Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball minted its first-ever champions on Monday, crowning Rose BC after the No. 2 seed defeated No. 4-seed Vinyl BC 62-54 behind star Chelsea Gray’s 18 points, eight assists, and three rebounds.
Gray’s dominance managed to tip the scales, helping Rose overcome the losses of both Kahleah Copper and Unrivaled Defensive Player of the Year Angel Reese to injury.
Also stepping up for the Rose were Azurá Stevens, who posted a 19-point, 18-rebound double-double on Monday, and Brittney Sykes, whose 21 points included the championship-winning free throw.
Despite slightly trailing her two teammates' in scoring during Monday's final, Gray's astounding postseason stats, which include averages of 28.5 points, six assists, and three rebounds, secured the guard the league's inaugural Playoff MVP title.
Ultimately, Rose rode their underdog status — earned with a talented, but primarily young roster — all the way to the championship.
"From day one they counted us out," said Rose head coach Nola Henry after Monday's game. "Kah went down, they counted us out. Azurá was out and they counted us out. Angel down, they counted us out. What they gonna say now?"
Unrivaled closes successful inaugural season
After the confetti fell on Monday's 3×3 championship court, players and coaches alike agreed that the new offseason league has been a great success — regardless of which team hoisted the trophy.
"A lot of fans came out and there’s a lot of energy behind it, but people are already excited about it for next season," Gray said of the upstart. "When you win, you have a different appreciation or joy about it, but it was a great first season."
While Rose BC’s athletes will likely carry that winning spirit — plus the $50,000-per-player bonus — into the WNBA’s May 16th season tip-off, Unrivaled’s impact will undoubtedly be felt far beyond its debut postseason.
With just one week before the regular season wraps up, Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball announced several roster changes ahead of Monday’s games.
In a blow to last-place Phantom BC, star Sabrina Ionescu's Unrivaled season is officially over. The Liberty standout left Miami due to commitments made before she agreed to join the offseason league.
In her stead, a reassignment has sent Minnesota Lynx guard and Laces BC player Natisha Hiedeman to compete for the Phantom.
Ionescu’s NY Liberty teammate Betnijah Laney-Hamilton is also on her way out, with the Laces relief signee exiting due to an undisclosed injury.
In better news, while the Laces’ Kate Martin and Rose BC’s Kahleah Copper are currently sidelined with injuries, both are expected to return to the Unrivaled court before the league crowns its champion on March 17th.
To help address the roster omissions, the 3×3 league has again boosted its relief player pool. One week after former Washington Mystic-turned-new Chicago Sky signee Ariel Atkins made her Unrivaled debut with the Laces, the league inked Atlanta Dream forward Naz Hillmon to the relief player roster.
Hillmon's contract has her available to fill the league's needs across any of its six teams through the end of the inaugural season.
First-ever Unrivaled playoffs take shape
Despite mounting injuries, Rose BC clinched a spot in Unrivaled’s first-ever postseason on Monday, claiming the playoff position by taking down the Laces 58-53 behind yet another Chelsea Gray game-winner.
A win on Friday will secure the No. 2 seed for Rose — but they’ll have to defeat the league-leading No. 1 seed Lunar Owls to make it happen.
Each of the league's teams have just two games left to book a postseason spot. With two already claimed, the final two semifinalist bids will come down to the wire, as the Laces, Vinyl, and Mist all sit tied with a 5-7 record entering this weekend's final stretch.
Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball is back, as a second slate of weekend games shines a spotlight on the new league's three winless teams as they rally for redemption.
Phantom BC, Mist BC, and Rose BC are all 0-2 out of the gate, with the six-team league evenly divided between the undefeated and the winless after last week's debut.
At least one of the three will end up in the win column on Friday night, with the Mist and Phantom squaring off in the first game of the doubleheader.
Both lineups contain serious firepower, with Unrivaled co-founder Breanna Stewart leading the Mist alongside sharpshooter Jewell Loyd, whose 20 points per game have her currently in fourth-place on the league's stat sheet. The Phantom boasts the talents of Sabrina Ionescu and Brittney Griner.
While both have fallen victim to more cohesive game-plans, the Phantom in particular have struggled, posting a league-low average of 58.5 points per game to ultimately drop their first two outings by an average of 29 points.
