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Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Unmatched declares standout WNBA rookie as newest wildcard participant


Cameron Brink is the newest WNBA star to affix Unmatched, the brand new 3-on-3 skilled girls’s basketball league. Brink, recent off of a rookie season with the Los Angeles Sparks that was lower brief resulting from an ACL tear, received’t play within the 2025 Unmatched season however will be a part of the Lunar Owls Membership in 2026.

Unmatched, co-founded by WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, is ready to tip off on January seventeenth in Miami. The league at present boasts stars like Angel Reese, Brittney Griner, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Satou Sabally, and dozens of others — each rookies like Rickea Jackson and Aaliyah Edwards, and extra veteran gamers like Courtney Vandersloot and Skyler Diggins-Smith.

The Lunar Owls are headlined by Napheesa Collier, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Allisha Grey, Natasha Cloud, and Shakira Austin. They’ll be coached by DJ Sackmann, a world-renowned NBA expertise coach.

Unmatched guarantees a mean wage of greater than $220,000, will prioritize participant improvement, and host video games on Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays on TNT and TruTV.

“We’re actually altering the outlook of the ecosystem holistically,” stated Alex Bazzell, Unmatched’s president. “You’re seeing extra leagues bumping up their pay as a result of that’s the place the area is now. We’re proud to play an element in that progress of simply the economics of those gamers being paid some huge cash to play basketball. That’s the place we wish to get to. It’s nice to have model offers, it’s nice to have all this off-court stuff, however on the finish of the day, we wish to have the ability to pay them excessive salaries on the court docket.”

Along with increased salaries, the brand new offseason league has a significant deal with participant improvement. All six of Unmatched’s head coaches — Nola Henry, Adam Harrington, DJ Sackmann, Andrew Wade, Teresa Weatherspoon, and Phil Helpful — have a robust participant improvement background, with Weatherspoon most just lately serving as the pinnacle coach of the Chicago Sky and Helpful serving as a longtime Los Angeles Lakers assistant.

“I’m fairly excited simply to get the gamers available in the market, and to get them beneath this facility, and having them enhance, and getting the assets that I really feel like they’ve all the time deserved for his or her offseasons — however have but to actually, actually expertise from a participant improvement facet,” Bazzell stated.

Right here’s a full record of confirmed Unmatched gamers:

  1. Aaliyah Edwards (Mystics)
  2. Alyssa Thomas (Solar)
  3. Aliyah Boston (Fever)
  4. Allisha Grey (Dream)
  5. Angel Reese (Sky)
  6. Arike Ogunbowale (Wings)
  7. Azura Stevens (Sparks)
  8. Breanna Stewart (Liberty)
  9. Brittney Sykes (Mystics)
  10. Brittney Griner (Mercury)
  11. Cameron Brink (Sparks)
  12. Chelsea Grey (Aces)
  13. Courtney Vandersloot (Liberty)
  14. Courtney Williams (Lynx)
  15. Dearica Hamby (Sparks)
  16. DiJonai Carrington (Solar)
  17. Jackie Younger (Aces)
  18. Jewell Loyd (Storm)
  19. Jordin Canada (Dream)
  20. Kahleah Copper (Mercury)
  21. Kate Martin (Valkyries)
  22. Kayla McBride (Lynx)
  23. Lexie Hull (Fever)
  24. Marina Mabrey (Solar)
  25. Napheesa Collier (Lynx)
  26. Natasha Cloud (Mercury)
  27. Rae Burrell (Sparks)
  28. Rhyne Howard (Dream)
  29. Rickea Jackson (Sparks)
  30. Satou Sabally (Wings)
  31. Skylar Diggins-Smith (Storm)
  32. Shakira Austin (Mystics)
  33. Stefanie Dolson (Mystics)
  34. Tiffany Hayes (Aces)

Two extra Wildcard spots can be found forward of tip-off, which is strictly one month away.

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