Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball hit an injury wall this weekend, forcing the inaugural offseason league to cancel one regular-season game and truncate this week's 1v1 tournament.
With multiple Laces players sidelined, the league called off the team's Saturday night matchup against Vinyl BC.
Similarly, after seven participants had to pull out of Unrivaled's hotly anticipated 30-player 1v1 tournament, the league responded by shortening the contest's first round.
With all teams camped together on Unrivaled's Miami campus, specific details concerning player availability as well as injury type and severity have been tough to come by.
Laces stars Alyssa Thomas (knee) and Tiffany Hayes (concussion) both exited the 1v1 tournament after suffering injuries in previous Unrivaled matchups, putting their fitness statuses in question as the 2025 WNBA season looms.
Fellow Laces standouts Kayla McBride and Kate Martin, plus Rose BC's Brittney Sykes and Phantom stars Natasha Cloud and Marina Mabrey, will not participate. The withdrawal is "due to lingering injuries and to prioritize player wellbeing for regular-season games," per Unrivaled.
Injuries shrink Unrivaled 1v1 tournament's first round
Instead of a planned 14 games split across an afternoon session and an evening set on Monday, the now eight-game opening round of the league's 1v1 contest will occur in a single night of competition.
In an effort to maintain the original bracket as much as possible, Unrivaled decided against making any changes to its first-round matchups.
Because of this, five additional athletes will join the previously announced Jewell Loyd and Arike Ogunbowale in snagging first-round byes, with Courtney Williams, DiJonai Carrington, Satou Sabally, Rae Burrell, and Azurá Stevens now also set to tip off their 1v1 journeys during Tuesday's second round.
Unrivaled's reliance on short, elite rosters has spelled heated competition on a star-stacked court, but the strategy is now revealing its shortcomings. Such slim margins leave the league scrambling whenever one of their players — all of whom plan to return to the WNBA in mid-May — needs a break to prioritize rest and recovery.
How to watch Unrivaled's 1v1 tournament
The three-day competition tips off its eight-game first round at 7 PM ET on Monday. Both the second round and quarterfinals are set to begin at 7 PM ET on Tuesday, with the semifinals and finals slated for Friday at 7:30 PM ET.
All games will air live on truTV, with TNT also broadcasting Monday's and Friday's sessions.
The WNBA is all shook up, as the league's February 1st free agency signing day radically reshaped rosters from coast to coast.
In the largest offseason trade so far, the Phoenix Mercury and Dallas Wings took the buyer's market by storm while the Connecticut Sun sent starters packing in preparation for a major rebuild. Along with the Indiana Fever, these four teams moved a total of 13 players and 18 assets, making it the most prolific single trade in WNBA history.
Alyssa Thomas (Connecticut) and Satou Sabally (Dallas) headlined the deal, joining Phoenix alongside Dallas's Kalani Brown and Sevgi Uzun.
Connecticut took Phoenix's Natasha Cloud and Rebecca Allen (who's reportedly moving on to Chicago), plus Dallas's Jacy Sheldon and a first-round draft pick.
Indiana picked up Sophie Cunningham (Phoenix), Jaelyn Brown (Dallas), and a second-round draft pick.
To close it out, Dallas's haul included DiJonai Carrington (Connecticut), Ty Harris (Connecticut), and NaLyssa Smith (Indiana) as well as additional player considerations and draft futures.
That blockbuster four-team transaction comes on the heels of last week's history-making trade between the LA Sparks, Las Vegas Aces, and Seattle Storm, which became official over the weekend. The league's first-ever trade involving multiple former No. 1 draft picks sent Las Vegas's Kelsey Plum to the Sparks and Seattle's Jewell Loyd to the Aces, with the Storm grabbing the 2025 WNBA Draft's No. 2 pick.
More WNBA teams flex free agency muscles
Phoenix and Dallas weren't the only teams profiting off of Connecticut's reshuffling, as 2025 postseason hopefuls Indiana and Atlanta jumped into the market.
