Unrivaled, the latest pro women’s basketball league, is already making waves, putting the WNBA in an uncomfortable spotlight. Earlier this week, Rose guard Kahleah Copper, also a player for Team USA and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, candidly revealed what fuels her for Unrivaled’s inaugural 1v1 tournament. “The money,” she said when asked about her motivation to perform; similarly, when Allisha Gray defeated Jordin Canada in the tournament’s first round, she quipped, “Who don’t want no money?” during her postgame interview.
Founded by former WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, Unrivaled is flipping the script on professional women’s basketball. The league boasts benefits that are, well, unrivaled: the 1v1 tournament offers a $200,000 cash prize to the winner, and the 3-on-3 league features a player-friendly model with shorter seasons and higher paychecks—benefits long out of reach for WNBA players who often supplement their incomes playing overseas during the offseason. The average salary in Unrivaled is $220,000 for a three-month season, the highest in any professional women’s sports league, vastly exceeding the WNBA’s average of $119,590 in 2024. This figure doesn’t even consider bonuses like the 1v1 cash prize and additional player and team incentives.
Although Copper, one of the WNBA’s top earners, lost to Gray in the second round of the 1v1 tournament, she stood to nearly double her 2024 salary of $241,059 with an overall win. Gray, earning $185,000 as her base WNBA salary in 2024 before losing to rookie Aaliyah Edwards in the quarterfinals, would have seen her income more than double as the overall champion. Meanwhile, the rookie Edwards, a potential Cinderella of the tournament after defeating Gray, could nearly triple her rookie salary of $74,909 with a victory. You read that right—Edwards, the sixth-overall pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, earns just shy of $75,000 annually as a professional basketball player, before taxes.
With Unrivaled providing salaries that rival WNBA earnings for significantly fewer games, a troubling question arises: Why has the WNBA struggled for so long to provide fair compensation to its athletes? Much of this can be attributed to the NBA’s control over the WNBA, as it owns roughly half of the league and influences operations like revenue-sharing, which predominantly comes from localized rather than national revenue. WNBA players have long advocated for improved salaries, travel conditions, and overall treatment, yet these asks have only yielded incremental changes. The emergence of Unrivaled signals that elite talent is no longer willing to wait for slow-moving reforms, emphasizing that if players can earn more while playing fewer games and experiencing less physical strain, they should continue to demand such standards from the WNBA.
This disruption ultimately benefits the WNBA, as competition fosters progress. Unrivaled’s rise could compel the WNBA to enhance financial opportunities for its athletes. The league now stands at a crucial inflection point, needing to adapt to the evolving landscape of elite women’s basketball or face greater scrutiny from within its talent pool. Unrivaled presents a compelling opportunity to players, allowing them to augment their WNBA careers without going overseas during the offseason. With viewership surging, players gain increased exposure, while the league offers an exciting format distinct from traditional 5-on-5 play.
Unrivaled is proving popular and investing in its athletes in ways the WNBA has failed to do. Most importantly, the rise of Unrivaled underscores the long-standing assertion from WNBA players that their contributions are undervalued. The critical question remains: will the WNBA step up to meet this moment? Catch the 1v1 semifinals featuring Aaliyah Edwards, Azura Stevens, Napheesa Collier, and Arike Ogunbowale, airing on TNT this Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET.
