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  • Unrivaled brought the hoops, but Philly brought the energy. With WNBA on the way, ‘this is just the beginning.’

    Unrivaled brought the hoops, but Philly brought the energy. With WNBA on the way, ‘this is just the beginning.’

    Xfinity Mobile Arena became the home of Unrivaled on Friday night. Fans flooded the arena in their favorite WNBA gear as Philadelphia made history, bringing the world’s top WNBA players to the city for the women’s basketball three-on-three league’s first — and only — tour stop.

    The doubleheader, featuring the Breeze, Phantom, Rose, and Lunar Owls, gave Philadelphia an early glimpse of what’s to come in 2030, when the city gets its own WNBA team.

    From fans discussing the importance of the night at Stateside Live! to different activations at Xfinity Mobile Arena, here’s everything you missed from the historic night:

    ‘We’re in the middle of history right now’

    To celebrate the landmark event, The Stoop Pigeon by Watch Party PHL partnered with the Philadelphia Sisters and Unrivaled to host a pregame party and watch party across the street from the arena at Stateside Live!

    “We’re in the middle of history right now,” said Jen Leary, the founder of Watch Party PHL. “Unrivaled is sold out, and this will be the most-attended women’s basketball game in history, and it’s happening here in Philly. It’s just so important for the city. It shows that not only did Unrivaled make the right decision coming here, but that the WNBA made the right decision giving us a team in 2030.”

    The event, which was thrown to build up excitement entering the doubleheader, was free and open to the public. Fans traveled far and wide to witness history in the making, including 35-year old Connecticut native Corrine Sisk.

    “Women’s basketball is so important in Connecticut,” Sisk said. “It has been since I was a teenager. I’ve been watching games like this since I was a little kid, and I’m so excited to see it happening countrywide. I think it’s important that we support these women, and they need to know that this is where everybody wants them to be.”

    Natasha Cloud thrilled that ‘Young Tash’ gets Philly hoops homecoming with Unrivaled

    ‘It’s important for the younger girls’

    Kiley Gelston, a 25-year-old New Jersey native, has been playing basketball ever since she could walk. As soon as she found out Unrivaled would make its way to Philly, she knew she had to had to be in the arena.

    During Friday’s pregame party, Gelston, who is a high school basketball coach, recognized the impact the doubleheader would have on the younger generation.

    “It’s important for the younger girls because they can see where they can get to,” Gelston said. “They can have somebody to look up to, especially now with the women’s basketball boom.”

    One of those younger girls in attendance was 16-year-old Baylee Rubeck. As a big fan of the WNBA, and a major fan of Paige Bueckers, the Pennsylvania native was excited to see some of her idols take the court at the Xfinity Mobile Arena.

    “I’m so excited to see everybody that I’ve been following on social media,” Rubeck said. “I’m so excited to finally get to watch all my role models. I look up to them so much because they’re just amazing human beings. So I’m just so excited to see that in person.”

    Basketball star Paige Bueckers is not afraid to use the platform her fame has given her

    Another Bueckers superfan in attendance was 15-year-old Laila Perez. Wearing her “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports” T-shirt, she took the train from New Jersey to attend.

    An avid women’s basketball fan who started her own basketball YouTube channel called LP’s Bucket List, she was excited to attend her first women’s professional basketball game.

    “It’s so cool. It’s kind of crazy,” Perez said. “I’m not used to seeing the players in person. … It’s important for women’s sports to be promoted in Philly because the more people see it and are around it, they’ll be more curious and want to to come and see what it’s all about.”

    Although Philadelphia doesn’t have a WNBA team yet, this could be a glimpse of what the city will see in 2030.

    “This is just the beginning,” Gelston said. “This is going to continue on for many years to come, hopefully. This is just a taste. It sucks that we have to wait until 2030 now. So it’s almost like a tease. But we can enjoy it now.”

    Keeping the energy high

    If Friday’s pregame party at Stateside Live! wasn’t enough to get fans excited for the doubleheader, there were activations aplenty. The Sephora tunnel offered fans an opportunity to channel their inner WNBA star with their own tunnel walk.

    There also were plenty of merchandise tables of Unrivaled gear for sale. Lines at each table extended across various sections.

    There were plenty of surprises throughout the night. Fans received a number of chances to win a Sephora goody bag through music trivia, fashion competitions, and parachutes from the rafters.

    And in between games, Philly-born hip-hop artist Lay Bankz performed several songs in front of the sold-out crowd, including her hit single “Tell Ur Girlfriend.”

    ‘The women deserve this kind of love’

    After both games concluded, smiling fans crowded the main concourse. For 29-year-old Maryland native Brandi McLeain, the night was the perfect birthday present.

    “First game was great,” McLeain said. “A real nail-biter. Then we got to see the point god in action in Kahleah Copper. And of course, Marina Mabrey broke a record tonight. So that was amazing.”

    Diane Richardson is an advocate for the WNBA. She says Unrivaled will get Philly ready for its franchise.

    Mabrey finished with an Unrivaled single-game record 47 points, and it was clear McLeain wasn’t the only one was impressed by the Belmar, N.J., native’s performance.

    Dalilah Haden, 28, and Samantha Woods, 29, made the trip from Brooklyn to watch the doubleheader and said Mabrey was the most impressive player of the night. And this wasn’t Woods’ first Unrivaled game of the week. She also attended Sunday’s game in Medley, Fla., near Miami. But, according to Woods, the 1,000-seat Sephora Arena doesn’t compare to Philly.

    “Getting to be here with 21,000 other fans is so cool,” Woods said. “Sephora Arena is dope. But, this is like a treat. The women deserve this kind of love. And you can see it in the way they played tonight.”