Sun standout DeWanna Bonner and three-time WNBA champion Natasha Howard (Dallas) both inked one-year deals with the Fever, joining recently re-signed All-Star Kelsey Mitchell in Indiana.
The Atlanta Dream complemented last week's game-changing Brittney Griner pick-up by netting Connecticut forward Brionna Jones.
Other teams have also kept their names in the mix, with Chicago officially bringing back two-time WNBA champion Courtney Vandersloot, who spent 12 seasons with the Sky before her title-winning stint with the Liberty.
The Sky are also reportedly courting Sparks free agent Kia Nurse after sending guard Lindsay Allen and the rights to forward Nikolina Milic to the Sun in exchange for Australia Opals star Rebecca Allen.
In another key free agency signing, Connecticut is bringing eight-time All-Star Tina Charles back after drafting the 36-year-old first overall in 2010.
With the free agency floodgates fully open and a highly anticipated new CBA prompting a wave of one-year deals, even more big-name signings are likely ahead of April's WNBA Draft.
Some of the brightest WNBA stars are packing their bags, as the league's free agency window revs up at breakneck speed, with Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner joining others on the move this week.
After 11 seasons with the Mercury — the team that drafted her No. 1 overall in 2013 — Griner officially jumped ship on Tuesday. The 10-time All-Star will ink a one-year deal with the Atlanta Dream when the official signing period opens on February 1st.
Griner explained her free agency enthusiasm in a social media post. "I was able to find where I wanted to go," she said.
"It was a hard decision," Griner continued. "You're leaving what you know, what I've known for my whole career. But there's also the exciting factor... I get to show them something different."
Meanwhile, Phoenix is reportedly closing a deal to receive Connecticut Sun superstar Alyssa Thomas. The four-player trade will send Natasha Cloud, Rebecca Allen, and the 12th pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft to Connecticut. In exchange, Phoenix receives five-time All-Star Thomas and veteran guard Ty Harris.
League changes spark WNBA stars to explore new teams
A new CBA is entering negotiations and the WNBA's first expansion team since 2008 — the Golden State Valkyries — tips off this season. Subsequently, players across the league are advocating for their futures with increased sway.
Griner, Thomas, Jewell Loyd, and Kelsey Plum are all reportedly leaving the teams that originally drafted them. Most players are signing one-year deals due to the 2026 CBA's anticipated changes — and the deep free agency pool it will create.
While Griner and others are exploring first-ever moves, players like Thomas have been outspoken about seeking improved resources. The conversation is fueled in party by Unrivaled's top-of-the-line facilities.
"They have everything you possibly need here," Thomas said from the3×3 league's Miami campus. "They don’t really have a lot of those things in Connecticut. I've been trying to absorb as much knowledge as I can."
This year's WNBA MVP favorite A'ja Wilson reached yet another milestone on Sunday, becoming the first player to ever record 1000+ points in a single season.
The superstar's latest feat — achieved in her 29-point performance in the Aces' 84-71 win over Connecticut — comes just days after she shattered the league's single-season scoring record.
All-but-guaranteed to finish 2024 as the WNBA's single-season points leader, Wilson has put together one of the most impressive statistical campaigns in league history. As of today, she's only three rebounds away from breaking Angel Reese's new single-season rebounds record, set before the Chicago rookie's season-ending injury.
Rookie Caitlin Clark captures two more WNBA records
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark added two more records to her historic rookie season this weekend, breaking the league's single-season assist record on Friday night before setting the single-season rookie scoring record on Sunday.
The Rookie of the Year frontrunner surpassed Alyssa Thomas's 2023 record of 316 assists in Friday's 78-74 loss to the Aces. Clark extended her hold on the league's new record on Sunday, now boasting 329 dimes on the season with one game left.
