Unrivaled announced several high-profile returnees to the 3x3 women's basketball league Thursday afternoon, including a "multi-year deal" with former UConn women's basketball star Paige Bueckers.
Bueckers was among the league's premier players last season, averaging over 22 points and five assists for a youth-laden Breeze BC squad to earn First-Team All-Unrivaled honors. The 23-year-old point guard indicated that she will rejoin the team this winter, reposting Thursday's news on her Instagram story with the caption "Breeezeeeee."
Paige Bueckers is Unrivaled 👑
PB5 returns for season three on a multi-year deal.
Presented by @Allypic.twitter.com/4ryEYIHmc5
Her Breeze BC teammate, Courtney Williams, also announced her plans to rejoin Unrivaled Thursday. The remainder of last year's Breeze squad includes young post talents Cameron Brink, Rickea Jackson and Dominique Malonga, along with fan-favorite Kate Martin and Fever guard Aari McDonald.
Fellow UConn alums Naphessa Collier and Breanna Stewart co-founded Unrivaled in 2023, seeking to provide a domestic alternative for WNBA players to pursue off-season basketball. Bueckers became one of the league's earliest high-profile partners, signing a groundbreaking NIL deal with Unrivaled in August 2024 that made her the first NCAA student-athlete to receive an ownership equity stake in a professional sports league. A year later, she signed a three-year contract to play for the league.
The trio's equity in the league has skyrocketed in recent months, with Unrivaled reporting a $650 million valuation earlier this week, which nearly doubled last year's figure. A recent Series C fundraising round included several high-profile investors, including UConn coach Geno Auriemma, NBA stars Carmelo Anthony and Trae Young, and actor Ashton Kutcher.
Notably, Bueckers' former UConn teammate and current Dallas Wings backcourt mate Azzi Fudd will not participate in Unrivaled this winter, instead electing to play for global basketball startup Project B.
Unrivaled's season is scheduled to tip off in early January and will continue to expand beyond the league's home base in Miami. The league played in its first "road" venue at Philadelphia's Xfinity Mobile Arena earlier this year, setting the attendance record for a regular-season women's basketball venue, and will now play in eight different venues around the country for the 2027 campaign.
Sign up for the Connecticut Briefing from CT Insider. Get the biggest headlines of the day from our network of journalists around the state.This article originally published at UConn women's basketball great Paige Bueckers returns to Unrivaled on multi-year contract.
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