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While a potential lockout is seemingly getting closer and closer, the upstart Unrivaled league may have just made it even harder for the WNBA and players to come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement.
Alex Bazzell, the co-founder of the new 3-on-3 women’s basketball league, said the the league has agreed to deals with nearly 90 percent of its players for the 2026 season at a recent league summit in Miami. Moreover, Bazzell, who is married to co-founder Napheesa Collier, told the site that Unrivaled players will also receive pay raises in 2026, according to Front Office Sports.
Unrivaled Is Paying Players More Than The WNBA
Unrivaled, which crowned its first champion in March when Rose BC defeated Vinyl, 62-54, is set to expand from 36 players to 42 in 2026.
“We have a few spots left open to fill and then we’re pretty much ready to go,” Bazzell said.
As for salary, Unrivaled already pays its players far more than the WNBA. In 2025, the league reportedly paid its players an average salary of $220,000. No player made less than $100,000. Meanwhile, the league average salary in the WNBA is just under $150,000 this season, while the league minimum is $66,000.
According to Bazzell, that number is on the rise for Unrivaled players in 2026.
“The numbers are going up because the business outperformed every metric that we had,” Bazzell said. “It’s part of our business model that we built from the ground up, which is that as the business continues to drive more revenue, the revenue is going to get funneled back into the players.”
Unrivaled’s Growth Comes At A Bad Time For The WNBA
Unrivaled does not position itself as a competitor to the WNBA. The two leagues play at different times and the Unrivaled games are 3-on-3 as opposed to the traditional 5-on-5.
But it’s impossible to deny market forces. WNBA players have already announced their intent to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement following the 2025, and to this point, negotiations between the two sides for a new CBA have not gone according to plan.
Meanwhile, both Collier and Unrivaled co-founder/fellow WNBA superstar Brennna Stewart stand accused of collusion due to their vested interest in both leagues.
Ultimately, the more Unrivaled grows, the more pressure it puts on the WNBA to agree to a deal. Which is great if you’re on the players’ side bargaining, but not so great for the league itself.