    Haden added: “Here you had everyone from different backgrounds, different ages, different races, genders, sexualities. This was so cool. And the energy was also crazy.”

    Yolanda Laney, Diane Richardson discuss past and future of women’s basketball

  • Diane Richardson, Yolanda Laney, among others discuss the past and future of women’s basketball

    Diane Richardson, Yolanda Laney, among others discuss the past and future of women’s basketball

    As more eyes are being brought to women’s basketball in Philadelphia, learning about the past is a key part in growing its future.

    The documentary series, Assist: Can’t Retire From This does just that.

    The project, directed by Melanie Page, was featured at Temple on Thursday night. Page shared a teaser of her documentary about women’s basketball greats who have come through the Philadelphia area over the years.

    The event included a panel discussion with Temple coach Diane Richardson, Temple Hall of Famer Marilyn Stephens, Philly basketball legend Yolanda Laney, and former Army coach Lynn Arturi-Chiavaro. Page’s first documentary, about women’s basketball in the Washington, D.C., area, also was screened.

    “I’m a student of basketball, but that was how I was raised in my upbringing from 5 years old,” Page said. “Seeing the Washington Mystics, it’s never left me. And here I am today, being able to tell more stories and bring the youth up to speed.”

    The Philly documentary will feature prominent local women’s basketball figures like Laney and Stephens. The DMV documentary starred Richardson from when she was the head coach at Riverdale Baptist School and Towson and an assistant at Maryland, along with Temple associate head coach Wanisha Smith, who played for Richardson at Riverdale Baptist. (Richardson also was an assistant at two other Washington-based universities, American and George Washington.)

    Page started the project during the pandemic in 2020. A DMV native, she began her storytelling there, and it gained some traction in 2021, when she released clips of her interviews from the documentary.

    The next step was to bring it to Philly. Arturi-Chiavaro played for the city’s first professional women’s basketball team, the Philadelphia Fox of the Women’s Professional Basketball League, which only lasted from 1978 to 1981.

    Diane Richardson is an advocate for the WNBA. She says Unrivaled will get Philly ready for its franchise.

    Stephens was a ball girl for the Fox and starred at Temple from 1980 to 1984. She scored 2,194 points and grabbed 1,516 rebounds, ranking second in school history in points and first in rebounds. She was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 1995.

    “You can’t erase our history,” Stephens said. “We got to just stand strong and educate the generations that’s come behind us and give them the information about women’s basketball.”

    Richardson and Laney also emphasized the importance of not letting the history of women’s basketball be forgotten.

    Laney helped lead Cheyney State (now known as Cheyney University) to the first-ever NCAA women’s national championship game in 1982. Her daughter, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, plays for the New York Liberty. Richardson is not from the area, but has become one of the biggest advocates for women’s basketball in the city since being hired at Temple in 2022.

    “We heard a question for what would you name the Philadelphia WNBA team … I would call it the Philadelphia Cradle,” Laney said. “Because we are cradling basketball history in this area and we have a different style of play in Philadelphia basketball.”

    Natasha Cloud thrilled that ‘Young Tash’ gets Philly hoops homecoming with Unrivaled: ‘I carry this city everywhere I go’

    With a WNBA franchise coming to Philly in 2030, Richardson and Laney believe the documentary will help keep the city excited.

    “Doing things right now like what Melanie is doing and just opening people’s eyes to the explosion of women’s basketball is really important,” Richardson said. “We’ve got to catch that lightning in a bottle and do it now because five years from now, we’re going to be too late.”

    Stephens, Arturi-Chiavaro, Richardson, and Laney have a hand in the history and future of women’s basketball. Page wants to keep educating folks about their impact.

    “This is the standard,” Page said. “This is how it should be. This should be the norm of what we are doing. People should know Yolanda Laney’s name off the top of their heads. They should know Marilyn Stephens. … It should definitely be the standard. That’s the message.”

  • Natasha Cloud thrilled that ‘Young Tash’ gets Philly hoops homecoming with Unrivaled: ‘I carry this city everywhere I go’

    Natasha Cloud thrilled that ‘Young Tash’ gets Philly hoops homecoming with Unrivaled: ‘I carry this city everywhere I go’

    Natasha Cloud will never forget Mr. Ross.

    The youth coach used to hold 6 a.m. workouts inside a Baptist church on City Avenue, where Cloud first learned how to be disciplined in basketball and in life.

    “I hope he sees this,” Cloud said Thursday afternoon, while facing a slew of television and phone cameras inside the Alan Horwitz “Sixth Man” Center. “… He set a standard. He set an expectation. And he set a work ethic for my skill set, my career.”

    Cloud brings all of that back to Philly on Friday night for the Unrivaled offseason league’s two games at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The 33-year-old Broomall native called it a “dream come true” to help lead the return of professional women’s basketball to her city ahead of the WNBA’s arrival in 2030. Yet Cloud is most elated for “Young Tash,” who has blossomed into a WNBA champion, an 11-year professional, a dynamic personality, and an activist on and off the court.

    “I carry this city everywhere I go,” Cloud said following practice for the Phantom, her Unrivaled team. “… I just never thought I would be here, so I think the most gratifying thing is just trusting God’s journey for my life. Doing it my way, too. Because I don’t think a lot of people get to do their careers their way.”

    Basketball star Paige Bueckers is not afraid to use the platform her fame has given her

    Before Mr. Ross, Cloud credits her Aunt Dawn as one of her first sports role models. A Delaware County basketball and softball star, she helped Cloud embrace being a tomboy — and a “powerful, badass woman.”

    So Cloud honed that athleticism on the basketball hoop on the side of her home, which became a neighborhood gathering spot on school half-days. She played King — nah, Queen — of the Court against the boys. They lowered the rim so they could dunk. They idolized Allen Iverson and Dawn Staley.

