Unrivaled returns in 2026 and there are some brand new stars in town.
The 3-on-3 women’s basketball league, co-founded by New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart and 2025 WNBA MVP runner-up Napheesa Collier, kicked off its inaugural season earlier this year.
Rose BC won the inaugural Unrivaled season in 2025GettyAfter a hugely successful outing, in which the league was estimated to have generated over $27 million in revenue, almost breaking even off the jump, there are huge plans for 2026.
While initial reports following its success on debut suggested that the league had plans to add more seating to their 850-seat Miami-based arena, as well as take the league on the road to two other cities, Unrivaled has also announced the signings of its latest group of stars, headlined by none other than Paige Bueckers.
Bueckers headlines list of first-year Unrivaled stars
The Dallas Wings star has just claimed the 2025 Rookie of the Year award after leading the team in points (19.2 per game), assists (5.4 per game) and steals (1.6 per game), including an epic career-best performance under the Hollywood lights at Crypto.com Arena back in August.
But Bueckers had always planned to join Unrivaled, having signed a three-year deal with the 3-on-3 league a day before she was taken as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, while also being an investor of the league itself.
Now it is official.
The former UConn star, will now see her earn far more money – with the league compensating their players with an average of $222k – in the 10-week Unrivaled season than she will make in her entire four-year, $78,831 rookie contract with the Wings.
Bueckers headlines the list of Unrivaled newcomers for Season 2Getty“There’s a lot of three-man action in a five-on-five basketball game. You see a lot in triangle set offense,” Bueckers explained to DallasHoopsJournal.com.
“So it’s a lot of scheming, and it’s just fun—the pace. Obviously, the court is smaller, so everything is in transition, essentially. I’m really looking forward to that too.”
Other confirmed first-time additions to the league for 2026, which already features a host of WNBA stars including the Chicago Sky‘s rebounding queen Angel Reese, Sabrina Ionescu, and Unrivaled MVP Chelsea Gray, include Sabou Satally, Saniya Rivers, and Erica Wheeler.
To accommodate the newly-expanded 48 players that will feature in season 2, Unrivaled announced earlier in September the addition of two new teams in the Breeze and the Hive to bring the total to eight.
This announcement came just a few days after Unrivaled announced that its valuation of $340 million has come far earlier than originally planned and predicted.
Unrivaled League Teams
Unrivaled has introduced two new expansion teams for 2026
Breeze BCHive BCLaces BCLunar Owls BCMist BCPhantom BCRose BCVinyl BC
Could Caitlin Clark still join Unrivaled?
Much of the talk surrounding Unrivaled leading up to its inaugural campaign was the omission of Caitlin Clark.
The Indiana Fever star, who alongside Reese, have been at the center of the WNBA’s huge surge in growth and popularity over the past two seasons, turned down a huge-money opportunity, worth a reported $1 million, to play earlier this year.
But with the announcement of expansion team Hive BC, conspiracy theories from fans have begun to circulate suggesting that it could be an indication of Clark imminently adding her name to the league.
With it’s yellow and black logo colors, some fans have speculated that it is a subtle hint that she is joining because they represent the same colors of Clark’s alma mater, Iowa.
Clark turned down the opportunity to join season 1 of Unrivaled, but the door isn’t fully closed yetGetty Hive BC is one of Unrivaled’s new expansion teams, with the color scheme similar to that of IowaX/ @Unrivaledwbb“Anyone else notice these are Iowa colors ?? Caitlin Clark to unrivaled ??? ,” one user posted to X (formerly Twitter).
However, other fans are hoping that she doesn’t, mainly due to the fact that playing in Unrivaled adds a greater risk to the chance of getting injured, with the Fever star seeing the court just 13 times in her sophomore WNBA campaign.
“Aren’t the Unrivaled injury rates really high? Why would Clark take that risk? I still think she should go play in Europe,” one fan commented.
“Oh, you mean risk getting injured again, largely by a majority of women who not like her, while playing three on three? I think that’s just Unrivaled trying to make people think that she is gonna play, kind of the same way they used the number 22 the last time,” an angry fan wrote.
Despite all the chatter online, Unrivaled commissioner Micky Lawler hasn’t ruled out the possibility of the Fever star – whose 2025 WNBA season was marred by injury – joining the league.
“The door is always open, of course,” he told SportsPro in January. “This is not built for one player, and the sport is not about one player – and I think Caitlin would be the first to say that. There’s so much in women’s basketball to work with and that’s what we’ve done.
“Do we hope that Caitlin will join when or if she’s ready? Yes, of course. But we have a lot of very, very talented players.
“Every single player at Unrivaled is very talented and fascinating in her own right. So we absolutely believe that what we’ve got is a super compelling sports league.”
This sentiment has since been echoed by Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell, who also happens to be Collier’s husband.
When asked whether the league would add WNBA premier talents that didn’t compete in last season, such as MVP winner A’ja Wilson and Clark, Bazzell indicated that talks may be ongoing, but that are not actively pursuing certain players to join.
“There is always an ongoing dialogue,” Bazzell said. “There is no secret who the top players in the world are, and they know we have a spot for them.
“But we are not knocking down doors or chasing people down. I feel good about where our rosters stand.”
There is an argument to be made that Unrivaled could be a good way for Clark to get some on-court reps in time for the 2026 WNBA season to begin.
With that in mind, fans may not have as long to wait to see her in action again than they first feared, though that remains to be seen.
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