Also in Sunday's 110-109 Fever victory over the Wings, Clark put up a career-high 35 points, including one that officially broke Seimone Augustus's single-season rookie scoring record of 744 set in 2006. Clark now has 761 points across Indiana's 39 completed games.
Notably, the WNBA's expanded 40-game schedule means that four-time WNBA champion Augustus still holds the rookie record for points per game, as her fallen record was in a 34-game season.
Three-way team tie adds to WNBA playoff race drama
With the Sky's two weekend losses plus the Mystics and Dream splitting their two weekend contests with one win apiece, Chicago, Washington, and Atlanta all sit with 13-25 season records. All three are still in postseason contention with the final WNBA Playoff spot up for grabs.
League tiebreakers give Washington, who currently sits in the coveted eighth-place position, the postseason edge. The Mystics will try to maintain their tenuous hold on that spot when they face the league-leading Liberty tomorrow before closing out their season against a tough Indiana team on Thursday.
The ninth-place Sky and 10th-place Dream face equal uphill battles to usurp the Mystics this week. After playing each other on Tuesday, Chicago will close out their 2024 regular season against the third-place Sun while Atlanta does the same against the Liberty on Thursday.
The Connecticut Sun earned a big win in more ways than one on Tuesday, defeating the LA Sparks 69-61 in front of a sold-out crowd at Boston's TD Garden. Hosted by the Sun — who usually play at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut — it was the first WNBA game ever held inside the home of the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics.
Boston shows out to support New England's WNBA team
While Boston will see women's soccer return in 2026 via an NWSL expansion team, the Sun currently serve as New England's only WNBA team — and fans came out in force to support their home side. Last night's announced attendance of 19,156 stands as the largest in Connecticut Sun history, as well as the third-highest WNBA attendance this season.
Fans were treated to an end-to-end battle as the Sparks held a first quarter lead into the fourth quarter when, buoyed by the raucous crowd, DiJonai Carrington led Connecticut to a 14-0 comeback. Her efforts helped the Sun notch their 20th win, becoming just the second WNBA team to hit 20 victories this season.
"Hopefully, this is the start of something beautiful," Sun star Alyssa Thomas said after the game. "This is the kind of atmosphere you want to play in."
Lack of WNBA promotion causes stir ahead of untelevised Boston game
Despite the sellout success, the game wasn't broadcast nationally, with only WNBA League Pass and social media platform X providing live coverage.
"I think that there could have been a lot more publicity or promo from the top," Carrington — who posted about the issue early Tuesday — told reporters. "You know, Connecticut had announced that we were having this game probably almost a year ago."
Other noteworthy WNBA results
The Seattle Storm secured a win for the first time since returning from the Olympic break, taking down the Washington Mystics 83-77 in DC.
On the other hand, the NY Liberty looked as dominant as ever, beating Dallas 94-74 in the first of two matchups between the sides this week.
Angel Reese might have gotten knocked down on Saturday, but she got right back up again.
Connecticut’s Alyssa Thomas was ejected from the Sun’s 86-82 win over Chicago following a flagrant foul 2 on Reese — the first of her career. While the two were battling for a rebound, Reese took a clothesline hold around the neck courtesy of Thomas before hitting the ground.
After the game, Reese told reporters that there were "no hard feelings" and she appreciated Thomas for playing her hard beneath the basket.
"I know she purposely probably didn’t do it towards me," Reese said. "But just being able to come out there and just be strong and stand on two feet, it was going to be a tough game and that’s what I’m built for. And my teammates had my back throughout the whole game. So I was prepared for it."
She also didn’t buy into the idea that it was a "Welcome to the WNBA" moment, but thanked Thomas "sending a message" because it helped her get back up and "keep pushing."
"It’s not just because I’m a rookie. I’m a player. I’m a basketball player. They don’t give a damn if I’m a rookie. I mean, I want them to come at me every day. I want them to come at everybody," she added. "I mean, they’re not supposed to be nice to me. I hope y’all know that. They’re not supposed to be nice to me or lay down because I’m Angel Reese or because I’m a rookie."
