Unequalled co-founders Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart will hold their eyes on their gamers’ prizes with Mission B looming.
Unequalled will look to be on its A-game as Mission B’s entry looms.
With the WNBA’s labor negotiations trapped in a relative holding sample, the good names of ladies’s basketball haven’t any scarcity of recent choices. Unequalled, the home 3×3 league co-founded by former Finals foes Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, is about to tip off its second season in two weeks.
“Making the fan expertise actually nice and ensuring we’ve a terrific product is all the time primary for us,” mentioned Collier, she of Lunar Owls BC, when requested concerning the potential landmarks for season two success. “Doing issues like getting a couple of extra seats, particularly behind the bench, as a result of that’s the way in which the digicam faces, including much more gamers.
“Followers know to count on that they’re going to see wonderful gamers enjoying wonderful basketball each single night time,” Collier mentioned, taking additional pleasure within the continued tv success with TNT Sports activities. “Simply delivering the most effective product that we will is how we attempt to develop our viewers and maintain them.”
Stewart on Mission B: “They Noticed What Labored”
However the battle for post-WNBA motion will intensify come fall, upon the arrival of Mission B: partly funded by tech moguls with expertise from each Fb and Skype, that new league can be a globe-trotting endeavor that options 5×5 motion in a match setup.
Flush with potential nine-figure funding, Mission B has landed a number of achieved names and fan favorites (i.e., Kamilla Cardoso, Sophie Cunningham, Leonie Fiebich, Jonquel Jones, Jewell Loyd, Nneka Ogwumike, Alyssa Thomas, and extra) on its ledgers earlier than the ball has touched the hardwood. Its motion is scheduled to tip off within the fall, which normally options the beginning of the WNBA offseason.
That would place a bigger sense of strain on Unequalled, which opened to largely constructive evaluations in its debut final winter. If it’s there, it actually wasn’t seen on the faces or within the demeanor of Collier or Stewart, the UConn alumnae who helped assemble the unique and present names in Miami. Stewart, for her half, noticed the endeavor as a praise, hinting on the idea of imitation being essentially the most honest type of flattery.
“I used to be type of, like, nicely, they noticed what labored,” Stewart, returning to Mist BC, mentioned. “They noticed the success that we had right here with Unequalled, and so they needed to be part of that in their very own means and attempt to do it.”
Mission B: Is the New League a Competitor?
Stewart additional said that she couldn’t view Mission B as a competitor fairly but, ready till they’re “on the bottom and working” earlier than partaking in a prolonged evaluation. She and Collier as a substitute sought to concentrate on their very own enterprise, which continues to rake in high-profile names each on and off the ground.
Whereas neither Collier nor Stewart seems to be within the realm of getting to pitch Unequalled because the premier various possibility simply but, each implied {that a} sense of consistency might actually work in its favor. Whereas Mission B occasions are slated to be staged in Asia, Europe, and North and South America, Unequalled will stay stationed in Miami, aside from a short foray into Philadelphia subsequent month.
Sophie Cunningham has joined Mission B, which has been providing WNBA stars salaries as much as $2 million.
Right here is each participant that has dedicated to the startup league to date ⬇️
— Entrance Workplace Sports activities (@FOS) November 25, 2025
Additional stability, they declared, may even come within the type of taking continued care of the gamers which can be already beneath the Unequalled umbrella. The brand new batch, which is able to get to partake within the fairness shares provided by the league, has come south for this winter, becoming a member of a returning debut class starring Collier and Stewart. Additionally taking their abilities again to South Seaside are Kahleah Copper and Chelsea Grey, each of whom will look to assist Rose BC shield its championship.
Bueckers, Plum Headline Unequalled Season 2
Paige Bueckers and Kelsey Plum lead the headliners, a gaggle that additionally consists of Sonia Citron, Kiki Iriafen, Dominique Malonga, Kelsey Mitchell, and Alanna Smith. Fellow newcomer Erica Wheeler was one to reward the comparatively remoted nature of Unequalled, remaking the “commonplace is out the window” with the motion staged in her hometown of Miami.
Paige Mic’d Up = Chaos in one of the best ways 🤣 pic.twitter.com/uhkJX7u6cq
— Unequalled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb) December 18, 2025
Whereas this yr’s Unequalled recreation will look much like the maiden voyage, transactional improvements will account for the brand new pleasure, put together for the sudden, and provide new alternatives. Two groups (Breeze and Hive) have been added to final yr’s mixture of six, and a prospect pool partly headlined by 2025 WNBA draft picks Aziaha James, Makayla Timpson, and Hailey Van Lith has additionally been added.
“I feel it’s simply totally different,” Stewart mentioned. “We’re enjoying three-on-three, we’re staying in a single metropolis. They’re enjoying five-on-five, and so they’re going far and wide. The wage is, comparatively talking, they’re fairly related. So I assume it’s [about] what you wish to do, journey throughout or keep right here and play for 10 weeks.”
“I feel actually simply specializing in us and what makes us nice [will be key],” Collier mentioned. “Seventy-five p.c of our league is on multi-year contracts, so ensuring that we safe the longer term, ensuring that we’re placing the most effective product that we will on the courtroom each single night time. Our league thrives as a result of we’ve the most effective gamers on this planet, and we’re preserving them dwelling domestically. We’re constructing their manufacturers, and we provide issues that different leagues can’t provide. So we really feel actually good about what we’ve to carry to the desk.”
“We’re anxious about ourselves, and our personal progress, and ensuring that we will ship on these issues and ensuring that our gamers are blissful.”
Season two of Unequalled will kick off on Jan. 5 in Miami.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X, @GeoffJMags
