Unrivaled’s Series A investment round closed on Monday, with the new 3×3 pro basketball league raising $28 million from investors including South Carolina’s three-time NCAA champion head coach Dawn Staley and USC sophomore phenom JuJu Watkins.
Joining Staley and Watkins in cutting checks were several industry leaders, venture capital funds, and other prominent athletes like US swimming legend Michael Phelps and NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Also contributing to this round were several of the league’s original $7 million seed investors, including USWNT icon Alex Morgan and legendary UConn head coach Geno Auriemma.
NCAA standouts seek Unrivaled access
Unrivaled’s inclusion of college stars is particularly unique, and likely sets them up to join the league after graduation.
Other than Watkins, who partners with the league as an investor, Unrivaled has a pair of NIL deals with NCAA players. The league inked UConn’s Paige Bueckers — the expected No. 1 pick at the 2025 WNBA Draft — last summer, and added LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson to its NIL roster earlier this month.
Both Bueckers’s and Johnson’s deals grant them equity stake…