    When Linus McGinty, the legendary Cardinal O’Hara girls’ basketball coach, first watched Cloud play as an eighth grader, he believed she had WNBA potential because “she could do everything.” And Cloud wanted to play for that program because, in her words, “in Linus we trust.”

    Cloud also appreciated O’Hara’s structure, from the nuns on campus to McGinty’s “strict” practices. She became an immediate starter on a talented team immersed in the competitive Philadelphia Catholic League.

    New York Liberty player Natasha Cloud dances while standing with other officials during an announcement about the Unrivaled Women’s Basketball League 2026 Philly tour stop.

    McGinty’s one gripe about Cloud? She was almost too unselfish as the point guard.

    “She never tried to score first,” the coach told The Inquirer by phone last week.

    But Cloud made up for that in defensive prowess. The 5-foot-10 Cloud guarded the much more imposing Morgan Tuck and Elena Delle Donne, then elite recruits who became college and WNBA stars. Cloud preserved O’Hara’s 2008 PCL title victory by blocking a three-point attempt at the buzzer.

    Then when Cloud was the only starter who returned her senior year, she finally carried more of O’Hara’s offensive load. She was an All-State selection after averaging 12.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and four steals, before beginning her college career at Maryland in 2010-11.

    Diane Richardson is an advocate for the WNBA. She says Unrivaled will get Philly ready for its franchise.

    After her freshman season, she transferred to St. Joseph’s to be closer to home. Her sister had been diagnosed with stomach cancer, and she was looking for a similar family atmosphere within her next college program.

    “Tash is a very compassionate person,” St. Joe’s coach Cindy Griffin recently told The Inquirer by phone. “So if there’s anything going on at home, she feels that. She would have to learn how to manage that, and she did an unbelievable job doing that.”

    While sitting out the 2011-12 season because of NCAA transfer rules at the time, Cloud worked on refining her jumper. Her energy filtered to teammates and staff, Griffin said, even when she was playing on the scout team. That perhaps was most evident on defense, where she consistently covered ground (and others’ mistakes) while understanding how to rotate sharply and when to take risks on the ball. She was the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year in 2014.

    “That just fueled fire for all of her teammates,” Griffin said, “and it just elevated everybody around her. … They really appreciated that, and they wanted to play hard for her and with her.”

    Then when the Hawks needed more scoring punch from Cloud as her career progressed, she delivered.

    Before her WNBA career, Natasha Cloud starred at St. Joe’s.

    She totaled 15 points, six assists, and six rebounds in a comeback win over Fordham in the 2013 A-10 tournament championship game, and “looked like a pro out there, finishing in transition, taking and making tough shots,” the coach said. That carried over to the next season, when Cloud hit timely buckets to propel the ninth-seeded Hawks’ to upset eighth-seeded Georgia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

    “Came down to a 1-5 ball screen,” Griffin said, “and [Cloud] being able to put us on her shoulders and win the game for us. … The answer is yes she can, and yes she will.”

    Cloud’s impact has now stretched far beyond Philly.

    She won the 2019 WNBA championship with the Washington Mystics and led the league in assists in 2022. She has made a WNBA All-Defensive team three times. She has played overseas in Turkey and Australia. She opted out of the 2020 WNBA “bubble” season to focus on social justice issues and remains outspoken on such topics.

    But she has stayed connected to her roots.

    She still has a house in town, meaning one might catch her during the offseason at the local Wawa or driving her truck. She regularly visits St. Joe’s to work out and chat with the team, reminding them how special college bonds can be. Unprompted, she told The Inquirer last week that she hopes to have her jersey number retired by St. Joe’s and O’Hara — preferably while her parents are still around to celebrate with her.

    St. Joe’s women get it done down the stretch to beat La Salle, 69-65

    And now, she finally gets to play professional basketball in Philly. When she learned Unrivaled would be making a tour stop here, she knew fans would “show up and show out” for the showcase event. She stepped onstage wearing a Phillies cap for the October announcement at LOVE Park and pumped up the crowd. She hopes local kids getting to watch her play in person is a jolt of inspiration.

    Among those in attendance Friday will be the Hawks, “shouting as loud as we can for Natasha Cloud and the Phantom,” Griffin said. An intrigued McGinty said he also might need to get down to South Philly. Mr. Ross surely is welcome, too. And it will be the first time Cloud plays in front of her family here since 2015.

    They all helped develop “Young Tash.” And that is why she carries the city with her everywhere she goes — including back home.

    “I’ve stayed true to myself,” Cloud said. “True to my character, my morals, my values through all of it. And that’s just a testament to, I feel like, being from Philly. We stand on our [stuff]. We’re going to talk our [stuff]. You can’t tell us otherwise. We know who we are.

    “We’re confident in who we are, and a lot of people take it as arrogance. But it’s just, like, ‘Man, God has blessed me so abundantly. Who am I to not walk out in this light every single day?’”

  • Basketball star Paige Bueckers is not afraid to use the platform her fame has given her

    Basketball star Paige Bueckers is not afraid to use the platform her fame has given her

    Paige Bueckers has lived in a big spotlight since her senior year of high school. It, understandably, hasn’t always been easy, but she is pretty comfortable with it these days.

    She also is comfortable using her fame as a platform, and she has done so again.

    The 24-year-old grew up in Hopkins, Minn., about 10 miles southwest of downtown Minneapolis. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s recent swarming of the Twin Cities, from raiding homes and business to the killings by ICE officers of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, hit especially close to home for her.

    On Friday night, Bueckers will be in another big spotlight, in a city that has paid much attention to ICE’s actions. The Unrivaled basketball showcase will have a sellout crowd at Xfinity Mobile Arena and another national TV audience watching from home.

