Unrivaled basketball aiming to ‘set the bar’ for player experience, salaries in inaugural 3-on-3 season​on January 21, 2025 at 5:21 pm

MEDLEY, Fla. — What do you get when you tap two Olympic gold medalists and WNBA All-Stars to co-found a new women’s basketball league? In the case of Unrivaled Basketball and co-founders Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, it’s the cultivation of a new baseline for player experience, from salaries and family support services to players development and recovery.

Unrivaled is aiming to set the pace for average salaries and player amenities, and it all comes back to the talent on the court. 

“I think it’s the players,” Stewart said. “[Collier] and I were on those Zooms and those calls from Day 1 and continuing to kind of show our confidence, but also share our stories of where we’ve been and being overseas, and why we should be marketed in our home country.” 

Week 1 of Unrivaled is in the books, and CBS Sports was on hand to witness the action, along with what makes the league makes an athlete utopia. 

Setting a new standard

Unrivaled is far from the only women’s basketball league, but it’s hoping to approach player support at a deeper level than most. The unique 3-on-3 format, player salaries and services for players all meet that goal. 

The average player salary in Unrivaled’s inaugural season is over $200,000. The league boasts a $8 million salary pool and players also split a 15% revenue pot. 

“We called ourselves Unrivaled, and we’re trying to set the bar and what it means to be a professional athlete, especially on the women’s side,” Collier said. “With the salaries, we didn’t want to compare them to the WNBA, because we want more.” 

And Unrivaled is providing more.

According to the current WNBA collective bargaining agreement, the highest average salary for a player taps out at just over $208,000. Additionally, the most a veteran player can earn from their team salary cap is the $241,000 super max salary. 

Further, Unrivaled players split a 15% league equity pool. The percentage from the player pool is determined by several factors, including how many years the player signed for and their other pro basketball accolades. 

“I don’t know of any other leagues really — maybe TGL — that has equity in a league that you’re currently playing in,” Collier said. “So that’s definitely new. That has the potential to turn to millions, we hope.” 

As Collier noted, the new TGL simulator golf league has a 10% player equity pool. The Unrivaled salary and equity pool comes from a $28 million investment raise completed in December. This particular aspect of the league has been a draw in recruiting players and sponsors. It’s also the reason renowned businesswoman and former WTA president Micky Lawler agreed to the role of commissioner. 

“The transition of value to the athletes is very important,” Lawler said. “It is a moment in history. It is a milestone we won’t forget. I was part of such a milestone once before in my life, and it changed the direction of generations of women.” 

As WTA president, Lawler helped bring equitable pay and unprecedented media partnership to women’s tennis, including a $14 million purse at the 2019 WTA Finals in Shenzhen, China. She was named Unrivaled commissioner in August. 

Unrivaled launched with 15 sponsors, with several having a direct impact on the player experience. 

“We weren’t focused on maybe some of the results the rest of the world was focused on,” said Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell, Collier’s husband. “The North Star is the athlete. Every decision we make has to be built for them.” 

That ethos guides Unrivaled when it comes to content, operations and amenities. After one week, Unrivaled is delivering. 

It starts with family

One amenity all players have been impressed with is the support for families incorporated into Unrivaled. The league has a nursery, nursing room and play room on-site where children of the players and staff can be cared for. 

“That was really important to us from the beginning: to make sure that there was reliable, responsible child care for people, because we know what it’s like to not have that,” Collier said. 

Unrivaled partnered with a local company to hire childcare professionals for athletes and staff with children. It immediately eliminated barriers for veterans like Brittney Griner and Skylar Diggins-Smith. 

“As much as we’re amazing basketball players, there’s some really amazing mothers here too,” said Griner, who welcomed a new son to her family before the 2024 All-Star Weekend. “And it’s hard to be away from your kid or trust somebody to watch your kid. That’s the biggest trust you can give somebody.

“For them to go out and find the right people where we feel comfortable bringing our kids here, that means a lot to me I know for sure because I’d do anything to protect him.”

Diggins-Smith, a mother of two children, added, “It’s really been a space for us … the nannies have been amazing. I brought the kids there and shootaround. They’re welcome to come during practice. And it really is refreshing for me and us being in a new environment and routine, having two little ones, just having that option of care, child care with nannies that they get along with. And so it really has given me a peace of mind to just be able to come here, clear and free and be able to play,” 

Diggins-Smith and the Lunar Owls are 2-0, and the energetic guard currently signed with the Seattle Storm has nailed home the winning point in each of their games. Although Diggins-Smith isn’t the only parent at Unrivaled, she is one of only two players who became a parent before the 2020 collective bargaining agreement. 

Prior to the existing CBA, players shared hotel rooms on the road. Throughout their WNBA careers, mothers like Sheryl Swoopes, Candace Parker and Diggins-Smith had to pay out of pocket for private or additional rooms for them and any family or hired childcare staff. 

Since 2020, players have been upgraded to two-bedroom apartments that can accommodate children. Other elements baked into the CBA include a $5,000 child care stipend, designated nursing areas throughout league facilities, and up to $60,000 for a variety of family planning services. 

Collier, a 2019 first-round draft pick, has barely known a WNBA without support for families. She entered the league a year before the most recent CBA was enacted. By the time Collier gave birth to her daughter, Mila Sarah Bazzell, in 2022, she was entitled to support that didn’t exist prior to the 2020 season. 

“With the CBA, we made huge leaps and bounds,” Collier said. “For example, if you’re pregnant you will still be able to collect your full salary. That is such a huge burden off your shoulders knowing that you can provide for your family.” 

Collier and Stewart, a mother of two, wanted their new league to push the envelope for what is possible for professional women’s basketball players. In 2025 and beyond, that includes comprehensive support for families and family planning. 

The rising tide

For Collier and Stewart, providing access to family planning for more players is one of the reasons the WNBPA opted out of the CBA, which was otherwise set to expire in 2027. 

In their formal opt-out announcement, the WNBPA noted five points that they sought to address: 

1. New economic model
2. Player salaries 
3. Minimum professional standards 
4. Retirement benefits 
5. Pregnancy and family planning benefits

The WNBPA noted it is seeking “fair and accessible family planning support for all players, including retirement benefits that provide long-term security for their families.” Although neither the WNBPA or WNBA offered an official statement for this article, we do know both parties met last month. 

Four of the six players in the meeting are playing in Unrivaled over the next nine weeks.  

In a way, Unrivaled is a testing ground and sounding board for what the future of the WNBA could look like. Players see what is possible, and now they want the same throughout the league. 

There is already an upward trend of franchises investing in practice facilities, including the Indiana Fever recently announcing a plan for a new $78 million facility. Unrivaled athletes are taking notes and passing them along. 

“The timing worked out great,” free agent guard Courtney Vandersloot said earlier this month. “Unrivaled’s ability to put everything we need here, to treat us like first-class athletes, it’s a great time for women’s sports … Unrivaled has done a good job making sure we have everything we need. and, now we kind of know what to expect, and what to ask for and what we need in the next CBA.”