December 17, 2025
Breanna Stewart and Candace Parker agree: Unrivaled’s astounding season 2 growth is due to the league’s fans
Parker: "We've seen the benefits of women taking control of their brands and viewers driving what they want to see"
As the second season of Unrivaled draws enticingly near, it’s easy to overlook just how revolutionary the league was — and still is — in 2025. Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier founded the professional 3×3 basketball league in 2023, when they were both still in their 20s, and had a mission: bringing to fruition a women’s basketball league, built by and for women’s basketball players.
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Unrivaled has welcomed two new teams, the Breeze BC and the Hive BC, since the league made its debut last year. That also means new players, a developmental pool of six additional athletes, an expanded arena to host more fans, and even a new city to play basketball in (Unrivaled will travel to Philadelphia in late January). On top of that, at least 75% of the league’s athletes are signed to multi-year contracts, a strong indication that they — and the league itself — is not going anywhere.
Those changes are born from a team that is invested in the future of women’s basketball, full stop. “We care about this game, and we care about really growing it and valuing our players,” Stewart told reporters during Unrivaled’s December 17 media day. “And you see that’s what we are doing.”
She continued, “I think that I’m just really proud of and excited by the fact that not only are Phee [Napheesa Collier] and I, and everybody who’s behind the scenes at Unrivaled, seeing this vision, but also the players.”
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Having so much of the league signed to multi-year contracts makes “the desire even greater to make sure everything is top-notch and the best of the best,” she added. “I’m really excited for what’s to come … [with] the fan engagement that we had last year, I know it’s going to be even better this year.”
Fans are a crucial part of any women’s basketball experience, Candace Parker told The IX Basketball by phone Wednesday. The growth of women’s basketball is “a proud moment for everybody that’s involved” in the sport, she explained, “whether you’re playing now or not, just because you understand so many people before me laid the groundwork. So many people have been a part of this process.”
Women’s basketball was ready to meet the moment, she also said, “which doesn’t come around a lot. And to be able to see its growth, not only in fandom, but just in investment, I think that’s the biggest thing.”
Parker, who is now part of TNT’s studio broadcast team this season, also pointed out that viewership numbers “don’t lie.” Investment in the sport is “driven by the consumers and the people that want to watch women’s basketball. And a lot of that has to do with social media and NIL as a proof point. And so now seeing women’s basketball — we’ve [had] the benefits of women taking control of their brands, and viewers driving what they want to see.”
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The result is a league like Unrivaled is not only doing well, it’s absolutely thriving. Parker, who will be joined by Renee Montgomery as well as Lauren Jbara and Lisa Leslie (who will make special appearances), has to balance teaching the game to newcomers with allowing fans access to the players they know, love, and celebrate.
If there is anyone who can pull that off, it’s Parker herself, who has spent most of her career playing in front of, and now explaining basketball to, large, dedicated audiences. As a former Lady Vol, she grew accustomed to selling out the school’s games (at one point, Tennessee led the country in fan attendance). “We had a fan base, a strong fan base,” she emphasized. That changed once she was drafted into the WNBA, something she attributed to a lack of investment.
But things are different now, for the WNBA and for Unrivaled. “Now, because of the ability to like and follow who you want [on social media], tune in, buy and support [those players], women are taking advantage of that in a way and allowing fans to get access to them, and being dominant on the court as well.”
The second season of Unrivaled will kick off in Miami on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026.