Saturday's action sees Chelsea Gray and Angel Reese's Rose BC step into the spotlight, going up against a Mist team facing back-to-back matchups.
The Rose roster features two of the offseason league's top scorers in Gray and Kahleah Copper, who each averaged 14.5 points per game through Unrivaled's opening weekend. However, they'll need to lock in on defense to quiet Mist standout DiJonai Carrington's shooting in transition.
Friday's Unrivaled doubleheader tests undefeated teams
The second game of Friday's doubleheader flips the script as two teams put their undefeated starts on the line.
The Laces, led by Kayla McBride's 24.5 points per game, will take on a Vinyl side that rosters three of the league's Top 10 scorers — more than any other Unrivaled team. The trio of Rhyne Howard, Dearica Hamby, and Arike Ogunbowale are poised to cool the Laces' hot start.
How to watch Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball games
Unrivaled's second weekend slate tips off on Friday with the Phantom vs. the Mist at 7:15 PM ET, before the Laces play the Vinyl at 8:15 PM ET. Live coverage of both games will air on TNT.
The WNBA is back and better than ever this weekend, with CBS airing big-name matchups sure to set the tone for the final month of the regular season.
First, Minnesota and Washington will face off on Saturday at 2 PM ET, with the Lynx aiming to go two-for-two against the Mystics after securing a tight 79-68 win on Thursday. And in the 4 PM ET game of Saturday's CBS doubleheader, New York and Las Vegas will battle for the second time this season after the Liberty took the first 2023 WNBA Finals rematch back in June.
TV and streaming platforms bet on watching the WNBA
The WNBA has become a fixture of summer weekend viewing, with Prime showcasing games on Thursdays, Ion covering Fridays, and a variety of other national channels hosting the league throughout the week.
Plus, after Team USA won Olympic gold in front of as many as 10.9 million US viewers, expect the league — and the platforms who host the W — to harness that momentum all the way to the season's finish line.
Thursday night on Prime, for instance, saw Olympic gold medalists Kahleah Copper, Diana Taurasi, and Brittney Griner record a monster 85-65 Mercury win over the Sky, successfully marking Copper's first trip back to Chicago since her preseason trade.
The Liberty also notched a massive Thursday win on ESPN, blasting the LA Sparks 103-68 as Olympic medalists Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, and Dearica Hamby returned to action.
Wings' roster changes take center court tonight
Tonight, attention will turn to Ion as Seattle takes on Atlanta, Phoenix travels to Indiana, and Connecticut matches up against Dallas.
The Wings currently sit at the bottom of the league standings, but the return of Satou Sabally and Maddy Siegrist (from injuries that sidelined them prior to the Olympics) will boost their lineup. However, Dallas had to release Odyssey Sims and Monique Billings from their hardship contracts, infusing the free agency market with talent and catching the eyes of teams looking for midseason pick-ups.
Fever vs. Storm game highlights Sunday's WNBA lineup
On Sunday, ABC will showcase Indiana and Seattle squaring off inside Indianapolis's newly announced 2025 WNBA All-Star Game stadium. While Indiana hopes to solidify their place above the playoff line, Seattle — who won four of their last five pre–Olympic break games — keeps rising toward the top of the WNBA standings.
The WNBA makes its official return on Thursday, after having paused the regular season for the 2024 All-Star Game and the Olympics. When play resumes, the season will be more than halfway over, with regular season games running until September 19th.
Liberty leads league as playoffs loom
With Olympic medals secured and plenty of time to practice, the race to the finish is on as all 12 teams push to claim their place among the postseason-bound top eight.
As the only team to crack 20 wins on the season, the New York Liberty currently hold the number one spot in the league standings. They're followed by the Connecticut Sun, Minnesota Lynx, Seattle Storm, Las Vegas Aces, and Phoenix Mercury.
Indiana and Chicago are currently hovering just above playoff contention, still hoping to boost their respective records to .500.
MVP, Rookie of the Year awards up for grabs in late-season push
Individual ambitions will also resume, as now two-time Olympic gold medalist A'ja Wilson reclaims her spot as the frontrunner for 2024 MVP while her Las Vegas club sits in fifth place.
Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese will also continue their Rookie of the Year battle, as both newcomers attempt to propel their squads above the playoff line.
WNBA standings on the line on Thursday
Thursday's trio of games could ultimately impact the overall standings — with a heaping side of history.
Olympic gold medal game hero and Mercury guard Kahleah Copper will return to Chicago for the first time since requesting a trade from the team where she won her first WNBA Championship.
After a historically slow start has them sitting below the playoff line, the Mystics will visit the Western Conference–leading Lynx.
Then, the LA Sparks will host the Liberty, looking to gain an edge on the league-leaders by relying on their developing starting core.
USA Basketball won an historic eighth-straight Olympic gold in the final team event of the Paris Games on Sunday, narrowly taking down host nation France by a wildly tight score of 67-66.
While the US entered the game as heavy favorites, France led in the second half by as many as 10 points, with defensive sturdiness and a raucous home crowd propelling them to a wildly tight 67-66 final score.
French defense nearly upsets Team USA
It was Team USA's closest game in Olympic history, only avoiding overtime thanks to Team France star Gabby Williams's foot touching the three-point line as she sunk the final bucket.
The US came into the matchup boasting a massive point differential, but France almost immediately flipped the script, forcing the defending champs into 19 turnovers — 13 in the first half alone.
The US had scored just 25 points by halftime — the lowest recorded in Paris — but France also struggled to capitalize on turnovers, shooting below 30% from the field in the first half.
Bench boosts USA to Olympic gold medal win
While it took some time for tournament stars A'ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart to find their footing, the US saw key contributions off the bench in the second half. First-time Olympian Kahleah Copper became the spark the team needed, adding 10 fourth-quarter points and taking control alongside Kelsey Plum and fellow first-timer Sabrina Ionescu.
Wilson ultimately bounced back, recording 21 points, 13 rebounds, and four blocks to close out the slim win, with 15 of those points coming in the second half.
Olympic MVP A'ja Wilson leads all-tournament team
Wilson was crowned Tournament MVP after the final whistle, joined on the all-tournament team by USA teammate Stewart, France's Williams, Belgium's Emma Meesseman, and Australia's Alanna Smith.
Diana Taurasi, who didn't see any playing time on Sunday, earned a record sixth Olympic gold medal, breaking a tie with longtime teammate Sue Bird for the most in Olympic basketball history.
Ultimately, the game's further professionalization around the globe produced Team USA's toughest Olympic battle yet. But despite the late-tournament challenge, they managed to carry the weight of a now-61-game winning streak all the way to the gold.
Phoenix Mercury guard Kahleah Copper has been working toward this year's WNBA All-Star Weekend for a long time.
2024 won't be Copper's first trip to the All-Star Game — in fact, she's been an All-Star for four consecutive seasons. This weekend also won't be Copper's greatest individual achievement to date. Afterall, it's tough to beat winning Finals MVP as part of the 2021 WNBA Champion Chicago Sky. And this year isn't even Copper's first time playing the All-Star Game in her home arena; that was in Chicago in 2022.
But this will be Copper's first All-Star Weekend as an Olympian, a title she's been striving for since the moment the Tokyo Games ended in August 2021. Back then, the 29-year-old had been one of Team USA's final roster cuts prior to the Olympics. And from that day forward, she made it her mission to channel her disappointment into becoming an indispensable part of the 2024 Paris Olympic squad.
"I wouldn't change my process for anything," she told Just Women's Sports earlier this week as she prepared to join the national team at training camp in Phoenix. "I'm super grateful for it, it has definitely prepared me. It's a testament to my work ethic, and me just really being persistent about what it is that I want."
A proud product of North Philadelphia, Copper has always been big on manifesting, speaking her intentions confidently into the universe and never shying away from ambitions no matter how far-fetched they sounded.
"It's important to set goals, manifest those things, talk about it," she said. "Because the more you speak it, you speak it into existence."
She also displays those goals on her refrigerator at home, forcing herself to keep them front of mind every day. The day she was named to the Olympic roster, ESPN’s Holly Rowe posted one of these visual reminders to social media: A 2021 photo showing Copper wearing a Team USA t-shirt over her Chicago Sky warmups, smiling at the camera while holding up the homemade gold medal slung around her neck.
