Skylar Diggins-Smith signed with the Seattle Storm because she wanted to play with Jewell Loyd.

That, combined with Nneka Ogwumike signing with the Storm, made Seattle an easy decision.

“I want to play with Jewell,” she said. “Trying to figure out how to play with players that you hate guarding and playing against, and Jewell and Nneka are at the top of that list.”

“I connected with one person very early in the process, and that was Jewell,” Diggins-Smith continued. “If I wasn’t talking to Jewell, I was talking to Nneka. Those were the two players that I talked to the most. … I want to be around winners. I think it’s really important at this point of my career to be around people that know me, and [Nneka] knows me and I know her.”

Loyd and Diggins-Smith played together for one season at Notre Dame. Diggins-Smith and Ogwumike have known each other longer, having at one time talked about playing for the same university when they were still high school recruits. Diggins-Smith went on to play at Notre Dame while Ogwumike went to Stanford.

All three have played together at different points, between All-Star Games and USA Basketball. The relationships built during those times made the decisions easy.

“I think it’s important to really highlight what Sky said about wanting to play with Jewell,” Ogwumike said. “I had conversations about playing with Jewell. We didn’t know if it was going to be in Seattle or not. And me and Skylar, we’ve always been talking since we were kids about ‘We’re going to end up on the same team someday.’”

The expectation, of course, is for the team to get back to competing for championships. It’s something that Ogwumike signed on for, as well as Diggins-Smith.

For Diggins-Smith, it’s about “continuing the legacy” of Seattle, with four championships won between 2004 and 2020.

“I think when you have three people who are selfless like that, three people who are dangerously disciplined like that and respect the game and you have a coach (Noelle Quinn) that also embodies all of those characteristics, you can expect good basketball played the right way,” Ogwumike said.

Diggins-Smith also said that Seattle has been “thoughtful” in what they’ve built, with both the franchise and the team’s practice facility, which isn’t shared with another team.

“It’s very thoughtful, I’ll just say, in how it’s built. What we need, what I need at this stage in my life,” Diggins-Smith said. “The one-stop shop where you don’t have to share it with an NBA or G League affiliate team. You come in and it really does feel like yours… We need all those resources and this team had the best of the best, top to bottom.”

Team Poland lifted the 2026 United Cup trophy on Sunday, but the historic win brought new concerns as world No. 2 Iga Świątek appeared rattled while closing out the Australian Open tune-up.

While her compatriots closed out the fourth edition of the international team tournament with wins that secured two-time runner-up Poland its first-ever United Cup title, Świątek stumbled at the finish.

The 24-year-old capped the singles competition with back-to-back defeats, dropping her semifinals match against US star No. 3 Coco Gauff in straight sets on Saturday before falling 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 to Switzerland's No. 10 Belinda Bencic on Sunday — a loss that saw the six-time Grand Slam winner seeking treatment between sets.

"Everything is fine. Just super sore," Świątek said following Poland's 2026 United Cup win, downplaying her fitness concerns. "First tournament of the year, it causes the body [to feel] a bit differently than during the season."

With the first Grand Slam of 2026 looming — the only one standing between Świątek and a Career Grand Slam — the Polish phenom and her peers will have a week to recover before taking the Australian Open hardcourt in Melbourne at 7 PM ET on Saturday.

With qualifying play wrapping midweek, the 2026 Australian Open will reveal each player's path in the main draw, which will stream live at 10:30 PM ET on Wednesday at ausopen.com.

Fresh faces are shining on the 3×3 basketball court, as Unrivaled newcomer Breeze BC holds their own against veteran competition, riding a 2-1 record through their first three games of the 2026 season.

First-year guard Paige Bueckers leads the team with 18.3 points per game, with the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year also sitting third in the offseason league in assists with 7.0 per game.

It's not only Bueckers impressing from the young Breeze squad, however, as second-year Unrivaled vet Rickea Jackson and league debutant Dominique Malonga are posting 17.3 points per game so far, putting the pair at Nos. 11 and 12 among the league's 45 star players — just behind Bueckers at No. 9.

"I feel like we just stick together," said Jackson. "Our chemistry is insane for us to just [now] be playing together."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

Experience did win out on Sunday, though, as reigning champion Rose BC's Chelsea Gray dropped 37 points on the young stars to secure her team's 3-0 record with a 73-69 victory.

Gray currently leads Unrivaled with 31.7 points per game, hitting two game-winners in the first week of play as Rose BC tops the Season 2 standings.

How to watch Breeze BC in Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball

Breeze BC will return to the Unrivaled court next weekend, tipping off their Saturday matchup against Vinyl BC at 8:45 PM ET on truTV before taking on the Mist at 8 PM ET next Monday, airing live on TNT.

The WNBA CBA deadline came and went on Friday, leaving the league and the players union in a status quo holding pattern while negotiations drag on.

The WNBA and WNBPA are continuing talks under the conditions of the previous CBA, without a moratorium on offseason activity like qualifying offers to restricted free agents.

The league originally set the opening to begin free agency conversations for January 11th, allowing teams to now start sending offers through January 20th — though those proposed deals must abide by the terms of the expired CBA.

Amidst the deluge of one-year deals inked last offseason in anticipation of a renegotiated CBA — and the significant compensation bump likely to result from a new agreement — nearly all WNBA veterans are now free agents, with reports indicating that players aren't eager to sign contracts under the old CBA.

This year's free agency period also hinges on the league's expected two-team expansion draft, with incoming franchises Portland and Toronto unable to build their rosters due to the ongoing CBA delays.

Though the WNBA is reportedly not yet considering locking out the players, the WNBPA recently reserved the right to formally authorize a work stoppage through a strike measure, saying the "WNBA and its teams have failed to meet us at the table with the same spirit and seriousness."

Unranked Notre Dame made a statement last weekend, as the Fighting Irish took down No. 22 North Carolina 73-50 to earn their second ranked win of the 2025/26 NCAA basketball season on Sunday.

While guards Cassandre Prosper and Vanessa de Jesus bolstered Notre Dame with 17 and 16 points, respectively, junior star Hannah Hidalgo led the Irish's charge, putting up 31 points as well as snagging six steals in the afternoon matchup.

"Hidalgo was a real problem," Tar Heels head coach Courtney Banghart said postgame. "Obviously, she disrupted us in all ways, I think most of those 27 points off turnovers was because of her."

After a volatile offseason, the Irish saw their 85-week AP Top 25 streak end earlier this month following back-to-back losses to ACC foes Georgia Tech and Duke — but Notre Dame has since rattled off two straight wins to potentially re-enter the rankings conversation.

"I'm challenging them in practice," said Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey. "We're learning from our mistakes, and we're getting better. That's what I love. This group allows me to do that."

How to watch Notre Dame basketball this week

Notre Dame will face another tough test on Thursday, when the unranked Irish host a surging No. 10 Louisville at 6 PM ET, airing live on ACCN.