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    Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball tips off its inaugural season on Friday night, when four of the league’s six clubs will take the court for the first time.

    The Miami-based league’s debut doubleheader begins with a co-founder face-off, as Breanna Stewart’s Mist will first square off against 2024 WNBA Finals foe and fellow Unrivaled co-founder Napheesa Collier’s Lunar Owls.

    Shortly after that inaugural game, Rose BC, whose roster includes top-rated 2024 rookie Angel Reese plus WNBA Finals MVPs Kahleah Copper (2021) and Chelsea Gray (2022), will take the Unrivaled court. Facing them in Friday’s nightcap will be Vinyl BC, a team headlined by WNBA Rookies of the Year Aliyah Boston (2023) and Rhyne Howard (2022).

    The two remaining Unrivaled teams will debut on Saturday afternoon, when Phantom BC takes on Laces BC in another 3×3 doubleheader.

    Led by All-Stars like Brittney Griner and reigning WNBA champion Sabrina Ionescu, the Phantom will start the season without guard Marina Mabrey due to a calf strain. Her recovery is expected to take two to four weeks, with an injury re-evaluation set for late January. In the meantime, the Phantom have added relief player Natisha Hiedeman to their short-handed roster.

    Unrivaled stars prepare for their close-up

    The innovative new league is launching with 36 of the WNBA’s biggest stars, a brand new 3×3 format, and a product finely tuned for national TV broadcast. The goal is to bring fans even closer to their favorite athletes.

    Subsequently, Unrivaled has teamed up with six US bars “dedicated to elevating women’s sports” in an effort to promote official watch parties nationwide.

    “The content piece and the TV piece of this is huge for us,” Collier told The Athletic ahead of Friday’s launch. “We want to make it the most interactive, fun, and exciting experience we can for people.”

    With a smaller court and cameras positioned closer to the action than in WNBA games, Unrivaled is aiming to bring a small-venue experience to a national audience.

    “It’s definitely intimate, and you’re definitely going to hear a lot of stuff,” Mist athlete Jewell Loyd told The Athletic. “But at the same time, that’s what you want, and it’s definitely going to make us play a little harder.”

    Unrivaled tips off its debut season on Friday, January 17th. (Unrivaled)

    How to watch Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball this weekend

    The new 3×3 league will tip off with the Mist and Lunar Owls at 7 PM ET on Friday, with Rose BC and Vinyl BC following at 8 PM ET.

    All Unrivaled games will air across TNT, truTV, and Max throughout the season, with Friday’s tip off broadcast live on TNT.



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