"Kahleah Copper put out [the] photo on the left in Aug. 2021 and manifested that she WOULD be an Olympian," Rowe’s caption read. "Today she made team USA. Dreams to reality."
Copper turns her focus to Team USA
With one dream realized, Copper is aware that the job isn't finished, as USA women's basketball is aiming to win a historic eighth-straight Olympic gold medal in Paris this summer. That path doesn't technically begin with All-Star Weekend — where Team USA will take on Team WNBA in a crucial tune-up game — but the trial run could make a difference when the team touches down in Europe next week.
"It's serious, because other countries, they spend a lot of time together, so their chemistry is great," Copper said of her Olympic competition. "We don't get that, we don't have that much time together. Just putting all the great players together is not enough. It's gonna take a lot more than that."
With a laugh, Copper acknowledged that Team USA’s task at hand could lightly dampen the occasionally raucous All-Star festivities ("Balance!" was an oft-repeated word). But it's a cost she and her national team colleagues are more than willing to pay if it helps them come out on top in Paris.
Of course, Copper — along with club teammates Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner — will be enjoying home-court advantage when the All-Star Game tips off inside Phoenix’s Footprint Center on Saturday, a factor that might put them slightly more at ease.
A "damn near perfect" new WNBA team
Copper made the move to the Mercury just this season after establishing herself as a respected star in Chicago. What she joined was a work in progress, one of a number of key 2024 signings under first-time head coach Nate Tibbetts. Having played for the Sky since 2017, Copper wasn’t exactly sure what to expect of the transition. But any positive manifestations she put out about her new team seemed to have done the trick.
"I said I would never go to the West Coast, I could never go that far from home," she said. "But I didn't know that this organization was what it was: Super professional, really taking care of everything. It's damn near perfect."
Copper herself has been damn near perfect, shooting 45% from the field while leading sixth-place Phoenix to a 13-12 record on the season. She’s also averaging a career-high 23.2 points per game, second highest in the league behind soon-to-be six-time WNBA All-Star A’ja Wilson’s 27.2 points per game. It’s not lost on Copper that she’s playing in front of packed houses, with the Mercury accounting for some of the W’s biggest crowds throughout its 28-year run.
"Here in Phoenix, our fans are amazing," Copper said. "They show up every single night."
Copper's All-Star home-court advantage
All-Star Weekend presents Copper even more opportunities to connect with her new city, including by making an appearance at American Express's interactive fan experience at WNBA Live 2024. As part of the activation, Copper recorded a few short stories about growing up a basketball fan, describing the posters of Candace Parker, Seimone Augustus, and Ivory Latta she had as a child, and how she dreamed of joining her idols as a professional basketball player.
The Rutgers grad said she was excited about connecting with Phoenix fans on their level, rooting herself in a shared love of the sport even as she moves from watching the WNBA on TV to becoming one of its brightest stars. The message is clear: If you want something bad enough, and you work for it hard enough, just about anything is possible.
But for all of Copper's personal manifestations, she's never lost sight of the most important thing: winning. And she won't stop grinding until she's posing for the cameras in Paris, holding up a real Olympic gold medal.
"When winning comes, the other stuff will come," she said. "The individual sh*t will come."
Kahleah Copper is ready for the Chicago Sky’s next chapter led by new head coach Teresa Weatherspoon.
Speaking at Weatherspoon’s introductory press conference Tuesday, Copper said the five-time WNBA All-Star and former NBA assistant coach will bring an “electric” energy to the team.
“Super excited to be a part of this era,” said Copper, at times speaking directly to Weatherspoon, who sat beside her. “I think that we’re going to do something really special. Beyond the accolades, you’re an amazing person, and someone that I can really relate to and someone that I want to really give all that you deserve. So I’m proud to be here and a part of this organization and I’m ready to gear up.”
For her part, Weatherspoon, 57, is excited for what this chapter holds for herself and for the Sky. As someone who has been told “no” many times and had doors closed to her, she likened this new opportunity in Chicago to climbing through a window. And she is ready to go all in, she said.
“They don’t call me ‘Spoon’ for nothing,” she said. “I’m coming here to stir things up.”
