Angel Reese just couldn’t stay away. Despite initially planning to spend the winter recovering from another grueling WNBA season where she led the league in rebounds for the Chicago Sky, the “Bayou Barbie” is officially back for Season 2 of Unrivaled. Tonight in Miami, Reese returns to lead Team Rose, the reigning champions, against Sonia Citron and Team Hive.
The turnaround is a massive win for the 3×3 league. Reese, the league’s inaugural Defensive Player of the Year, was a cornerstone of their first-year success. It’s hard to blame her for the change of heart; seeing her WNBA peers competing at an elite level is one thing, but the league’s decision to balloon the championship prize pool to a staggering $600,000 likely made the decision a lot easier.
Unrivaled’s Blueprint for Expansion and Success
With the WNBA currently locked in a tense standoff over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), Reese’s move back to Miami feels like a strategic bet on her own value.
Unrivaled’s sophomore season isn’t just a repeat of the first; it’s a full-scale takeover. After a successful debut in Miami, the league expanded from six to eight teams, growing its roster from 36 to 54 players to include a dedicated development pool.
This expansion has also seen the league take its show on the road, recently hitting a historic high in Philadelphia. On January 30, a sold-out crowd of 21,490 fans packed the Xfinity Mobile Arena for a doubleheader, setting an all-time record for attendance at a regular-season professional women’s basketball game.
As league co-owner Napheesa Collier noted, the sheer volume of interest proves that the demand for women’s hoops is far from a fad. The momentum is carrying over into the postseason, with the semifinals already booked for the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on March 2.
The financial stakes have also shifted dramatically. While last year’s winners took home $50,000 each, the new $600,000 pool represents a level of investment that is starting to make the traditional WNBA salary structure look increasingly outdated.
The Commissioner’s Clock to Solve the CBA Talks
The explosive growth of Unrivaled is putting Commissioner Cathy Engelbert in an increasingly uncomfortable position. While Unrivaled currently operates during the WNBA’s offseason, the “exclusivity” of the primary league is being challenged like never before.
There is nothing stopping other entrepreneurs from launching rival leagues during the regular season, a reality that is already taking shape with Project B, where stars like Sophie Cunningham are already slated to participate.
With the WNBA regular season scheduled to tip off on May 8, Engelbert is running out of time to appease a player base that seems more than willing to explore life outside the traditional system. If the league doesn’t address the core concerns of its workforce soon, the talent drain to these highly-funded alternatives could become a flood.
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