Sabrina Ionescu Joins Unrivaled Basketball League; WNBA Star to Play for Phantom

Unrivaled announced Monday that New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu will occupy the league's last wild-card spot and join Phantom Basketball Club.

Phantom acquired the wild-card slot Saturday as part of a three-team swap.

Ionescu joins Satou Sabally, Marina Mabrey, Brittney Griner, Natasha Cloud and Katie Lou Samuelson on the squad.

Many fans will have assumed the three-time All-Star was taking this winter off.

ESPN's Alexa Philippou reported in December she had surgery to repair a torn UCL in her right thumb, an injury that dated back to the 2024 WNBA Finals. But she's expected to be healthy enough to resume basketball activities four weeks after the procedure, which would line up with the start of Unrivaled's season on Jan. 17. Phantom BC tips off against Laces Basketball Club in their opener the following day.

Money talks as well. According to Kendra Andrews of ESPN, Ionescu's Unrivaled contract "puts her in a category of her own" within the league's 36-player roster.

The 27-year-old is coming off a 2024 season in which she averaged 18.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 6.2 assists. She also drilled perhaps the single biggest shot in Liberty history when she hit a deep three-pointer in the final seconds of Game 3 in the Finals against the Minnesota Lynx.

In addition to her three All-Star nods, Ionescu is a second-team All-WNBA honoree for three years running. Although she hasn't dominated the league like some other No. 1 overall picks before her, she has adapted her game to complement Liberty stars Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones, and the results speak for themselves with New York beating the Lynx to earn its first title.

Off the court, Ionescu has remained one of the WNBA's most popular players, having carried over the mainstream attention she garnered during her historic career at Oregon.

Signing Ionescu allows Unrivaled to finalize its roster pool in a major way and give the league a little bit more momentum ahead of its launch next month.