Unrivaled expands rosters, awaits Clark decision

Unrivaled, the upcoming 3-on-3 women’s basketball league, added its 30th player for its inaugural season Thursday, but she won’t be the last.

The league will have 36 players (not 30) — six teams of six — for its first season, co-founder Napheesa Collier announced, with Indiana Fever center Aliyah Boston later revealed as the league’s 30th signing.

“We’re able to do this because we outperformed our financial projections, and so now we get to do something that we wanted to do in the future, which is give more people spots in Unrivaled,” Collier, of the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx, said in a social media video.

“This is such an amazing time in women’s sports and we’re so thankful to all the positive people who have come out and supported us.”

Collier and New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart founded the league to provide players an alternative to earning money overseas during the WNBA’s offseason. The season will be eight weeks long during the WNBA’s offseason, and players who join Unrivaled will receive equity in the league.

Boston, 22, was the first overall pick of the 2023 WNBA draft and the 2023 Rookie of the Year. In two seasons in the league, she has started all 80 games for Indiana and averaged 14.2 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.2 blocks and 1.1 steals.

Other stars who have joined Unrivaled include Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese, Seattle Storm guard Jewell Loyd and Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale.

Unrivaled plans to make an aggressive bid to add Fever star Caitlin Clark, with an offer of more than $1 million per season expected, Front Office Sports reported this week.

“We’re always going to have a roster spot for Caitlin Clark,” Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell told Sportico. “We’re not applying a full-court press the way people think. We are letting her decompress from basketball. … She knows that we have a spot for her when she’s ready.”

Information from Field Level Media was used in this report.