    “Innocent lives are being taken; innocent families are being broken apart,” Bueckers said Thursday amid the four touring teams’ practices at the Alan Horwitz Sixth Man Center. “People are afraid to send their children to school, people are afraid to go to work and provide for their family, people are afraid to go to the grocery store. What’s going on is not OK, and at some point — we feel like, and we hope and we pray, that there’s a change in direction in where this is heading.”

    All of Unrivaled’s games this season except Friday’s are played in Medley, Fla., just outside Miami, with the season running from early January to early March. That has kept Bueckers away from participating in protests at home, which she said she would do if she could.

    What is Unrivaled, which kicks off its tour in Philly Friday night, and how is it different from the WNBA?

    “I’m very proud to be from Minnesota, and to see the community come together and show strength and unity and try to do everything possible to stay together through this really tough time,” she said. “That’s kind of what Minnesota is all about. So it’s tough, just being from there and not being able to go there and help and [have] feet on land, but you try to do everything from afar to support.”

    In the meantime, Bueckers has put her money where her mouth is.

    Paige Bueckers getting some shots up:

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    — Jonathan Tannenwald (@jtannenwald.bsky.social) January 29, 2026 at 11:37 AM

    At the start of the week, she won Unrivaled’s $50,000 prize for having the best free-throw shooting percentage through the three-on-three league’s first five games of this season. Soon after that, she put the same sum on the table as a donation match to the Hopkins Strong Relief Fund.

    The fund describes itself as “an ongoing drive to help feed Hopkins children and meet other urgent needs during this time of heightened stress and uncertainty in our community.”

    Here’s why Unrivaled picked Philadelphia to be the first stop on its nationwide tour

    ‘We have this platform to say things’

    Bueckers, who also plays for the WNBA’s Dallas Wings, spoke resolutely about the importance of leveraging her fame.

    “I feel like I’ve been very blessed and fortunate,” she said, “and God has given me this platform to speak out on things that are important to me and use my platform for good. And whether that be donations or just speaking out or standing up for what I think is right, I think that’s very important.”

    Paige Bueckers (5) in action with the Dallas Wings last year.

    She also was ready for a response she has seen often across society.

    “As athletes, it can be so easy for people to say, ‘Just play your sport. Don’t worry about politics; don’t worry about all of life’s issues,’” Bueckers said. “But I think as somebody who’s in the entertainment business, and we get this platform, and we have this platform to say things, I think it’s important for us to use our voice and stand up for what we believe in.”

    Philly has long been a special place for tennis legend Billie Jean King. And she wants to see the WNBA succeed here.

    Fellow superstar Breanna Stewart of Mist BC and the New York Liberty made a major statement Sunday when she held up a handwritten “ABOLISH ICE” sign during that day’s player introductions.

    “All day yesterday, I was just disgusted from everything that you see on Instagram and in the news,” Stewart said afterward. “Everyone here [at Unrivaled] is feeling that way, one way or another. … We’re so fueled by hate right now instead of love, so I wanted to have a simple message of ‘ABOLISH ICE,’ which means having policies to uplift families and communities instead of fueling fear and violence.”

    Another Minnesota native playing in Unrivaled, the Lunar Owls’ Rachel Banham, added her voice on Thursday.

    “There’s a lot of things that need to, on a deeper level, be fixed, right?” said Banham, who also plays for the Chicago Sky. “I think the biggest thing that we can control — I mean, obviously, use your voice, continue to pray, continue to be there for people who need it. Lend a helping hand, if you can, because a lot of us have that privilege to be able to do that.”

    She also acknowledged the scale of the current task.

    “It’s going to be something that’s going to be [from] higher up, right?” Banham said of finding a solution. “It’s come from the top, government-wise.”

    Bueckers did not say whether she’ll do something specific at Friday’s games. But she praised the WNBA’s tradition of player activism for “having always inspired me in that way.” She also spoke of her own history having “grown up, and I’ve seen, and I’ve been a part of, peaceful marches and protests and the community coming together just because of tragic events.”

    She added that the Unrivaled player group has “talked about” doing something collectively, and “we want to do something to stand up for [it].”

  • Jordan unveils the Heir Series 2 shoe, which will make its on-court debut at Unrivaled in Philly

    Jordan unveils the Heir Series 2 shoe, which will make its on-court debut at Unrivaled in Philly

    Philadelphia is ready to get its first taste of professional women’s basketball with Unrivaled hosting a doubleheader Friday at Xfinity Mobile Arena. In front of a sold-out crowd, the three-on-three tournament is set to have plenty of spectators for its first event outside the Miami area — making this the perfect time for Jordan Brand to debut its Heir Series 2 sneaker.

    On Thursday, Jordan Brand unveiled the women’s basketball shoe with Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier as the face. The sneaker will make its on-court debut during Friday’s Unrivaled doubleheader in Philly with Jordan Brand athletes Dana Evans and Dominique Malonga.

    The low silhouette is similar to the Heir Series 1, which is the lowest shoe in Jordan Brand’s basketball lineup. The sneaker was first introduced in 2024 and put emphasis on the running and cutting that’s central to women’s basketball.

    Five-time WNBA All-Star Napheesa Collier wearing Jordan Brand’s Heir Series 2 sneaker.

    While the Heir Series 2 continues to share the same focus as its predecessor, it adds key improvements to enable more quickness in every step.

    “With my footwork being an important part of my game, the Heir Series 2 is a performance shoe that provides the flexibility and stability for me to be a force on both ends of the floor,” said five-time WNBA All-Star Collier in a press release. “Everyone who follows my game knows I was a fan of the Heir Series, but the innovation in the Heir Series 2 has exceeded my expectations.”

