- Unrivaled has expanded to eight teams with 54 of the best women’s basketball players in the world.
- The trailblazing league has set a precedent for player experience and is doubling down on its already top-tier amenities ahead of Season 2’s tipoff Jan. 5.
- Diggins said she ‘needs all the things’ to compete at a high level, especially coming off maternity leave in 2024. Unrivaled answered the call.
Skylar Diggins didn’t know what to expect when she signed on for the inaugural season of Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 women’s basketball league founded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart. She anxiously headed down to Miami last January, her two children in tow. What she found was a community made ‘for us, by us.’
‘I had a 1-year-old and a 5-year-old, just a single mom down there. And so just questioning which resources I may have and how was I really going to make this work in this new league,’ Diggins told USA TODAY Sports. ‘The resources stuck out to me right away, specifically with childcare. And I had never experienced being able to go to the games and drop my kids off. I knew they were going to be safe.’
As someone who has been around for a ‘damn long time,’ the 11-year WNBA veteran said childcare was one of many firsts she experienced at Unrivaled. The trailblazing league has set a precedent for player experience and is doubling down on its already top-tier amenities ahead of Season 2’s tipoff Jan. 5.
It’s what led Diggins to return to the Lunar Owls for a second season: ‘It was very inspiring to be a part of the first year and now for it to come back for Year 2, even stronger and bigger, you feel really special.’
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Unrivaled has expanded to eight teams with 54 of the best women’s basketball players in the world. They compete in 3-on-3, full-court games during an eight-week season that concludes with the championship on March 4. The build up to the second season of Unrivaled comes amid ongoing WNBA collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations as the league and WNBPA try and hammer out a deal ahead of the Nov. 30 extended deadline.
‘Now is the time where our sport is booming,’ Diggins said. ‘We’re trying to make the WNBA get on board to the example that Unrivaled is setting.’
Unrivaled is a ‘well-oiled machine’
Diggins is known for her candid demeanor and it was on full display when she said she’s ‘the oldest player in the league.’ At age 35, Diggins said she ‘needs all the things’ to compete at a high level, especially coming off maternity leave in 2024. Unrivaled answered the call by providing weight rooms, massage therapists, saunas, cold tubs, childcare and nutritionists. And, the list goes on.
‘We had everything to help our body be at an elite level and that’s the only way we can compete at that level,’ Diggins explained. ‘It starts from top to bottom with the leadership that they have there and it trickles down to who’s around us and the support staff, strength and conditioning coaches, athletic trainers, the managers and club managers that work with our teams from day to day. It’s a well-oiled machine.’
Although Unrivaled raised the standard, the 3-on-3 league isn’t getting complacent. Unrivaled plans to add amenities and resources based on feedback from its first season, including a new and improved weight room and more player staffing. The league will also eliminate back-to-back games by adding a pair of expansion teams, Breeze BC and Hive BC.
‘(Unrivaled) showed how important it is to include the athlete in the decision-making process to include their vantage point (and) to have the diversity of opinion as far as what’s going on with these leagues and with our league,’ Diggins added.
Unrivaled has also changed the conversation around pay by offering players ownership and equity, in addition to an average salary of $222,222. The league is now valued at $340 million, which allows players to benefit from the league’s success. It’s a model Diggins hopes shapes the future of women’s basketball and becomes ‘the status quo.’
‘As investors you become more invested in the product and growing the game, not only from how you can impact the game while you’re playing, but evergreen and after,’ Diggins said. ‘It’s something that we hadn’t seen before … but it just gave us a way to be involved, not just on the player side, but in the business. And I think at the end of the day, that helps the business grow.’
Lunar Owls ‘want to win’ it all
Diggins will compete for the Lunar Owls for a second season, teaming up with Collier. The league-leading Lunar Owls were the No. 1 overall seed heading into the 2025 playoffs last season, but were upset in the first round by the Vinyl BC. ‘We didn’t win it, so we want to win. I’m not going to lie,’ she said.
‘I’m excited. I get a chance to play alongside Napheesa (Collier),’ Diggins added. ‘I mean (Collier) is one of the best players in our league. She’s one of the futures of women’s basketball. Not only what she does on the floor either, it’s what she does off the floor. So I love playing alongside her. I’m looking forward to that.’
The Lunar Owls are rounded out by Aaliyah Edwards, Rachel Banham, Rebecca Allen and Marina Mabrey, a fellow Notre Dame alumna Diggins joked she’s ‘happy I don’t have to play against.’
‘It’s going to be super competitive,’ Diggins added. ‘I got coaches and players that I played with, coaches that I used to play with, coaches I played against. It is a lot of dynamics, but just have fun with it.’
Skylar Diggins ‘excited’ to play against former coach
Diggins’ former Seattle Storm head coach Noelle Quinn will serve as head coach of Breeze BC, one of two expansion teams. Quinn’s contract with the Storm wasn’t renewed in September for the 2026 season after the Storm’s second consecutive first-round playoff exit.
‘(Quinn’s) basketball mind is incredible, but her ability to connect with people is what makes her so special,’ Diggins said. ‘The group of players that she has are some of those young exciting players … who’s really just getting started. And I think it’s perfect for them to cross paths with somebody like (Quinn).’
Diggins’ Seattle Storm teammates Dominique Malonga (Breeze), Ezi Magbegor (Hive) and Erica Wheeler (Vinyl) will make their Unrivaled debuts. When asked what advice she has for the rookies, Diggins quipped: ‘Ain’t nobody getting no advice. They too damn good on their own. They don’t need no help from me.’
Other rookies joining the league include Paige Buckers (Breeze), Kelsey Mitchell (Hive), Sonia Citron (Hive), Kiki Iran (Phantom) and Dana Evans (Phantom).
‘Those women don’t need my help. I can’t share. I said I’m the oldest player in the league, I can’t give them too much,’ Diggins joked. ‘But it’s a lot of excitement that they’re going to bring to their clubs and the more eyes that they bring to our game, they’ve done a great job for themselves, marketing themselves, that’s just better for our league. So I’m excited to have ’em. I think it makes every team super dynamic.’
The second season of Unrivaled tips off on Jan. 5 2026 on TruTv.
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