Reese finished the game with 13 points, five rebounds, and two assists over 33 minutes.
The New York Liberty have advanced to their first WNBA Finals since 2002, where they will go up against their superteam rival in the Las Vegas Aces.
With the 87-84 win over the Connecticut Sun in Game 4 of the WNBA semifinals, the Liberty clinched a 3-1 series victory. Three of their starters scored 20 points or more to lead New York: Breanna Stewart (27), Jonquel Jones (25) and Betnijah Laney (21).
While the Liberty have four previous WNBA Finals appearances, the last one came in 2002. New York is one of the WNBA’s eight founding franchises, but it has never won a championship.
From the start of the 2023 season, though, the Liberty and the defending champion Aces were the betting favorites to compete in the Finals. Heading into the postseason, FanDuel set -210 odds for a battle of the superteams, followed by +500 for an Aces-Sun meeting.
New York transformed into a contender with a blockbuster offseason, headlined by the signing of the premier free agent in Stewart and the trade for 2021 MVP Jones. Jones finished Sunday’s win with a double-double, posting 15 rebounds in addition to her 25 points. She also had four blocks, including an emphatic stop of Connecticut’s DeWanna Bonner in the final seconds of the first half.
Yet while the Liberty won the day (and the series), Sun forward Alyssa Thomas turned in the most memorable performance.
The 31-year-old star collided with Jones in the fourth quarter, and then she remained on the ground, grimacing in pain. But after spending several minutes in the locker room, she returned to complete the 11th triple-double of her career.
Thomas finished with a team-high 17 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists. She leads the WNBA in career triple-doubles; no other player has more than three. She also has a record three postseason triple-doubles, after recording two in the 2022 WNBA Finals. All other players in league history have combined for two.
The New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces will start the WNBA Finals next Sunday, Oct. 8, with Game 1 set for a 3 p.m. ET tip-off on ABC.
Alyssa Thomas is leading the triple-double revolution.
Triple-doubles were a rare occurrence through most of WNBA history. Then came the year of the triple-double, with nine recorded during the 2022 season. And the pace has not slowed in 2023, with 11 as of Oct. 1.
Give credit to Thomas for the explosion. The Connecticut Sun forward recorded the first of her career on July 22, 2022, but finished that season with four — breaking the WNBA career record. And on Oct. 1, she recorded her seventh of 2023.
Thomas is the only WNBA player with more than two triple-doubles in a single season.
“Even myself as a coach, you have to intentionally tell yourself to not take these moments for granted,” Sun head coach Stephanie White said. “Like it just seems so routine that Alyssa Thomas gets a triple-double or close to a triple-double or a double-double. … It’s not routine, it’s exceptional.”
Five other players have recorded multiple triple-doubles: Candace Parker (3), Sabrina Ionescu (3), Sheryl Swoopes (2), Courtney Vandersloot (2) and Chelsea Gray (2).
“I think the game is changing,” Parker said following her third career triple-double in June 2022. “I think we’re gonna very soon see this on a nightly basis. We’re going to see those playmakers who have the ball in their hands.”
How many triple-doubles have been recorded in WNBA history?
In total, 31 triple-doubles have been recorded across the league’s 27 seasons, with 26 during the regular season and five during the playoffs. The 31 triple-doubles have come from 14 total players.
Swoopes recorded the first playoff triple-double in 2005, while Vandersloot did so in 2021. Thomas joined the club with two in the 2022 WNBA Finals, and then added another in the 2023 semifinals.
Sheryl Swoopes (2)
Swoopes recorded the league’s first-ever triple-double on July 27, 1999, while playing for the Houston Comets. She recorded 14 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists. She would later get her second triple-double on September 3, 2005, with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Margo Dydek
While with the Utah Starzz, Dydek had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks on June 7, 2001. Dydek remains the only WNBA player to have recorded a triple-double through blocks and not assists.