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    Some of its new features include a forefoot Air Zoom unit to provide standout responsiveness for speed, a thicker drop-in Cushlon 3.0 midsole that is wrapped in an additional layer of foam cushioning above the outsole for more comfort, a translucent TPU cage, and a rubber herringbone traction pattern for greater quickness and control.

    The sneaker also includes a removable hair tie attached to the heel and features a series of bold colorways — including a pink, yellow, and green colorway, a white, black, and red colorway, and a gray and black colorway that includes speckled pink paint along the midsole.

    The Jordan Heir Series 2 comes in three different colorways.

    “Women’s basketball has a very important place in the sports landscape, and Jordan Brand is committed to helping the next generation of hoopers reach their greatness. We titled this series of footwear ‘Heir’ knowing that these amazing athletes are next up — here to claim the basketball throne as their own,” said Leo Chang, the senior creative director of Jordan Brand basketball and sport, in a press release.

    “The Heir Series 2 is the next iteration of the basketball sneaker designed for her, by her. The new forefoot Air Zoom unit enables even more support and responsiveness, tailored to the beautiful playing style of the women’s game.”

    The sneaker will be available globally on Feb. 20 at jordan.com and select retail locations.

    Tyrese Maxey is getting his first signature shoe from New Balance later this year
  • What is Unrivaled, which kicks off its tour in Philly Friday night, and how is it different from the WNBA?

    What is Unrivaled, which kicks off its tour in Philly Friday night, and how is it different from the WNBA?

    The WNBA kicks off its 30th season in May, but that doesn’t mean fans have to wait until the spring to see stars take the court.

    Unrivaled, the three-on-three professional women’s basketball league, tipped off its season on Jan. 5. In its second season, the league is hitting the road for Philly is Unrivaled, in which four of the eight teams will head to Xfinity Mobile Arena for a doubleheader.

    Here’s everything you need to know:

    What is Unrivaled?

    Unrivaled is a three-on-three professional women’s basketball league that provides WNBA players with an opportunity to play domestically during the offseason.

    Its inaugural season tipped off on January 17, 2025, with six teams. The league now has eight teams and a total of 54 players.

    Here’s why Unrivaled picked Philadelphia to be the first stop on its nationwide tour

    The teams are: Laces, Mist, Rose, Lunar Owls, Phantom, Vinyl, and the two new additions — Hive and Breeze.

    Gameplay features three seven-minute quarters with a game clock, an 18-second shot clock, and six fouls per player.

    The fourth quarter of play uses a “winning score” rule. This means at the end of the third quarter, officials determine a winning score by adding 11 points to the leading team’s score. The first team to get to that winning number wins the game.

    In addition to the two new teams, another change this season is a development pool of six players. None of these athletes are assigned to a specific team at the start of the season but remain on-site and serve as injury-relief players.

    Lunar Owls forward Napheesa Collier (right) and Skylar Diggins are among injured Unrivaled players this season.

    How did Unrivaled start?

    WNBA players Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier founded Unrivaled in 2023 to give players a new option for offseason play.

    Within just one year, the league raised $35 million in capital and attracted sponsors like Miller Lite and Under Armour, while being backed by other professional athletes including U.S. women’s soccer star Alex Morgan.

    Unrivaled began with six teams and 36 total players, with each of the 36 earning more than $220,000 in salary. The league also offers players equity and revenue sharing, which has created an incentive for WNBA players to not head overseas during the offseason.

    In its second season, the league will feature more than a dozen first-time players, including Los Angeles Sparks guard Kelsey Plum, Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell, and Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers.

    Diane Richardson is an advocate for the WNBA. She says Unrivaled will get Philly ready for its franchise.

    What is Philly is Unrivaled?

    While Unrivaled games typically are played at Sephora Arena in Medley, Fla., the 2026 season has one scheduled stop in Philadelphia.

    Philly is Unrivaled, a doubleheader announced in October at LOVE Park, is set for Friday at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

    Game 1 is Breeze against Phantoms (7:30 p.m.), while the second game features last year’s champion, Rose, against the Lunar Owls (8:45 p.m.).

    Breeze guard Paige Bueckers (5) is defended by Phantom guard Tiffany Hayes in their Unrivaled season opener.

    How can I watch Unrivaled?

    For the 2026 season, Unrivaled games can be viewed on traditional TV via TNT and truTV or streamed on HBO Max. Both games of Philly is Unrivaled will air on those channels.

    Stateside Live! has partnered with the league and Miller Lite to offer watch parties for Friday’s doubleheader. The official pregame begins at 4:30 p.m.

    Who should I be on the lookout for?

    Natasha Cloud, a guard for Phantom, is a Broomall native and graduate of Cardinal O’Hara and St. Joseph’s. Cloud, a three-time WNBA All-Defensive team honoree, was traded to New York Liberty ahead of the 2025 WNBA season after stints with the Phoenix Mercury and Washington Mystics.

    This also is a pro hoops homecoming for North Philly native Kahleah Copper, who plays for Rose and the Mercury. She starred at Prep Charter before moving on to Rutgers. Copper, a four-time WNBA All-Star, also won a gold medal with the United States women’s basketball team at the Paris Olympics in 2024.

    While she won’t be competing in Philly is Unrivaled, former Villanova star Maddy Siegrist is playing for Laces in her debut Unrivaled season. Siegrist set Villanova’s all-time scoring record before getting drafted third overall by the Wings.

    Can I still get Unrivaled tickets?

    While Philly is Unrivaled is officially sold out, tickets are still available on the secondary market via websites such as Ticketmaster and StubHub. Prices started at $35 for standing room only, as of Wednesday afternoon.

    Unrivaled tickets for the league’s Florida games can be purchased on their website or resale ticket websites, including Ticketmaster, Vivid Seats, and GoTickets.

