also kind of seems like all of the players to some degree have ownership in the league..? so i don't think they'd let the league die out so quickly. i imagine there's outside investors and whoever they gave media rights to that they'd have to have made a commitment to them as well.

it all probably depends on viewership and how much money the league makes. it does appear to compete with the NBA and/or the NFL in terms of schedule timing so we'll see. the best part of the WNBA viewing experience for the past couple of months is that there hasn't been much competition from a sports viewing perspective

[MrDollarBills]

Once salaries start to increase in the W i think this league will die out.

That won't be for awhile unfortunately. We need to see minimum salaries hit six figures.

We have players right now making like 64k a year. That's not gonna cut it especially in areas where COL requires you to make 90k and up just to survive on your own to rent a place, afford food, bills, etc.

minimum players probably aren't playing in this league outside of rookies. it seems like it's a league for the WNBA elite and outside of the elite on rookie deals, presumably they wouldn't need this league to "make ends meet" especially with the new upcoming CBA, though additional supplemental income is nice, and i'm sure they're always looking to do things during the offseasons.

it also kind of seems like all of the players to some degree have ownership in the league..? so i don't think they'd let the league die out so quickly. i imagine there's outside investors and whoever they gave media rights to that they'd have to have made a commitment to them as well.

it all probably depends on viewership and how much money the league makes. it does appear to compete with the NBA and/or the NFL in terms of schedule timing so we'll see. the best part of the WNBA viewing experience for the past couple of months is that there hasn't been much competition from a sports viewing perspective

Yep all players receive an equity stake in the league.

[MrDollarBills]

Dijonai!!! Yes yes!!!

[cdubbz]

probably doesn't pay enough for CC to lose rest over it.

playing on a 'compressed' full court '70x50 vs 94x50' for a 3x3? doesn't sound like a good idea.

Ok.

I'm kind of intrigued by the compressed full court format. I've played a lot of short court 4 on 4 in open gyms and rec leagues, and it works fine, but that's with an extra player per team and courts that are more like 50' long.

I wonder how much they've actually tested the format with practice games.

I can see it going really well, keeping the back and forth rhythm of full court, but with a fast pace and great spacing. But I can also see it going badly, with too many run-outs and uncontested transition opportunities. With only three players, any drive, post up, or offensive rebound attempt that puts you under the opponent's basket leaves your team very vulnerable in transition. If you have one player driving or posting, and another player cutting to the basket or crashing the boards, that potentially leaves the majority of your team behind the play in transition.

Half court 3 on 3 already has a long history in playground/pickup culture, and has been established as a formal international format by FIBA 3x3, so I'm curious about the reasoning behind making it full court. Since 3x3 is an Olympic sport, I think a top level 3x3 pro league would be cool, but maybe they wanted to distinguish Unrivaled as its own thing.

The idea sounds pretty fun actually. I'd love to do this as an older player in my 30s and don't want to do an actual full court I also wonder if they have done test runs on this type of game.

The timing is interesting. Competing with NBA, MLB, NHL, & college hoops. Marketing will definitely be key.

[hermes]

i think there are rules on the number of american players on international teams, so if any of the unrivaled players had been going overseas those spots are now open for other americans who don't get chosen for unrivaled

[theforumblue]

https://frontofficesports.com/unrivaled-collier-stewart-tnt-wbd-tv/

Games will air three nights a week on TNT Sports platforms: Mondays and Fridays on TNT and Saturdays on truTV. All of the games will be streamed on Max, which also falls under the Warner Bros. Discovery umbrella. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Nice

[MrDollarBills]

https://frontofficesports.com/unrivaled-collier-stewart-tnt-wbd-tv/

Games will air three nights a week on TNT Sports platforms: Mondays and Fridays on TNT and Saturdays on truTV. All of the games will be streamed on Max, which also falls under the Warner Bros. Discovery umbrella. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Nice

6 year deal worth $100m.

[TheWitcher]

https://frontofficesports.com/unrivaled-collier-stewart-tnt-wbd-tv/

Games will air three nights a week on TNT Sports platforms: Mondays and Fridays on TNT and Saturdays on truTV. All of the games will be streamed on Max, which also falls under the Warner Bros. Discovery umbrella. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Nice

6 year deal worth $100m.

Dude that’s so exciting it’ll be streamed on Max. I have a free sub to it from work.

Also, very happy for the ladies.

[cdubbz]

I'm skeptical on the play style of 3 v 3 full court. It sounds fun as hell to play in and fun to see players team up with their non WNBA teammates, BUT...it's unproven to see how the viewing experience will be

[Doctor MJ]

This seems like a bad idea. They risk eroding the WNBA brand just as it's taking off.

So I'll put it this way:

This isn't about helping the WNBA, it's about helping women's pro basketball players.
It's in some ways a clear cut attack on the WNBA by the WNBA players.

So indeed, it does risk the WNBA brand...but only to the extent Unrivaled comes to challenge the WNBA in a serious way.

It's analogous to something that I thought could have happened coming out of the pandemic in the NBA with Kyrie Irving being the possible face of it.

Back then I suggested that a player like Kyrie could leave the NBA, and start a new basketball league with far fewer players that would be focused on social media virality. Such a league couldn't compete with the NBA for revenue, but it could potentially allow NBA stars to make millions without them being under the thumb of NBA franchises.

While I didn't want Kyrie to start this, I frankly think it was a missed opportunity that he didn't do this as he sat out games as part of his little rebellion against science. Had he thought bigger picture, I think he'd have basically tried to do what Stewie & Phee did.

(Also if he'd thought bigger picture in a mature way, maybe the Nets become what the Liberty have become. The fact that Tsai made super-teams in both leagues, and the NBA one fizzled it toxic absurdity while the WNBA one has created this outstanding vibe is telling.)

Anyway, all this to say:

Yes, the WNBA should be nervous about Unrivaled, and if Unrivaled is a major success, the NBA should see it as a major failure that they let actual WNBA players be in a situation where a start-up American league could be a threat to the W.

But as a basketball fan, I'll be cheering Unrivaled on. Not because I want to see the W damaged, but because the NBA shouldn't be able to expect a monopoly on women's pro basketball simply because they are the NBA. I think women's pro basketball will be stronger with more domestic competition for talent.

Note that of course Unrivaled is scheduled so it's not necessarily competition for the W, but the money the players make Unrivaled will factor in to the future of the W.

[Doctor MJ]

I'm skeptical on the play style of 3 v 3 full court. It sounds fun as hell to play in and fun to see players team up with their non WNBA teammates, BUT...it's unproven to see how the viewing experience will be

Agreed.

In principle I'm all for seeing any number of X v X basketball games - that's obviously what we do in pick-up games - but 5 v 5 isn't "how the game was always played". Basketball started out 9 v 9. It consolidated to 5 v 5 because that's what worked best for a gym-sized basketball court.

So I'm skeptical that 3 v 3 can be made to work as well, and that might kill Unrivaled before it ever finds footing, but I am quite curious how it will all go.

[hermes]

here are the team names