What’s Unbeatable, The New Women’s Basketball League That Has WNBA Fans Cheering?

Women’s basketball has captured the world’s attention in recent years, with players like Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark and Sabrina Ionescu paying for hack jokes about how “nobody watches women’s sports.” Now, a brand new six-team league founded by two major women’s basketball stars has entered the chat. Below you’ll find everything you need to know about Unrivaled — which game begins today.

What exactly is Unmatched and who is behind it?

The new three-on-three league was founded by New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart and Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier as an alternative to playing overseas during the WNBA offseason. (For years, many professional female basketball players have traveled abroad to supplement their income.)

South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley and USC star JuJu Watkins are two of the investors behind Unrivaled, which reportedly has exceeded $35 million in funding. Other investors include tennis star Coco Gauff, former Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks.

The league currently consists of six teams: Shoelaces (trained by Andrew Wade), the Moon owls (trained by DJ Sackmann), Fog (trained by Phil Handy), Phantom (trained by Adam Harrington), Rose (trained by Nola Henry), and Vinyl (trained by Teresa Weatherspoon).

Which WNBA players have joined Unrivaled?

Top WNBA draft picks Aliyah Boston, Rhyne Howard, Sabrina Ionescu, Jackie Young, Stewart, Jewell Loyd and Brittney Griner will all compete in Unrivaled this season along with Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, Flau’ Jae Johnson and many others. (Los Angeles Sparks forward Cameron Brink is out for the season while recovering from an injury, but has committed to play in Unrivaled next season.)

How much do unmatched players get paid?

It’s no secret that professional basketball has an extremely sexist streak compensation difference between male and female players, and one of the main goals of Unrivaled is to correct that imbalance, with the league promising to offer “the highest average salary in professional women’s (team) sports.” The average salary for uncapped players is estimated to be around $222,222, about double the average WNBA salary. In addition, unmatched players are offered equity in the league.

How long will the unbeaten season last?

The league’s eight-week season runs from January 17 to March 17 at Wayfair Arena, a purpose-built facility in Miami.

How can I watch unmatched games?

Games will take place every week on Monday, Friday and Saturday evenings. You can tune in to TNT (on Mondays and Fridays) or TruTV (on Saturdays), or stream them via Max. See the full schedule here.