Paige Bueckers technically became a professional athlete before the Dallas Wings selected her No. 1 overall in the 2025 WNBA draft last April.
Ahead of that big night, the former UConn star signed a three-year deal with 3-on-3 women’s basketball league Unrivaled, which was founded by WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart and held its inaugural season in 2025.
Bueckers’ first-year Unrivaled salary reportedly exceeds what she’s set to make over her four-year WNBA rookie contract, worth about $348,000. The WNBA Rookie of the Year in 2025, Bueckers has been connected to Unrivaled since her UConn days when she was part of a Name, Image and Likeness deal that included equity in the league.
She will make her Unrivaled debut on Monday as part of Breeze BC, one of the league’s expansion teams. Her Wings teammates Arike Ogunbowale, Maddy Siegrist and Li Yueru will also participate in the eight-week-long season at Sephora Arena in Miami. Two more Wings players — Haley Jones and Aziaha James — will take part as members of the development pool.
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“I started in college in an ambassador role, just being a fan and appreciating what this means for women’s basketball,” Bueckers said during a virtual news conference on Dec. 15. “The WNBA season isn’t quite as long … so to have that visibility for people to continue to watch and support us in a different lens, in a different landscape, is really important and I think that’s something that I just wanted to be a part of.”
Many professional women’s basketball players have spent their offseasons competing overseas to supplement their low league salaries. Working abroad has presented challenges, with Brittney Griner’s 293-day Russian detainment being the most extreme example of the problems WNBA athletes could encounter in other countries.
Unrivaled, which expanded to eight teams for the 2026 season, has given WNBA players the opportunity to play basketball in the U.S. Last year, Unrivaled boasted an average league salary of more than $220,000 per player. It’s a figure that dwarfed the average league salary in the WNBA, which hovered around $150,000 last season, and was close to the league supermaximum of about $250,000. The WNBA season runs from May to October.
In December 2024, Unrivaled announced a total of $28 million in funding from Michael Phelps, Giannis Antetokounmpo and others. Bueckers, the No. 1 pick in November’s Unrivaled draft, is another high-profile investor.
The second Unrivaled season tips off four days before the collective bargaining agreement between the WNBA and the players’ union is set to expire for the third time. After the two sides did not come to terms by the initial Oct. 31 deadline, they extended negotiations until Nov. 30. No agreement was reached, so the new deadline became Jan. 9. A strike could be on the table if the agreement doesn’t meet players’ expectations.
Unrivaled and other emerging leagues have put pressure on the WNBA, which is at a pivotal moment in its history.
“I think unity is the best way to display strength. For us to all be together, all be on the same page, ask each other questions, get to understand what we’re standing for … It’s hard to do that in the offseason,” Bueckers said. “We want to take full advantage of that and have these tough conversations and really just continue to stand firm on what we believe we deserve and have earned.”
The league will also give players the chance to grow their games before the WNBA season starts.
“I really hope I can improve my post moves and be stronger,” said Yueru, who joined the Wings in mid-June and was ruled out for the season in August after an ACL sprain.
Yueru will play alongside Wings teammate Ogunbowale, in her second Unrivaled season, for Mist BC. Siegrist, who averaged 12.7 points and 4.3 rebounds per game for the Wings last season, will play for Laces BC.
Unrivaled games will be broadcast on TNT, truTV and HBOMax. The first game of the Unrivaled season, which will feature Yueru and Ogunbowale’s Mist BC, tips off at 1 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday. Bueckers and Breeze BC will close out opening day at 9:15 p.m.
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