What is the Unrivaled Basketball League? Teams, rosters, schedule & TV information

Since the WNBA started in 1997, the league as played a summer season. That meant for the rest of the year, women's basketball players would usually travel to play in leagues in Europe, Asia, and Australian in order to stay fit but also make enough money to survive. As the WNBA has grown in popularity over the past decade, so has the desire from these players to not have to be in-season year round. It's hard on their bodies, hard for families, and started interfering with WNBA eligibility as the league became more strict on attendance at the beginning of seasons.

So, Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, two of the WNBA's greatest stars, decided to do something about this issue. From there, the Unrivaled basketball league was born, giving WNBA players another offseason option to be able to develop and play, but still stay in the USA during the offseason.

How does Unrivaled work?

For its first season, Unrivaled is setting up headquarters in Miami, Florida. Playing in a 3x3 style on a condensed full court, the league's 36 players have been split into six teams. Lasting from January to March, the league has no overlap with the WNBA and therefore won't break any prioritization rules the WNBA has set in place.

Every player who signed for the first season was also given equity opportunities, giving them ownership in the league. Average salaries are six figures, close to if not higher than the current WNBA max salary, for half the time. The league has also raised over $35 million dollars in investment money, with people like Dawn Staley, Juju Watkins, Coco Gauff, Michael Phelps, Giannis Antetokounmpo and more investing in the league.

There will also be a mid-season 1-on-1 tournament, held in mid-February, where the winner will take home an additional $250,000.

What are the teams?

Unrivaled has six teams for this season: Laces BC, Phantom BC, Vinyl BC, Mist BC, Lunar Owls BC and Rose BC. The roster are:

Laces BC: Stef Dolson, Tiffany Hayes, Kate Martin, Kayla McBride, Alyssa Thomas, Jackie Young — Coach: Andrew Wade

Phantom BC: Natasha Cloud, Brittney Griner, Sabrina Ionescu, Marina Mabrey, Satou Sabally, Katie Lou Samuelson — Coach: Adam Harrington

Vinyl BC: Aliyah Boston, Rae Burrell, Jordin Canada, Dearica Hamby, Rhyne Howard, Arike Ogunbowale — Coach: Teresa Weatherspoon

Mist BC: Breanna Stewart, Jewell Loyd, DiJonai Carrington, Aaliyah Edwards, Rickea Jackson, Courtney Vandersloot — Coach: Phil Handy

Lunar Owls BC: Napheesa Collier, Shakira Austin, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Allisha Gray, Courtney Williams, Cameron Brink (who won't be playing this season due to injury) — Coach: DJ Sackmann

Rose BC: Chelsea Gray, Kahleah Copper, Lexie Hull, Angel Reese, Azura Stevens, Brittney Sykes — Coach: Nola Henry

The Rules of the Game

This version of 3x3 basketball will be a little different than the 3x3 you may have watched at the Olympics. While FIBA 3x3 is played on a halfcourt, this game will be played on a condensed fullcourt.

Games will be split into four quarters, with the first three quarters being seven minutes each. After the third quarter, the "winning score" will be determined by adding 11 points to the leading team's score. From there, the fourth quarter is as long as it takes for a team to reach that score. Fouls will be awarded one free throw no matter what. If the foul was committed on a 3-point attempt, that one free throw will be worth three points, and if it was committed on a 2-point field goal, the shot will be worth 2 points. If the basket is made on the shot attempt as the foul is called, the shot will be worth one point.

The shot-clock is also shorter — 18 seconds compared to the 24 in the WNBA or the 30 in college basketball. They are also using the alternating possession rule (like they do in college basketball) as opposed to in-game jump balls.

Players can still foul out, but if multiple players on a team foul out and the team has less than three available players, the last fouled player stays in the game. The only thing that changes is that the player will then collect a technical foul for every foul they commit from then on.

How to watch

All Unrivaled games will be on Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays. The league has signed a multi-year partnership with Warner Brothers in order to broadcast games on TNT Sports or TruTV. Saturday games will be on TruTV while Friday and Monday games will be on TNT Sports. Each night of play will feature two different games, and games will also be available to watch on Max.

Opening night is Friday, Jan. 17 when the Mist BC and Lunar Owls BC will tip-off at 7 p.m. EST. Unrivaled has also partnered with six women's sports bars across the US to bring Unrivaled watch parties to fans. Bars in Portland OR, Long Beach CA, Minneapolis MN, Chicago IL, New York City, Miami, FL, and Denver CO will all have watch parties.

Each team will play 14 games in the regular season, and the top four teams will then progress into the playoffs. Teams will then play semi-final games on March 16, followed by the championship game on March 17.