WNBA stars to launch new U.S. women's pro league in January

Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty and Napheesa Collier of Minnesota Lynx announced that they are launching a new basketball league in the United States that would give some of the premier talents in the game a chance to stay in the country during the WNBA offseason.

The new league, Unrivaled, would play from January to March, and would meet the league's prioritization rules that mandate its players report to their teams by the start of training camp. Unrivaled would take place in Miami and feature thirty of the top pro players in women's basketball split into six teams, playing both 3-on-3 and one-on-one.

Unrivaled is both an ambitious new project and a compromise. It's bold in having current WNBA players seeking out financing and business opportunities separate from their primary league. (You can't imagine this happening in most, if not all, male-driven leagues.) It's also a compromise in that while not working directly with the W, it will operate in alignment with a rule that has upset many of its players.

The WNBA's prioritization rule, which goes into full effect for the 2024 season, requires that players who are overseas report to training camp with their respective WNBA teams by the start of the training camp in April. Should a player not report, they risk being suspended for the WNBA season, a tough decision in a league that only has 12 teams and 144 roster spots. Because the postseason for leagues in Europe and Asia overlap with the start of the WNBA season - and the pay for some is often better than the W - some players don't come back to the U.S. until after their international commitments are done.

Stewart told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne that there's no getting around the rule, so the league makes it easier to comply:

"It's the ability for players to stay home, to be in a market like Miami where we can just be the buzz and create that with the best WNBA players," Stewart told ESPN. "We can't keep fighting [the WNBA's prioritization rule]. It is a rule that takes away our choices, which should never be a thing, especially as women, but it is still a rule."

In some respect, Unrivaled would be reminiscent of Athletes Unlimited, a collection of pro leagues in basketball, volleyball, softball and lacrosse in which the WNBA is a partner. Several players such as Washington's Natasha Cloud have participated in AU, a league where teams are redrafted weekly over a five-week period to help individual players accumulate points towards being the league champion.

Indirectly, this league would actually open up more opportunities for WNBA players to play overseas by taking the top talents off the table. Those who may have smaller roles in the W could find themselves as featured talents in other leagues. However, in light of Brittney Griner's imprisonment in Russia last year, it's understandable if more players are hesitant about going overseas at the moment.