Report: Unrivaled salaries to rise; 90 percent of '26 rosters set

Field Level Media|published: Tue 5th August, 13:37 2025

Mar 17, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Rose BC guard Chelsea Gray (center) celebrates with teammates after winning the Unrivaled Championship game against the Vinyl BC at Wayfair Arena. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The Unrivaled women's basketball league has already signed nearly 90 percent of its player pool ahead of its second season in 2026.

"We have a few spots left open to fill and then we're pretty much ready to go," Unrivaled co-founder Alex Bazzell recently confirmed to Front Office Sports.

With the 3-on-3 league expanding its pool from 36 to 42 players in 2026, the math adds up to about 35 to 37 spots already being filled across the six teams.

The six additional players will form a developmental pool and will sub in for injured players throughout the season, as needed.

Unrivaled has not officially announced any new players. Notable absences from the league's 2025 debut campaign included Caitlin Clark, A'ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum. Paige Bueckers was still in college in 2025 but is expected to join on a $350,000 salary for 2026, per reports. That's more than her entire four-year WNBA rookie deal.

Unrivaled co-founder Napheesa Collier told the podcast "A Touch More" last week that salaries are expected to rise in 2026 from the average of $220,000 last season.

Bazzell, who is married to Collier, confirmed the salary hike to Front Office Sports, although without providing any specific figures.

"The numbers are going up because the business outperformed every metric that we had," Bazzell said. "It's part of our business model that we built from the ground up, which is that as the business continues to drive more revenue, the revenue is going to get funneled back into the players."

The Rose BC team, captained by Chelsea Gray, defeated Vinyl BC to win the inaugural Unrivaled season championship on March 17.

--Field Level Media