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The Unrivaled League has only been active for one season, but is already making an impact on the women's basketball scene. With numerous WNBA players already participating, the league took its next major step by signing a handful of NCAA stars, including JuJu Watkins, Azzi Fudd and Hannah Hidalgo.
Unrivaled signed 14 total college players on Saturday, ESPN's Kendra Andrews reported. The group also includes Lauren Betts, Sienna Betts, Audi Crooks, Flau'jae Johnson, MiLaysia Fulwiley, Sarah Strong, Madison Booker, Kiki Rice, Syla Swords and Ta'Niya Latson.
Of the group, Fudd, Johnson, Miles, Rice, Latson and Lauren Betts will be eligible to enter the 2026 WNBA Draft, and potentially debut with Unrivaled in 2027. Watkins, Crooks, Fulwiley and Booker are on track to join them one year later. Strong and Swords are only preparing for their sophomore seasons, while Sienna Betts has yet to make her NCAA debut.
Betts and Fudd are widely viewed as the top two 2026 WNBA Draft prospects ahead of the 2025-2026 collegiate season. Miles, Johnson and Latson are also in the conversation to potentially be selected No. 1 overall with a strong senior year.
Unrivaled has signed college players before, notably coming to terms with Paige Bueckers while she was still at UConn. Bueckers teamed up with Fudd and Strong with the Huskies, where they won a national championship together in 2025.
Unrivaled League continues to grow with WNBA
While not directly competing with the WNBA, the Unrivaled League proved to be almost as popular in its debut season. The league believes it will continue to trend upward with an increasingly more star-studded field of play.
As women's basketball continues to gain traction among the mainstream audience, professional leagues like Unrivaled and Athletes Unlimited soar in popularity. The leagues have become so popular that Seattle Storm star Gabby Williams claims the WNBA is trying to “push them out” of business.
Williams claims that the WNBA only feels threatened by United States-based leagues, not international organizations. WNBA players have competed in European leagues in the offseason since its inception, but it operates well outside of the mainstream American audience.
The Unrivaled League is aimed to be an offseason option for domestic WNBA players, operating from January to March. The timing avoids a head-to-head competition, but could pose a potential issue if Unrivaled continues to grow in the coming years.
