Unrivaled, the new 3-on-3 basketball league co-founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, tips off Friday in Miami. The night will usher in a new era of professional women’s basketball, with Unrivaled offering WNBA stars a chance to stay at home during the offseason and take ownership in a league of their own making.
For the league’s inaugural season, 36 players were invited and split into six teams with six players apiece: Laces BC, Lunar Owls BC, Mist BC, Phantom BC, Rose BC and Vinyl BC. The teams were chosen by the league’s six head coaches, though before they knew which team they would be in charge of, in an attempt to make sure that they are as even as possible.
Everything about the operation is unique, including the games themselves. The league will use a compressed 70-by-50-foot court that will allow them to play “full-court” even in 3-on-3. Furthermore, there will be an 18-second shot clock and three seven-minute quarters followed by an untimed fourth quarter in which the two teams will play to a “winning score.”
Given that we’ve never seen professional games under these conditions, let alone any of these teams play together, putting together preseason power…