As for Copper, Weatherspoon views her as a leader for the team. The 2021 WNBA Finals MVP, Copper signed a multi-year contract extension with the Sky in September.
“It’s her time to lead this organization in the right way,” she said. “And it’s my duty to pour into her, to pour into every player to support this organization.”
And Weatherspoon is confident about the roster beyond just Copper. That’s part of the reason she bought into being head coach of the team.
“That’s why I sit here,” she said. “Absolutely great question. And it is no answer but absolutely.”
Before the 2023 season ended, Copper had decided to re-sign with the Sky. And the 29-year-old guard had conversations with Weatherspoon that helped solidify her decision as the right one. From their very first conversation, the energy between the two sparked in a way that Copper hasn’t experienced before with coaches.
“It was like our energy just, we connected over energy,” she said. “And I said I’ve never had a coach that could really match my energy and that was just something that really hit me.”
Weatherspoon says that the team’s new identity will be forged in “fire,” and Copper already embodies that.
“You have it right here,” Weatherspoon said. “It becomes contagious. Fire becomes contagious, energy becomes contagious. Just being energetic becomes truly contagious, and it’ll jump from one person to the next. I promise you if you stand close to it’s gonna jump in you. I promise you.”
The Chicago Sky will have a separate head coach and general manager moving forward, according to Kahleah Copper.
Copper revealed that the team will “for sure” separate the roles moving forward during her exit interview on Monday. Previously, the Sky had been the only WNBA franchise left with a dual head coach and general manager role with James Wade.
“I know for sure the positions are going to be separate,” Copper said. “Which is great.”
Wade left for the Toronto Raptors midway through the season, and Emre Vatansever took over both head coaching and general manager positions in the interim. He led the team to an 11-13 record to close the regular season. The team lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Las Vegas Aces.
Following that loss, Vatansever said he would “absolutely” like to return as the team’s coach.
“I would love to be here,” Vatansever said. “But everything has to fall into place, like getting players and being on the same page. I fell into this situation during the middle of the season. What I was trying to do was get this ship going and do the right things to make the playoffs.”
Sky CEO Adam Fox told the Chicago Sun-Times that there isn’t a timeline for filling either position. Instead, he said that the team is looking to “make the most informed decision possible” in order to have the right people in place.
When asked about hiring Vatansever on a full-time basis, Fox noted that the team is “considering every option.”
“We’re going to do everything we can to make sure we’re putting our organization in the best position to be successful,” he said.
Kahleah Copper doesn’t know what her WNBA future will look like.
With Chicago Sky head coach and general manager James Wade departing for the NBA last weekend, Copper is focused on finishing out this season strong before turning her attention to what’s next. The 3-time WNBA All-Star will be a free agent this offseason after seven years with the Sky.
“There’s nothing you can do about it,” Copper told the Chicago Sun-Times after Wade’s decision to leave midseason for an assistant coaching job with the Toronto Raptors. “You can’t stress the [crap] that you can’t really control.”
Copper is leading a revamped Chicago roster in 2023 after all other starters from the Sky’s 2021 WNBA championship team — Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley, Candace Parker and Azurá Stevens — moved away in the offseason. Before leaving, Wade had spearheaded a rebuild, signing 2021 All-Star Courtney Williams and trading away multiple first-round draft picks for guard Marina Mabrey.
“There are no optics to it,” Wade, the 2019 WNBA Coach of the Year, told the Sun-Times. “It is what it is. Yeah, I left and it was the hardest decision I ever had to make in my life, but I felt like it was a good decision for me and my family.”
“It’s definitely tough,” Copper said. “I lose all my teammates and now I lose the head coach. That’s like the last of the band.”
But Copper isn’t dwelling on any negative feelings.
“What does it do for me if I’m pouting about it?” Copper mused. “I have a whole season to finish going into free agency next year. I have to show up and be the best version of myself.”
With the Sky organization valued at $85 million and in the process of looking for a new practice facility, Copper said she will take off-court strides into consideration when deciding whether to re-sign with the team in the offseason.
“I want to see the organization keep up with the Joneses,” Copper said. “We talk about facilities. We talk about moving to the city, maybe. But I want to see it happen, that shift really happen, and really have something in the works.”