Lisa Leslie
Leslie set a new bar on September 9, 2004, recording 29 points, 15 rebounds and 10 blocks for the Los Angeles Sparks. That stood as the record for most points in a triple-double until Ionescu broke it in 2022.
Deanna Nolan
On May 21, 2005, Nolan recorded the first of two triple-doubles that year. That 2005 season became the first with multiple triple-doubles. She had 11 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists for the Detroit Shock.
Temeka Johnson
As a member of the Seattle Storm, Johnson recorded 13 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists on July 24, 2014.
Candace Parker (3)
It took nine seasons for Parker to record her first triple-double. On July 28, 2017, she had 11 points, 17 rebounds and 15 assists for the Los Angeles Sparks.
Her other two came with the Chicago Sky in 2022, with Parker recording the first triple-double of the year on May 22, with 16 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. While she became the oldest player to record a triple-double in WNBA history in that game, she later became the first player to record three triple-doubles in league history with another on June 23 (10 points, 10 rebounds, 14 assists).
Courtney Vandersloot (2)
Vandersloot recorded the first of her two triple-doubles on July 20, 2018, with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists. She registered her second triple-double during the 2021 postseason, notching 14 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Chelsea Gray (2)
As a member of the Los Angeles Sparks, Gray recorded a triple-double on July 7, 2019. She had 13 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists.
In 2023, she notched the second of her career with the Aces in a rivalry win over the Liberty. She finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.
Sabrina Ionescu (3)
Ionescu’s first triple-double came on May 18, 2021, when she recorded 26 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists — the highest point total since Leslie’s triple-double in 2004.
She bested that number with a 27-point, 13-rebound and 12-assist performance on June 12, 2022. Then, against the Aces on July 7, Ionescu set the record for points in a triple-double with 31 — the first 30-plus-point triple-double. She added 13 rebounds and 10 assists in that game.
Moriah Jefferson
Jefferson added her name to the list on June 28, 2022, with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the first triple-double in Minnesota Lynx history.
Courtney Williams
On June 30, 2023, Williams contributed 12 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists for the Chicago Sky in a win over the Los Angeles Sparks.
Satou Sabally
The Dallas Wings’ Satou Sabally recorded her first triple-double on July 28, 2023, putting up 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in the Dallas Wings’ win over the Washington Mystics.
She is the second player in Wings history to achieve a triple-double, joining Deanna Nolan. Nolan had one in 2005 when the franchise was in Detroit.
Sug Sutton
The final pick of the 2020 WNBA Draft at No. 36 overall, Sutton has bounced around the league over the last four seasons, but she inked her name in the history books with her first triple-double on Sept. 8, 2023. The 24-year-old guard had 18 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for the Phoenix Mercury in a 94-73 loss to the Las Vegas Aces.
Alyssa Thomas (11)
Thomas recorded the first triple-double of her career and the first in Connecticut Sun history on July 22, 2022. The star forward tallied 15 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds.
Less than two weeks later, on Aug. 2, 2022, Thomas posted 10 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists to become just the third player in WNBA history to record multiple triple-doubles in a single season — joining Parker and Ionescu, who also did so in 2022.
She added yet another — and the first in WNBA Finals history — on Sept. 15, with 16 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists in a Game 3 win against the Las Vegas Aces. Then she followed it up with still another in the team’s series-clinching loss to Las Vegas, notching 11 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds to become the first WNBA player to post back-to-back triple-doubles.
On June 20, 2023, Thomas posted her fifth career triple-double, with 13 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists. Her sixth came just five days later on June 25, in a 14-point, 11-rebound and 12-assist performance. Then, just two days after that, Thomas recorded her third triple-double in eight days, with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Her eighth came on July 30, 2023, with Thomas putting up 17 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists. And her ninth came on Aug. 1, with 21 points, 20 rebounds and 12 assists.
