The first-ever Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball semifinals took an unexpected turn on Sunday, as No. 4-seed Vinyl BC shocked the league by knocking freshly crowned 2025 MVP Napheesa Collier’s No. 1-seed Lunar Owls out of the competition in a 73-70 nail-biter.
The Lunar Owls dropped just one game all season prior to Sunday’s loss, entering the postseason as the clear favorite to win it all — including the $50,000-per-player championship purse.
On the other hand, the Vinyl narrowly qualified for the inaugural league's playoffs, and trailed the Lunar Owls for much of Sunday's game.
Entering the fourth quarter with a 10-point deficit, the Vinyl raced past the Lunar Owls, sinking 21 more points to stun their decorated opponents and earn a spot in Monday's final.
"We've been counted out this entire season," said Vinyl forward Dearica Hamby after delivering game-winning bucket. "We consider ourselves underdogs, but that didn’t show in our locker room. We never stopped believing in ourselves."
Monday's championship game will pit the Vinyl against late-season dark horse Rose BC, after the short-staffed No. 2 seed overcame a double-digit first-half deficit to earn a 63-57 semifinal win over the No. 3-seed Laces.
With Unrivaled Defensive Player of the Year Angel Reese joining Kahleah Copper on the injured end of the Rose bench, guard Chelsea Gray took charge in their absence, polishing off a single-game league-record 39 points with the game-winning three-pointer.
All in all, while Unrivaled co-founder Collier has been the standout all season, that fact that her Lunar Owls will now watch Monday's final from the sidelines only speaks to the league’s wider success.
How to watch the Unrivaled 3×3 championship game
Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball will crown its first-ever champion on Monday, after the No. 4 Vinyl contend against the No. 2 Rose in the offseason league's inaugural title game.
The action will tip off at 7:30 PM ET, with live coverage on TNT.
The Unrivaled playoffs have arrived, with Sunday’s 3×3 basketball action determining the two teams who will compete for the grand prize in Monday night’s final.
The inaugural league's two-day postseason will open with Sunday's semifinals. No. 3-seed Laces BC will first face-off against No. 2 Rose BC, with the No. 1 Lunar Owls taking on No. 4 Vinyl BC in the nightcap.
The winners will then go head-to-head on Monday, battling it out in the championship with a $50,000-per-player payday on the line.
"It’s money on the line," Lunar Owls guard Courtney Williams said earlier this week. "Anytime money is on the line, I think everybody has to up the ante."
After blasting through the regular-season with five more wins than any other club, Unrivaled co-founder Napheesa Collier's Lunar Owls are the heavy favorites to hoist hardware, particularly if Rose BC — the only team to defeat the Lunar Owls all season — is without 22-year-old star Angel Reese, who exited the regular-season finale after seemingly re-aggravating her surgically repaired left wrist.
Top athletes earn first-ever All-Unrivaled honors
While teams prep for postseason action, the offseason league handed out end-of-season awards on Thursday, minting its debut All-Unrivaled First and Second Teams.
After tallying ballots from players, coaches, and media members, top scorer Collier earned a first-team nod, alongside the league's next two most prolific points-getters, Laces wing Kayla McBride and Rose guard Chelsea Gray.
Lunar Owls guard Skylar Diggins-Smith, Vinyl wing Rhyne Howard, and the aforementioned Reese landed on the second team after excelling in assists, three-pointers, and rebounds, respectively.
All six All-Unrivaled players will feature on this weekend's court, with Sunday's lineup offering a final opportunity to see some of the sport’s biggest stars in what’s been a wildly successful debut for the league.
How to watch the 2025 Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball playoffs
Unrivaled’s first-ever playoffs tip off with Sunday's semifinals, starting with the Laces vs. Rose at 7:30 PM ET before the Vinyl's battle with the Lunar Owls at 8:30 PM ET.
The victors will then clash in Monday's championship game at 7:30 PM ET.
All three Unrivaled playoff games will air live on TNT.
