The 3-on-3 Unrivaled league is adding two new teams -- Breeze Basketball Club and Hive Basketball Club -- ahead of next season and introducing a dedicated development player pool.
This expansion, coming just days after the league announced a valuation of $340 million, is happening a year earlier than originally planned, league president Alex Bazzell told ESPN.
Unrivaled was going to remain at six teams for Year 2. But because the league outperformed its projections financially as well as in viewership numbers and player demand, Unrivaled decided to speed up its growth process. The addition of the two clubs will add 12 roster spots to Unrivaled, and six more players will make up the development player pool, bringing the total number of players in the league to 53.
"If we didn't expand rosters, there were going to be All-Stars [wanting to join] who we didn't have space for," Bazzell told ESPN. "We want to be the home for all of the best players in the world."
Bazzell added that, because Unrivaled is a single entity, "We are able to move much quicker and efficiently."
The new class of Unrivaled athletes is already headlined by 2025 WNBA first overall pick Paige Bueckers, who signed a three-year deal with the league in April. Her first-year salary for the 10-week Unrivaled season will exceed what she will make in four years of her WNBA rookie contract, sources said. Bueckers is earning $78,831 in her WNBA rookie year, according to the league's collective bargaining agreement.
Unrivaled has signed 90% of its rosters for next season and will begin to announce its slate of players at the end of the month. The big question is if it will add top talent that did not participate in the inaugural season, such as Caitlin Clark, A'ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum.
"There is always an ongoing dialogue," Bazzell said. "There is no secret who the top players in the world are, and they know we have a spot for them. But we are not knocking down doors or chasing people down. I feel good about where our rosters stand."
The development player pool will be made up of WNBA players on their rookie contracts who are looking for an extra growth opportunity and more money. When they are not signed to a team, Bazzell said the players in the development pool will follow a training and practice schedule and will participate in scrimmages. These players will be paid the minimum six-figure salary that all the active athletes receive, Bazzell said.
"It's about getting experience and getting to rub shoulders with the best players in the world, learning from them during the offseason," Bazzell said. "It's the perfect scenario."
The addition of this player pool is also a direct response to the number of replacement players Unrivaled had to bring in during its inaugural season due to injury. Last season, six players joined Unrivaled midseason to supplement the number of available players.
"If we didn't expand rosters, there were going to be All-Stars [wanting to join] who we didn't have space for. We want to be the home for all of the best players in the world." Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell, on league expansion
The league will be adding 15,000 square feet for player facilities -- including a second practice court -- and 150 seats to the game arena to bring the capacity from 850 to 1,000 fans.
To accommodate the two new clubs, the league will expand to four game nights per week, rather than the three it had in Year 1. The new schedule will also eliminate back-to-back games. Last year, each team played two to three back-to-backs, with 15 total happening across the league.
"With all of the things we've done well, we have to learn from where we need to be and what we need to answer and what the players are looking for," Bazzell said on the decision to spread out the schedule. "I live with an athlete [Napheesa Collier] who is going through the pains of the current schedule and has been through injuries, and she is one of many.
"We have to stay consistent with listening to who we are serving. ... At the same time, while we expand, we don't dilute the product. The product stays at a high level, and we don't dilute the money."