  • Diane Richardson is an advocate for the WNBA. She says Unrivaled will get Philly ready for its franchise.

    Diane Richardson is an advocate for the WNBA. She says Unrivaled will get Philly ready for its franchise.

    Temple coach Diane Richardson is not from Philadelphia. She spent much of her life in the Maryland and Washington region, which included several coaching stints in the area.

    When Richardson was hired at Temple in 2022, she got a taste of what the Big 5 — and sports in general — mean to the city. But seeing how Philly responded to the women’s side of the Big 5 intrigued Richardson. It made her want to grow women’s basketball even more.

    Richardson has become an advocate for professional women’s basketball and hopes to bring more eyes to the game, with a WNBA franchise set to come to Philadelphia in 2030. In the meantime, Unrivaled will make its first trip out of the Miami area and play at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Friday.

    ​“It really sets the tone for what Philly has to come,” Richardson said. “The WNBA is coming here in a few years and to have Unrivaled come here, the first place that they have come to, it really shows the support that’s here for women’s basketball and how Philly’s grabbing ahold of it. So I’m excited about it. I’m really excited about the representation. I’m excited for the young girls in Philly to be able to see that up close and personal.”

    Philly is Unrivaled women’s basketball doubleheader at Xfinity Mobile Arena is sold out

    Basketball was not always Richardson’s calling card. She was named one of the top female executives in the country in 1995, but she left her post as founder and chief operating officer of American Security Corporation to pursue a different passion, mentoring young girls through basketball.

    Part of Richardson’s inspiration to make that change came from former college basketball coach and current color commentator Carolyn Peck. Richardson crossed paths with Peck during a recruiting visit with a player while Peck was at the University of Florida and Richardson was coaching at Riverdale Baptist School in Upper Marlboro, Md. She was enamored by Peck’s drive to help young athletes.

    “I saw the care she had with her student-athletes and how she wanted to project women’s sports,” Richardson said. “I was just amazed and inspired that when you can be in a position like that, you can actually inspire other people. I left corporate America to coach because I saw her example. And I love what I’m doing now.”

    Richardson arrived on North Broad before the 2022 season and quickly got to work, not just with her new program, but with women’s basketball overall.

    Richardson bought into the Big 5 Classic, and when the format changed before the 2024-25 season, she was all for it. The the tripleheader has been held at Villanova’s Finneran Pavilion the first two seasons. While Richardson believes the first two iterations have been successful, there is more to be done.

    “I think we could use some more exposure,” Richardson said. “We’re playing at Villanova and the guys are playing downtown [at Xfinity Mobile Arena]. And I think if we put enough money into it, enough marketing into it, and we can market it locally and get a lot of people there.”

    Mayor Cherelle Parker among those celebrating Unrivaled’s tour stop in Philly: ‘This is history in motion’

    Richardson also has her team engage with the community in women’s basketball events. The Owls held a camp with Skilladelphia, a basketball clinic for young girls, and attended a WNBA watch party with Watch Party PHL to see a game that featured Jonquel Jones, Natasha Cloud, and Kahleah Copper.

    Temple attended a WNBA watch party in July at Libertee Grounds.

    A key part of Richardson’s involvement over her four years at Temple has been the involvement of Jones and Copper. Jones, who plays for the New York Liberty, is Richardson’s adopted daughter and makes the trip to Philly whenever she can.

    She acted as a tour guide when the Owls went to the Bahamas in November. Copper, who plays for the Phoenix Mercury, is from North Philly and has been a great friend of the program. She attended many practices during Richardson’s first two seasons.

    New York Liberty star Jonquel Jones (second from left), the adopted daughter of Temple women’s college basketball coach Diane Richardson, was courtside to watch the Owls play the Drexel on Dec. 7.

    Having professionals involved with the program has been beneficial for the team. It’s an opportunity to see what basketball can do for them.

    “Coach Rich is really great at networking,” said junior guard Kaylah Turner. “We’ll have little meetings here and there to meet this person and that person she wants us to talk to. She knows that every person has one thing that we can take away from, as far as lessons. We meet a lot of different people, and just watching her, she knows everybody.”

    Richardson brought her whole team to the Unrivaled announcement event on Oct. 2, when the pro three-on-three league announced it would visit the city on Jan. 30. Unrivaled is the next step to growing women’s basketball in the area.

    Richardson hopes a lot comes from Unrivaled, including gaining more women’s basketball fans.

    “I hope that the people who talk bad about women’s sports and the WNBA will see that this is true basketball,” Richardson said. “It’s not just some stuff on the corners. It’s not just AAU or church league. This is real professional basketball, and it should be respected as such.”

    After Unrivaled, the city will have four years to prepare to welcome its WNBA team. The support that has come from Unrivaled is encouraging, and Richardson believes that with continued marketing, Philly will be more than ready for a pro team.

    Temple coach Diane Richardson calls plays against Charlotte on Saturday.

    “With the WNBA coming here … we’re going to be exploding,” Richardson said. “To get Unrivaled sold out in a matter of days, that tells you we are ready for the WNBA. I think if we continue to have programs and events like that, it’ll get there, and I think we’ll have sold-out stadiums when the WNBA gets here.”

    In her short time in the city, Richardson has been at the forefront of the push to grow women’s basketball here. She hopes others will see the beauty in the sport, too.

    Philly has long been a special place for tennis legend Billie Jean King. And she wants to see the WNBA succeed here.

    “If they are a true sports fan, they will love women’s basketball,” Richardson said. “And it’s not just to say that it’s women’s basketball, but if you love sports, you’ll love women’s basketball, because it’s basketball.”

  • Philly has long been a special place for tennis legend Billie Jean King. And she wants to see the WNBA succeed here.

