In 2022, WNBA superstar Brittney Griner was detained overseas while returning from an off-season stint with the Russian Premier League. After medically prescribed cannabis oil was found in her luggage, officials sentenced the 6’9” Phoenix Mercury veteran to nine years in Russian prison.

Amid public outcry in the U.S., Griner only served four months of that sentence before then-President Joe Biden negotiated a high-profile prisoner exchange to free her. Just over two months later, in February 2023, she re-signed with the Phoenix Mercury, shaken but intact. Her story has become a dramatic example of the risks WNBA players face to get out-of-season minutes. 

For those wondering why they take those risks in the first place, consider this: Caitlin Clark, who last year was the W’s most high-profile rookie, made around $76,000 for the 2024 season. In contrast, Zaccharie Risacher, Clark’s counterpart as the no. 1 pick in the 2024 NBA draft, made $12.6 million. Considering the concrete impact Clark has had on the W’s ratings, the fact that she made 0.6% of Risacher’s salary is more than just hard to believe. It’s downright insulting. 

And the staggering disparities just keep coming. Last year, each WNBA team carried a strict salary cap of approximately $1.5 million, meaning that teams hoping to pull in supermax players had to settle for fewer than 12 roster spots. The NBA salary cap for the same season was $136 million. 

Furthermore, the 2024 supermax salary for WNBA players was $241,984, while the minimum salary was $64,154. Worse, this was actually fairly impressive for a league whose 2012 minimum salary hovered just above $35,000. 

So here’s the rub: In the NBA, offseason play is a luxury. In the WNBA, it’s a necessity. At the same time, the W’s prioritization rule—which requires veterans to prioritize the W over international leagues—has hampered players’ ability to take advantage of overseas opportunities. The league fines and/or suspends players for missing training camp, even if more lucrative international contracts call.

Of course, there are exceptions. Clark’s salary, for example, was only 1% of her total earnings in 2024, thanks to endorsement deals and bonuses. Accordingly, she chose to pass on off-season play this year, citing a need for rest after dashing straight from the NCAA into the WNBA’s accelerated season. 

Still, many WNBA players need off-season play to supplement their annual salaries. Yet many can’t afford to take on the risk or the inconvenience involved in playing overseas.

For years, things have hung in this uncomfortable balance, threatening to eventually drive players away from the W. But this year, the status quo is changing. Players like Griner don’t have to choose between hooping overseas and not hooping at all. Instead, they get to hoop at home.

In 2023, WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart announced that they were launching the Unrivaled basketball league: a professional, U.S.-based 3v3 league intended to offer a domestic alternative to overseas play. Investors flocked to the proposal. Just six months after Stewart became the first player to formally sign with Unrivaled, the league kicked off its inaugural season on Jan. 17, 2025. 

Although some people doubt whether Unrivaled has staying power, there are plenty of factors that make the young league a promising option for the future of offseason women’s basketball. Just over a month into Unrivaled’s first ten-week season—which features 36 top WNBA players divided into six teams—let’s dive into a few of the reasons why I believe Collier and Stewart’s brainchild is here to stay.

Unrivaled doesn’t follow the FIBA 3×3 half-court model, which debuted at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Instead, league games are played on a 72-foot by 49.2-foot full court: significantly shorter and slightly less wide than a standard WNBA court. 

Anyone who’s played pickup basketball knows that the main difference between half- and full-court basketball is pace. Unrivaled takes that pace to the next level. Turn on an Unrivaled game, and you’ll find your head snapping back and forth à la the crowd in “Challengers.” The number of fast breaks and the sheer speed of the games are astonishing.

That’s just one of the ways in which Unrivaled is not your grandmother’s basketball league. Each game is made up of three seven-minute quarters and an untimed fourth quarter focused on the “winning score,” which is 11 points higher than the leading team’s score. During the fourth quarter, the team that hits that marker first wins the entire game.

This format effectively eliminates garbage time, leading to competitive fourth quarters and tight finishes. The very first Unrivaled game, between the Lunar Owls and the Mist (side note: I could write a whole separate article on the league’s bizarre naming conventions), ended in thrilling fashion. The metric set at the end of the third quarter was 84 points. With the score tied at 78, the Lunar Owls surged ahead, propelled by two clutch three-pointers from Skylar Diggins-Smith. Ultimately, the game ended 84–80 in favor of the Owls. It was an emphatic start to Unrivaled’s inaugural season, and a convincing defense of the league’s unusual fourth-quarter format.   

Unrivaled’s quirks don’t end there. Players shoot one free throw worth either one, two, or three points, depending on the shooting foul. And there is only one coach’s challenge per game. Both of these rules contribute to the league’s frenetic pace and keep viewers’ eyes glued to their TV screens. 

That’s important, because Unrivaled is going all in on viewership. Although the league has plans to eventually consider a traveling format, for the time being, it’s based in Miami, Fla., out of an arena that can accommodate just 850 fans. Meanwhile, the league has secured partnerships with TNT and truTV, boasting over 300,000 viewers for its opening games and nearly 400,000 viewers during the league’s recent one-on-one tournament.  

Unrivaled has deep pockets to back up its innovative model. Thanks in part to high-profile investors like Coco Gauff, Michael Phelps, Steve Nash, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Dawn Staley, the league can afford to pay an average salary of around $222,000 per player.  Considering Unrivaled only lasts 10 weeks, this is the highest average salary of any professional women’s sports league (the WNBA’s average salary last year topped out at $119,590). 

The money extends beyond just salaries. Collier, who triumphed over former University of Connecticut (UConn) standout Aaliyah Edwards to win Unrivaled’s recent one-on-one tournament, received $200,000 for her accomplishment: the largest one-day prize in women’s basketball history. The other five members of Collier’s Lunar Owls received $10,000 apiece, with finalist Edwards taking home $50,000. 

If the league keeps up these numbers, it’ll make any other offseason option look downright unsustainable. Remember, both Clark and three-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson chose not to sign with Unrivaled this year. If they do so in the future, the two stars could bring a whole new wave of viewers and investors to the up-and-coming league.

What is perhaps most attractive about Unrivaled is that it’s not trying to do too much. Unrivaled President Alex Bazzell, who happens to be married to Collier, has an uncanny sense for where to cut corners and where to direct league resources. 

The league’s decision not to pursue a travel model dramatically cut costs for the inaugural season, and it’s worth looking at where that money went instead. Unrivaled players have praised the Miami facility, which features top-of-the-line weight rooms, practice courts, and nanny services. The childcare is particularly appealing among a group of players historically discouraged from balancing motherhood with their athletic careers; while some WNBA teams, like the Phoenix Mercury, have long offered childcare options, others still do not.

Perhaps the biggest indicator of Unrivaled’s future success is that college stars are already signing on. In December, UConn’s Paige Bueckers and Louisiana State University’s Flau’Jae Johnson both signed NIL deals with Unrivaled, gaining equity in the league and making a statement about Unrivaled’s staying power.

To me, Unrivaled’s continued success is a given. A domestic, made-for-TV league that pays competitively and takes care of its players is exactly what women’s basketball needs right now. Plus, Collier and Stewart are implicitly asking the WNBA if it’s willing to invest in its players the way Unrivaled does. In essence, the Unrivaled concept is a blatant challenge couched in a series of fun, exhilarating 3v3 matchups.

I, for one, think it’s brilliant.

Audrey Nelson can be reached at aanelson@wesleyan.edu.