Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier to launch new women's professional basketball league
A new professional women's basketball league is coming to the United States, as New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart and Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier told ESPN Thursday that they are launching "Unrivaled" next year.
The new league, which will be games of 3-on-3 basketball, would run from January through March and feature 30 of the top women's professional players on six teams. The league would be played in Miami.
The two former UConn stars said they've assembled business and sports industry leaders to help launch the league, which will take place during the WNBA offseason. Stewart and Collier said they have received good responses from potential players about the league.
Why a new women's professional basketball league?
Stewart and Collier said their goal to provide players with pay equal to or similar to what they make during the WNBA season. The league also would give players the chance to stay in the U.S. as opposed to playing overseas, where players can earn more than they do in the WNBA.
The new league would also help players avoid the WNBA prioritization rules, which states players must return from playing overseas by the start of WNBA training camp if they want to play. However, overseas leagues often play through May, which is when the WNBA season begins. Seattle Storm forward Gabby Williams recently disapproved of the rule after she returned from playing in France.
"It's the ability for players to stay home, to be in a market like Miami where we can just be the buzz and create that with the best WNBA players," Stewart told ESPN. "We can't keep fighting (the WNBA's prioritization rule). It is a rule that takes away our choices, which should never be a thing, especially as women, but it is still a rule."
Collier also said it isn't easy being away from family while playing overseas, as she stopped playing in 2022 after giving birth to her and her husband's first child.
"The idea of having a family trying to figure out child care overseas, that was kind of the main reason (for founding a new league)," Collier said.
Professional women's basketball leagues in US
Unrivaled will be the third professional women's basketball league in the U.S, after the WNBA and the recently launched Athletes Unlimited, where players play on rotating teams in an individual point system. Indiana Fever forward NaLyssa Smith was the 2023 Athletes Unlimited champion.