    Philly has long been a special place for tennis legend Billie Jean King. And she wants to see the WNBA succeed here.

    Philadelphia and its famously indefatigable, fanatical followers of all things pro sports, you have a test coming at you with the speed of a Tyrese Maxey breakaway.

    In 2030, the City of Brotherly Love will debut its own WNBA franchise.

    At last.

    Then will come the test. Can, and will, Philadelphia and its often-notorious rabid fans land on the right side of the WNBA story, embracing not only a specific team, but the general concept of women’s professional sports?

    Billie Jean King, for one, has thoughts.

    In two interviews, King — one of the most celebrated sports icons of any generation and an inductee into multiple Halls of Fame — explained how she planted roots in Philadelphia long ago and has yet to pull those roots up. Yes, she’s moved around the globe, with stops at Wimbledon, Roland Garros, Australia, and beyond. She is a fixture at the U.S. Open every summer in New York, a whirling dervish who refuses to slow down, even at 82 years old.

    She wants to see Philadelphia become the next successful chapter in the chronicles of the WNBA story, proving all the more, even more that women can succeed on basketball courts, by measuring success one purchased ticket at a time.

    “I just hope that comes true,” said King of a pro team other than the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, and Flyers lighting up South Philadelphia’s sports complex. “If it does come there, then the fans better make sure they support it because the other [new] teams now, they really have great support.”

    Elton John in a Philadelphia Freedoms jacket and Billie Jean King in 1974.

    Her conversations about the possibilities of basketball’s best women playing for Philadelphia have been ongoing for seemingly a lifetime. “We’ve been talking to people about that forever on that subject,” King said, mentioning her wish that famed Philadelphians like Wanda Sykes and others from the entertainment industry help draw attention to the sport. (As for ownership, she again points to Sykes, and Sykes’ wife, Alex, saying “I know they’d love to invest.”)

    Having just helped establish the Professional Women’s Hockey League, having dabbled in ownership of tennis tournaments, King knows what lies ahead for ownership of a new franchise and for a fan base that is particularly particular.

    “Philadelphia, it’s a rough market,” King said, “because notice when the Phillies are winning, everybody shows up. When they’re not winning, very few show up. What you need is an organization like the Cubs, whether they win or lose, they fill the place. That’s what Philadelphia has to do. That’s what you need the fans do. They gotta have to want to do that to support their city.”

    Her presence is not just the stuff of tennis lore. She is not a fixture in baseball, ensconced in the major leagues as a part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. When not seated in the front row near the Dodgers’ dugout at Chavez Ravine, chatting it up with Magic Johnson and Sandy Koufax, she could be seen standing next to Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts on podiums as she and her team celebrated the last two World Series championships.

    Billie Jean King (left) and Magic Johnson take in Game 1 of the NLDS between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Washington Nationals.

    And for King there is no offseason. She sits on the board of directors for the 3-year-old PWHL, a creation of the Dodgers’ ownership. She applauds its million-plus ticket sales per season as heartily as she celebrates baseball championships.

    She also is closely following the startup of the new women’s professional baseball league being backed by Major League Baseball. King has no stake in that league. Yet. But upon learning that none other than Mo’ne Davis, the multifaceted Philadelphia athlete of Little League fame, was attracted to the new league’s tryouts certainly attracted King’s attention.

    Mo’ne Davis will make her return to baseball in a tryout for a women’s pro league

    Yet as King began the second of our interviews for this article, she leaned into the Zoom video camera and declared that she was wearing the Phillies’ maroon, a transplant from the West Coast stubbornly proud of her adopted city.

    King remembers watching the Phillies play at Veterans Stadium, falling back on the dreams of a little girl who wanted to play baseball as much as did her brother, Randy Moffitt, a former big league pitcher who died earlier this year.

    King also reminisces about Coaching 101 conversations she’d have with Sixers great Billy Cunningham while the two watched the Flyers skate their way to Stanley Cup championships. Just two Hall of Famers talking hoops. King also wished to have played the sport, but for that glass ceiling that limited girls’ and women’s access to the game.

    Before Philadelphia had a WNBA franchise, it had the Rage. Their former players are celebrating a full-circle moment.

    That so many memories of teams rooted in Philadelphia can make her smile reminds one to never doubt how much Billie Jean King still has invested in emotions, heart, and soul in this city after six-plus decades.

    “As a child, when I was growing up, I read everything I could on the history of women’s tennis and men’s tennis,” King said. “And there is so much history in Philadelphia. … And the junior championships used to be there. If you wanted to be the No. 1 junior in the world, you had to play at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. They had the junior nationals, and you had to win that tournament to be No. 1 in the country. I never won.”

    That didn’t mean the city failed to win over King. “I’ve been going there since I was 15,” she said fondly. And when she returned as an adult, she did so as a world-renowned champion, coming back to play for and coach the Philadelphia Freedoms in 1974, the inaugural season of the World Team Tennis league.

    Billie Jean King was a player-coach for the Philadelphia Freedoms.

    These ventures make it feel like coming home whenever she passes through Philadelphia, she said. And now, she sees a city she loves about to take on a fight she’s waged her whole life.

    Like many a WNBA team, their NBA counterparts will be counted on greatly to help the Philly team take flight. The franchise owner is Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, owners of the Sixers, with Comcast Spectacor holding a minority stake.

    Yet King cautions, too, that “in Philadelphia, you’ve got to have the big bucks. You’ve got to be in it for the long, long haul.”

    Why that matters is this: The WNBA has shuffled the deck in four expansion eras in its 29 seasons. Philadelphia will join as part of its fourth expansion.

    The league’s history on moving or disbanding franchises is no secret. Neither is its willingness to go in another direction quickly, no matter the size of the market the league chooses to flee.