The buzzer sounded on the eight-week regular season of Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball on Monday, as the inaugural league bids farewell to two teams who failed to advance to the four-squad playoffs.
Both the Mist and Phantom BC fell below the four-team cutoff line, eliminating each club from playoff contention and sending superstars like Unrivaled co-founder Breanna Stewart and Phantom center Brittney Griner home.
Neither team fully found their rhythm in 3×3 play, with both struggling out of the gate to ultimately take the longest to register their first wins in the offseason league.
That said, while the Phantom's elimination was clear-cut, the Mist fell from the playoffs on what was arguably a technicality.
Locked together with Vinyl BC on the Unrivaled table, the final postseason spot came down to multiple tiebreakers. With head-to-head records being equal at 1-1, the final semifinal spot went to the team with the better record against the other three playoff teams — the Lunar Owls, Rose BC, and Laces.
The Vinyl's 3-6 record against that trio edged the Mist's 2-7 record — though one of those three Vinyl victories came from a February forfeit by the injury-laden Laces.
That stat booked Rhyne Howard and the No. 4-seed Vinyl a semifinal matchup with co-founder Napheesa Collier and the top-seeded Lunar Owls, a team that blasted through the season to finish with five more wins than any other club.
After clinching the No. 2 seed, Rose BC — the only team to defeat the Lunar Owls all season — will battle Kayle McBride's No. 3-seed Laces in the second single-elimination semifinal. That said, Rose may be without star Angel Reese, who exited Monday's regular-season finale after re-injuring her wrist.
How to watch the 2025 Unrivaled 3x3 Basketball semifinals
The four squads still standing tip off Unrivaled's first-ever playoffs on Sunday, March 16th, setting the stage for Monday's championship game.
The first semifinal between the Rose and Laces will begin at 7:30 PM ET, immediately followed by the Vinyl's battle against the Lunar Owls.
Sunday's semifinals will air live on TNT.
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 basketball returns to action on Friday night, with the 3×3 league's weekend games bolstered by Thursday's huge off-court business breakthrough with the WNBA Players Association (WNBPA).
The offseason league officially secured a licensing deal with the WNBPA, allowing Unrivaled to sell merchandise showcasing player names, images, and likenesses both in-person and online.
Without a brokered licensing deal, Unrivaled faced limitations in its attempts to capitalize on its near-instant popularity, as the league could previously only use non-player-specific team branding.
The WNBPA’s willingness to help Unrivaled push the envelope — despite the lengthy negotiation — sets an important precedence for increased monetization opportunities across women’s sports.
"This is a sign of the Players Association’s responsibility to its players, to its members to monetize the rights fully," WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson told Front Office Sports on Thursday. "Their group rights don’t need to be limited to WNBA-only associated products."
While the player-specific merchandise isn't available just yet, fans can expect customized jerseys, T-shirts, and even game-used memorabilia to hit shelves soon — especially as the league’s March 10th regular-season finale nears.
Postseason line looms as Unrivaled hits Friday's court
As the 3×3 basketball stars return to work this weekend, Unrivaled co-founder Breanna Stewart’s Mist and her NY Liberty teammate Sabrina Ionescu’s Phantom BC will both be hunting a bit of magic to boost them above the postseason cutoff line.
Trailing the pack with twin 3-7 records, the squads square off against each other on Friday, each aiming to step up into playoff contention with a win.
With all Unrivaled teams taking the weekend's court hoping to create separation from the bottom of the standings, Vinyl BC has arguably the most to lose. Currently sitting in fourth place on the league table, Arike Ogunbowale's squad faces an uphill climb against the third-place Laces on Friday and the league-leading Lunar Owls on Saturday to maintain their precarious postseason positioning.
How to watch Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball games this weekend
The Vinyl will kick off Unrivaled's weekend action against the Laces on Friday at 7:15 PM ET, with the Mist taking on the Phantom one hour later. Both games will air live on TNT.
Saturday's games will air on truTV beginning at 6 PM ET, when the Lunar Owls battle Vinyl BC before the Mist tip off against Angel Reese's Rose BC.
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.