Thomas kept it rolling, with her 10th coming on Sept. 5, 2023. She recorded 27 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds, as well as 6 steals. She’s the first player in WNBA history with 25 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 5 steals in a game.
“I’m doing something that’s never been done in the league before,” Thomas said following that performance. “And I’m making it look easy. And by no means are triple-doubles easy. Credit goes to my teammates.”
In the 2023 playoffs, she posted the 11th triple-double of her career in the WNBA semifinals, with 17 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists.
The WNBA is growing in visibility, and no team is more popular than the Connecticut Sun, according to a map created by by Vivid Seats using ticket sales data.
The Sun, led by stars Alyssa Thomas, DeWanna Bonner and Brionna Jones, are the most popular team in Connecticut but also Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. Their pull in the region is similar to that of the legendary UConn women’s basketball program.
The Dallas Wings and the Seattle Storm are the next most popular teams, according to the map data. The interactive map features the most popular WNBA team in all 50 states.
For all of the interest around the Sun, the team is in a precarious position: Their season will be on the line Sunday against the New York Liberty, which lead the WNBA semifinal series 2-1.
Thomas scored 23 points and recorded 14 rebounds and nine assists in the team’s 92-81 loss to the Liberty on Friday as New York outscored Connecticut by 21 points in the first quarter.
The Liberty, according to the map data, are the most popular team in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson came in third in WNBA MVP voting. For head coach Becky Hammon, that’s a sure sign that the voters “didn’t do their homework.”
On Tuesday, the WNBA announced New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart as the 2023 MVP, and Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas as the runner-up. Wilson finished in third in one of the closest races in league history. Just 13 points separated Stewart and Wilson in the final tally.
“A’ja was the most dominant player in the league this year, on the most dominant team, on the most dominant offense the league has ever seen with the No. 1 defense,” Hammon said. “I don’t know what else the girl has to do.
“Other than the East Coast media probably needs to wake up and watch our games.”
The fans at Las Vegas’ Michelob Ultra Arena made their thoughts clear, serenading Wilson with “MVP!” chants during Tuesday’s Game 2 of the WNBA semifinals against the Dallas Wings. Wilson led her team with 30 points and 11 rebounds in the 91-84 win, which put the Aces up 2-0 in the series.
The MVP award would have been the cherry on top of her season, Wilson acknowledged after the victory. But she is keeping her focus on the main course: a second consecutive WNBA championship.
“The sundae is still good without the cherry,” she said. “This team still has so much more to do.”
Still, Hammon took some responsibility upon herself for Wilson’s narrow defeat in the MVP vote. Wilson averaged fewer minutes (30.7) than Thomas (36.2) and Stewart (34.1), which could have deflated her per-game statistics.
Wilson averaged 22.8 points on 55.7% shooting from the field, and she also had 9.5 rebounds, all career highs.
“She put together the greatest individual performance this league has ever seen, when you’re talking efficiency, field-goal percentage, rebounding, defense, the whole thing,” Hammon said. “And it’s just a real shame, because we’re talking about the MVP of the league.”
Wilson’s college coach, South Carolina’s Dawn Staley, also called out WNBA awards voters for not giving enough respect to Wilson.
In particular, Staley called out one voter who put Aces guard Chelsea Gray in third place on the ballot over Wilson. Every other ballot included Stewart, Thomas and Wilson in the top three slots.
“To the fourth place voter, your hate is real and on display,” Staley wrote on X.
Becky Hammon brought stats to her pregame press conference today in defense of A’ja Wilson’s MVP case
— Andy Yamashita | 山下伸辛 (@ANYamashita) September 27, 2023
Hammon blames herself for not playing Wilson in fourth quarters of blowouts to pad her stats
“People didn’t do their homework” pic.twitter.com/Ri45NB5I1m