    The league has relocated and rebranded five teams. Only three of the original eight teams remain. As the WNBA looks to grow to an all-time high of 18 teams by 2030, it is betting much on Philadelphia — the only city among the nation’s six largest metropolises to have never had a WNBA team.

    New York Liberty center Jonquel Jones (35) looks for an outlet as Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas during a WNBA playoff game last fall. Jones’ and Thomas’ teams are two of the three inaugural WNBA franchises still in their original homes.

    Right now, the model every future expansion team will be chasing is the Golden State Valkyries.

    The Valkyries set a record for victories in an expansion team’s first season and made the playoffs, another first for an expansion team, all while selling out its slate of home games.

    “So they did it right, and you’ve got to do it right,” said King of the team fronted by the NBA Golden State Warriors.

    “You’ve got to have enough money and then you’ve got to set up everything right. Like, where are they going to play? Make sure they get good dates,” she said, noting that WNBA franchises often are second, third, or fourth in pecking orders in arenas often shared by other teams. “It’s a very difficult world to be in sports, financially, especially if you’re trying to help get a new sport in the area.”

    Philly isn’t just a great sports town; it’s a great women’s sports town. And I saw it in real time.

    That largely sums up what fans of women’s sports can expect when the WNBA lands here.

    Can it work? Will it work? For Billie Jean King, just trying will be worth the effort as she keeps endorsing getting women not only on the courts, ice, playing fields, but in the seats of power.

    “I’ve been in business forever,” she said. “My former husband and I owned tournaments from 1968. I always did the business side. It really helped me to lead. I said yes [because] the way to do it was to embrace it with everything I’ve got. The way to do it is to know all sides of something, and not because I’ve been an owner, a coach, a player. I’ve been in a lot of situations not only to have a better life, but to create opportunities for others. It’s just more enriched when you have a life where you have empathy and compassion for each person’s situation.”

    In King’s world of sports, it’s always a must that fairness be made available to women. It won’t be long until the City of Brotherly Love gets its opportunity to agree with one of its most famous adopted sisters. At last.

  • Philly is Unrivaled women’s basketball doubleheader at Xfinity Mobile Arena is sold out

    Philly is Unrivaled women’s basketball doubleheader at Xfinity Mobile Arena is sold out

    Unrivaled has sold out its upcoming Philly takeover event at Xfinity Mobile Arena, a Comcast Spectacor official confirmed to The Inquirer on Thursday.

    The 3-on-3 women’s basketball league, which launched last year in Miami, is taking its season on the road in Year 2. The first Unrivaled event outside suburban Miami will be Jan. 30 in Philadelphia.

    Xfinity Mobile Arena, which has a capacity of 21,000 and is owned by Comcast Spectacor, will be by far the biggest venue Unrivaled has played in. The league’s usual venue in Medley, Fla., Sephora Arena, was built just for Unrivaled and holds just 1,000 seats.

    The event, which features a doubleheader between four of Unrivaled’s eight teams, Breeze vs. Phantom and Rose vs. Lunar Owls, is set to bring young stars like Paige Bueckers (Breeze) and Cameron Brink (Breeze), along with Philly natives Natasha Cloud (Phantom) and Kahleah Copper (Rose), to South Philly.

    The doubleheader comes on the heels of the WNBA’s announcement in June 2025 that Philadelphia will be home to an expansion franchise, with play set to begin in 2030.

    If you missed out on purchasing, tickets are available for resale on platforms like StubHub and Ticketmaster, starting at $111.15 for the upper deck as of Thursday afternoon.

  • WNBA, players’ union agree to moratorium, halting initial stages of free agency

    WNBA, players’ union agree to moratorium, halting initial stages of free agency

    NEW YORK — The WNBA and its players’ union agreed to a moratorium for league business Monday.

    The moratorium, which was confirmed by the league, was necessary because the sides failed to reach a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement or an extension of the current one by Friday night’s deadline.

    The sides are continuing to negotiate in good faith on a new CBA and are far apart on salaries and revenue sharing.

    WNBA players union authorizes negotiators to call a strike if needed during CBA talks

    The moratorium will halt the initial stages of free agency in which teams would seek to deliver qualifying offers and franchise tag designations to players.

    Before the moratorium, the WNBA, under U.S. labor law, had a status-quo obligation to allow teams to send out qualifying offers under the expired CBA agreement. Sunday was the first day that teams would have sent out offers to players.

    While the moratorium makes sense for both sides, they are still far apart on key issues.

    The league’s most recent offer last month would guarantee a maximum base salary of $1 million in 2026 that could reach $1.3 million through revenue sharing. That’s up from the current $249,000 and could grow to nearly $2 million over the life of the agreement, a person familiar with the negotiations told the AP earlier this month. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations.

    The moratorium will halt the initial stages of free agency in which teams would seek to deliver qualifying offers and franchise tag designations to players.

    Under the league’s proposal, players would receive in excess of 70% of net revenue — though that would be their take of the profits after expenses are paid. Those expenses would include upgraded facilities, charter flights, five-star hotels, medical services, security and arenas.

    The average salary in 2026 would be more than $530,000, up from its current $120,000, and grow to more than $770,000 over the life of the agreement. The minimum salary would grow from its current $67,000 to approximately $250,000 in the first year, the person told the AP.

    The WNBA’s rapid growth means a rise in gambling, and it’s affecting the players

    The proposal would also financially pay star young players like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers, who are all still on their rookie contracts, nearly double the league minimum.

    Revenue sharing is one of the major sticking points in the negotiations.

    The union’s counter proposal to the league would give players around 30% of the gross revenue. The player’s percentage would be from money generated before expenses for the first year and teams would have a $10.5 million salary cap to sign players. Under the union’s proposal, the revenue sharing percent would go up slightly each year.