Unrivaled is gearing up for its second season by slowly revealing which 48 players will participate in the 3-on-3 league.
The league was founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier and completed its first eight-week season last spring, from January to March at a custom facility in Miami, Florida. Unrivaled gives professional women’s basketball players an opportunity to play competitively in the offseason without playing outside of the United States.
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South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley is an investor in the league and last year, Allisha Gray and Aliyah Boston played in the inaugural season. Staley had a league-high eight former players in this year’s WNBA playoffs.
Player announcements began at noon on Sept. 22 and six players will be named every weekday through Oct. 1. The order of the 48 players does not indicate which clubs they’ll play for. Rosters will be set in November and the season officially tips off on Jan. 5.
In the first season there were six clubs (teams) and now there will be eight.
Which former South Carolina women’s basketball players are participating in Unrivaled?
Allisha Gray
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Gray played only one season with South Carolina from 2016-17 after transferring from North Carolina
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The 6-foot shooting guard was selected in the first round of the 2017 WNBA Draft with the fourth overall pick by the Dallas Wings, where she played from 2017-22
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She signed with the Atlanta Dream in 2023 and just finished her third season with the team
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Is A’ja Wilson playing in Unrivaled?
A’ja Wilson did not play in Unrivaled last year but she was not the only star who chose not to. Indiana Fever star and 2024 No. 1 pick Caitlin Clark also didn’t play.
Dawn Staley’s involvement in Unrivaled
Right before the first season began, Staley discussed her decision to invest financially.
“I think it’s going to be a success and I would have supported it without monetarily supporting it just because I am a fan and enthusiast of women’s basketball,” Staley said Jan. 15.
Both Stewart and Collier went to UConn but Staley coached both of them at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 when the USA women’s basketball team won gold.
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“I believe in people,” Staley said. “Napheesa was somebody that I coached and somebody that I know, and someone who works hard. She’s a hard worker, she doesn’t take a play off so you know you can back people who they’re going to do whatever they need to do to make it be successful.”
South Carolina star Ta’Niya Latson signs with Unrivaled
Ta’Niya Latson transferred from Florida State to South Carolina this offseason and in July, she was among the 14 college basketball players to sign an NIL deal with Unrivaled.
Latson led the nation in scoring in 2024-25 with 25.2 points per game.
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com. Follow her on X@Lulukesin and Bluesky@bylulukesin.bsky.social
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This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Tracking former South Carolina, Dawn Staley players in Unrivaled
