Players and fans of Unrivaled, a new women’s 3-on-3 basketball league slated to tip off in January 2025, got a look this week at the teams they’ll be representing and cheering for.
After unveiling its league logo back in July, Unrivaled launched identities for the six teams that will take part in its inaugural season on Thursday, October 24. As they’ll be playing on a soundstage in Miami, none of the teams are tied to geographic locations. The six team names include:
- Laces Basketball Club
- Lunar Owls Basketball Club
- Mist Basketball Club
- Phantom Basketball Club
- Rose Basketball Club
- Vinyl Basketball Club
As reported by The Source, the identities were developed by Doubleday & Cartwright, an agency that has worked on brands for numerous sports clients including the Utah Hockey Club, the Milwaukee Bucks, the Golden State Valkyries and Inter Miami CF. “The use of ‘Basketball Club’ in each name is inspired by European soccer clubs, aiming to build a similar sense of community and fan loyalty,” they report.
Unrivaled President Alex Bazzell told Sports Business Journal that the league to move to a traveling tour-style schedule in 2026, and thus the identity development process was done with future sale and relocation of teams in mind.
“Right now, we’re a single-entity model; the league owns all the franchises and the players are participating in the ownership group at the league level,” Bazzell told SBJ. “When you get great owners involved who are investing in a cause and believe in the long-term growth, there are special things that can happen. … We wanted to have in our back pocket the ability to sell these franchises in the next few years and to potentially attach cities to these franchises in the next few years.”
Founded by WNBA All-Stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, Unrivaled aims to give elite women’s basketball players a chance to keep playing in North America during the WNBA offseason, rather than going overseas. Each of the six teams will have five players, and they’ll play one another on a compressed full-court (70 feet by 50 feet).
The league is also aiming for the highest average salaries in women’s sports history, and that all 30 players in the inaugural season will receive equity ownership. Other investors include former ESPN president John Skipper; former Turner Broadcasting president David Levy; former U.S. women’s national soccer team members Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe; former NBA players Carmelo Anthony and Steve Nash; LPGA champion Michelle Wie West; and actor/entrepreneur Ashton Kutcher.
While Unrivaled has been announcing player signings since the summer, none of the players have been allocated to individual teams as yet. The league has secured a television deal, however, with TNT Sports, and games will be broadcast on TNT, TruTV and Max.
