Breanna Stewart has won everything. What does she do next?
Breanna Stewart has won everything. What does she do next?
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The Olympic, NCAA and WNBA champion is one of the greatest of all time. Now she has helped found a league she hopes can transform the sport she loves. Whether you’re on Broadway, in the audience at Radio City or marveling at what you just witnessed in Carnegie Hall, New York is the home for encores. But when it comes to one of the Big Apple’s brightest stars, coming back out on the stage doesn’t just mean another big performance. For Breanna Stewart, it means co-creating an entirely new sports league. Indeed, this Friday, “Stewie” – whose New York Liberty team just won the 2024 WNBA title – and 35 more of the biggest names in the sport will kick off the inaugural season of Unrivaled, a new three-on-three basketball league based in Miami and broadcast on TNT.
“It’s incredible,” Stewart tells the Guardian. “When you look at the people who have been in [the WNBA] like seven, eight, nine-plus years, they’re used to going overseas during the W offseason. We haven’t been home. We haven’t been marketable. We haven’t really been around. Now, the season opener is … on TNT and there is no bigger platform than that.”.
Along with Stewart, the new league boasts many other big names, including Unrivaled co-founder Napheesa Collier, Brittney Griner, Sabrina Ionescu, Angel Reese and Jewell Loyd (others have said they’ve chosen rest instead of joining this year.) The league is comprised of six teams with six players each, and games will feature three-on-three competition on a 60ft full court. There will also be halfcourt one-on-one games, affectionately dubbed by some as “Queen of the Court.” But what Unrivaled offers most for its players, each of whom have also been given equity in the league, is a way to make money and showcase their skills in the United States.
