MIAMI — Chelsea Gray sat in Unrivaled‘s recovery room following her team’s loss on opening night of the new women’s 3-on-3 pro basketball league. As hot and cold tubs swirled nearby, the guard put her headphones on to drown out outside noise, cheers from her opponents seeping through the walls.
The Vinyl had beaten Gray’s Rose by six points in the nightcap of the doubleheader, and victory music and celebratory shrieks were continued reminders of the defeat.
Gray didn’t want to hear any of it. But with each locker room of the league’s six teams sitting adjacent to or across from one another, it was hard to escape. The competition is always just yards away.
That had been a plus during the preseason. Ahead of the league’s Jan. 17 tipoff, Unrivaled’s 36 players gathered in Miami for two weeks. They bonded over how special it was to share space with the top players in the WNBA, posting on social media together, getting dinners and joking in the hallways.
“It’s like a fun summer camp here,” the Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese said a day earlier. “We’re doing everything we love to do, and just being all together at one time.”
But as the games began, the pleasantries had melted away. And Gray needed some space.
“I thought I was going to be OK,” Gray said. “I’m not OK.”
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