Unrivaled, Up Next: Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart’s league launches

Opening weekend attracted audience members like Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat, Las Vegas Aces’ coach Becky Hammon, retired soccer star Alex Morgan, and more. The league’s co-founders Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier were all over media appearances along with their player duties, hopping on broadcasts and doing interviews. Players raved about the facilities and amenities provided to them — Rickea Jackson even mentioned the way players are walked into the arena with umbrellas when it rains.

On Monday night’s broadcast, Collier mentioned how they were able to decide what kinds of amenities they wanted to offer the players. She said they were told to make a list of everything they would do if money was not an object. Many of the things from that list, including having an on-site aesthetician available to players, day-care services for children and an in-house chef, all ended up becoming reality.

While all of those add-ons were talked about at length prior to tip-off, one thing fans finally got to witness was the core of what Unrivaled was made for — the game.

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Inventing a brand-new game

With all the hype around the investment into the league, rosters, coaches and more, one thing that was unexpected about opening weekend was … the basketball. Fans of the sport have watched 5×5, they may have seen traditional half-court 3×3, but this hybrid version is new. Four quarters, a winning score at the end instead of a timed quarter, fewer free throws. All of this resulted in a fast-paced, thrilling game that immediately stripped away the usual pomp and circumstance of professional hoops and instead gave fans a magnified look into the intricacies of the game.

This game is fast. Players don’t have time to complain about fouls to the officials because the ball is already on the other side of the court. Versatility is rewarded, and the space that only having six players on the court provides allows players to move more freely. That leads to an increased emphasis on defense and staying with your defender. Rebounding is essential, because transition plays happen at lightning speed.

The innovative fourth quarter leads to every game getting that game-winning, show-stopping moment. With no clock, these plays aren’t rushed or fabricated. The foul game isn’t played at the end to try and get more possessions; players need to get them themselves.

“I think also the crowd got really involved in fourth quarter as well. We definitely are trying to adjust and figure out how to do that, because it’s no time on the clock, so you got to figure out more strategy,” said Mist BC guard Jewell Loyd. “Obviously the fans really enjoyed it. We gave people what they wanted.”

Collier was heavily involved in the process of creating this new style of basketball, mentioning entertainment was at the forefront. “The format is one of the reasons why we did that, because it’s so entertaining. Like every game feels like crucial high stakes, because you’re going to have a game-winner every single game” Collier said after the Lunar Owls won their opening game over Mist BC.

This new format exposes a lot about everyone on the court. How coaches make in-game adjustments at a fast pace, how players can adjust to what is working and what is not. Even down to who is in shape to run up and down the court constantly while providing both offensive and defensive energy.

Vinyl head coach Teresa Weatherspoon, who led her team to a 2-0 start this weekend, mentioned her team “takes pride on the defensive side of the ball.” It’s something people say in basketball all the time, but not coming in with that energy is going show a lot more in this format.

“They enjoy going through the schemes that we put in place, and they understand the assignment, how important it is for us to play that way defensively.” Weatherspoon mentioned Monday night after the Vinyl won their second game. “It’s the most important thing we know we can do offensively, but we want to be better every single game defensively. The challenge that we set out for ourselves to tonight, they made it.”

Some teams did not have their preferred results, proven by the league’s first two blowout games — the Laces handed both the Phantom and Mist 20-plus-point losses.

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Player of the Week: Napheesa Collier

Our first ever player of the week just happens to be one of the co-founders — Collier. She had a career 2023 season in Minnesota with the WNBA’s Lynx, and that energy seems to be continuing into the Unrivaled season.

Collier started with a 27-point, 11-rebound performance (her first career double-double, per Unrivaled PR) to help her Lunar Owls get an 84-80 win over the Mist in the league’s first game. The Lunar Owls needed to come back from behind in the fourth quarter to reach the 84-point win threshold before the Mist did. While she didn’t have the first-ever bucket in league history, that was her co-founder Stewart, Collier took first win instead.

The next day, the Lunar Owls faced the Rose, and Collier was again her team’s top-scorer. She led with 13 points, four rebounds and one assist in the first quarter. By the end of the game she had scored 31 points, six rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block.

While many players have been visibly adjusting to both this new style of play as well as just getting back into playing form, Collier looks solid. She was able to perform like this while still being an ambassador for the league, doing additional media and surely a lot more behind the scenes.

“I mean, of course it’s a distraction. It’s opening weekend. I think we’ve been in situations like that so many times. We have experience in high pressure situations where there’s a lot going on, playing in the finals, playing in college, in championship games,” Collier said. “So I think just as a professional, you’re able to kind of block that out again once the ball goes up, and focus on what you’re doing with your team.”

In the end, when they get on court, these women are athletes.

Results from Week 1:

Mist vs Lunar Owls: Lunar Owls win 84-80

Rose vs Vinyl: Vinyl win 79-73

Laces vs Phantom: Laces win 86-48

Rose vs Lunar Owls: Lunar Owls win 79-70

Phantom vs Vinyl: Vinyl win 84-71

Mist vs Laces: Laces win 63-43

Lunar Owls (2-0), Vinyl (2-0), Laces (2-0), Mist (0-2), Rose (0-2), Phantom (0-2)

Opening weekend also brought us the first injury of the season, with Marina Mabrey suffering a calf strain. She will be re-evaluated in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, Natisha Hiedeman has been signed as a relief player.

Next Week’s Games

Here is what Week 2 of Unrivaled looks like:

January 24: Phantom vs. Mist (7:00 p.m. ET), Laces vs. Vinyl (8:15 p.m. ET)

January 25: Mist vs. Rose (6:00 p.m. ET), Lunar Owls vs. Phantom (7:00 p.m. ET)

January 27: Vinyl vs. Lunar Owls (7:00 p.m. ET), Rose vs. Laces (8:15 p.m. ET)

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