Biggest Winners and Losers of 2026 Unrivaled Season
In season two of Unrivaled, the league founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier tried to improve upon its successful inaugural campaign. That involved more teams, more games, more money and expanding the vision of what the organization could be.
Unrivaled is starting to find its identity as a development hub for WNBA players. Whether they are young players trying to build confidence or more experienced players coming back from injury—or anything in between—the league has been a low-stress environment for players to thrive in.
Some have taken advantage of the situation. Others, not so much. With the playoffs looming this weekend, here are the biggest winners and losers from 2026.
Loser: Lunar Owls' Momentum
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Last season, the Lunar Owls were the biggest story in Unrivaled, as they were the hottest team in the league. When it came to the playoffs, they fell short. But being able to keep Napheesa Collier and Skylar Diggins for year two meant there was real hope for a redemption.
Unfortunately, Collier's injury changed things for the Lunar Owls. She was ruled out for the entire season, needing double ankle surgery after getting hurt during the WNBA season. The Lunar Owls then went 3-10, ending up at the bottom of the standing.
You can definitely play the game of what-ifs regarding how the Lunar Owls' season would have gone if Collier had been healthy. Yet, it wasn't a total loss, as both Marina Mabrey and Aaliyah Edwards had fantastic campaigns—something that will help their momentum going forward in their careers.
Winners: Angel Reese Fans
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Angel Reese was one of the biggest factors in the success of Unrivaled's inaugural season. Her play was fantastic, and she instantly brings fanfare anywhere she goes. Her personality makes her such an ideal face of the sport, and she brings fans new and old to the world of women's basketball.
She did end the season in 2025 injured, and then went on to play a long and exhausting season in the WNBA, leading to her initially opting out of Unrivaled this year. It was a disappointment for sure, but understandable given the hectic schedule these athletes take on.
Yet, fans of Reese were delighted to hear that Reese would be returning to her Rose BC for the latter half of the season. Unrivaled is obviously more casual than the WNBA in terms of rules, so the idea that a player can just join a team mid-year isn't outrageous.
Now, Reese fans are truly winning, getting to see her join Rose for the playoffs. We'll see if they can win back-to-back championships.
Losers: Chelsea Gray's 1-on-1 Competitors
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Unrivaled ends up handing out a lot of cash over the course of the season—from the players' initial salaries to bonuses for winning the championship, and more. The biggest payout, though, is for the season's 1-on-1 tournament.
Playing 1-on-1 hoops can turn you into the butt of the joke really fast—there is nowhere to hide when you're playing on a team of one. In the tournament, it's survive or go home, and sometimes it takes just minutes for you to lose your 1-on-1 game and be eliminated from the tournament.
Why do players do it then? The money. Unrivaled hands out $200,000 to the winner of the 1-on-1 tournament, which is more than most players made for the entire WNBA season in 2025. It's a big payout for them, and they are vocal about that being the motivation to participate.
Only one player can win, though, and the name on that giant check was, in fact, Chelsea Gray. It definitely hurts the most for the people who came close to the end of that tournament, but everyone must be a little hurt at the idea of missing out on that bonus.
Winner: Aaliyah Edwards
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Aaliyah Edwards, despite not making it to the playoffs with her Lunar Owls, had a fantastic Unrivaled season. She's fifth overall in the league in scoring with 21.7 points per game and first in rebounds with 12.5 per game. After the rocky WNBA season she had, it's nice to see her playing so well.
Edwards, who was drafted No. 6 overall by the Washington Mystics in 2024, hasn't really been able to get her WNBA career going. After the Mystics drafted a new crop of rookies in 2025, and a back injury kept Edwards out of the lineup to start the season, she fell out of the rotation. She was then traded to the Connecticut Sun.
The Sun didn't make the playoffs, but with a ton of change about to happen in the WNBA, having Edwards locked into a rookie contract helps them. Plus, the confidence she surely gained from Unrivaled should help her.
She will likely compete for Team Canada in World Cup qualifier games this month as well.
Loser: Marina Mabrey's Wallet
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Given the generally low-stakes environment of Unrivaled, it's fair that sometimes silliness ensues. The players definitely want to win, but there is also just an ease and comfort in the air in Miami that allows them to let loose.
One of the funniest running jokes of the season has been Marina Mabrey's "crash-out jar." After video clips of Mabrey getting especially enthusiastic on the court reached the internet, Mabrey joked on social media about putting money in a special jar every time she crashed out. The jar continued to get bigger as the season went on.
Players showing their love and passion on the court is always fun, but Mabrey's wallet may be hurting a little bit by the end of the year. We'll have to see if the jar continues on to the WNBA season or not.
Winner: Unrivaled itself
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The profitability of women's basketball has been called into question a lot over the past few weeks. Between the ongoing WNBA CBA negotiations and the talk about increasing salaries for women's athletes, there is a lot of noise out there. One thing Unrivaled continues to prove is that it is possible to invest in women's basketball at a high level.
The league got a ton on investors for its experiment of high-level offseason women's basketball. They were able to raise the bar for how athletes are treated, how they are paid, and how they can choose to spend their offseason. It's already having effects on the rest of the women's basketball community.
Even last year, we saw WNBA free agency be incredibly impacted by the presence of Unrivaled. Players not only communicated with each other about what is possible for them, but Unrivaled and its facilities showed them first hand. It's led to the bar being raised across the WNBA.
Now that we are heading into the end of Unrivaled's second season, they've shown growth and sustainability as an offseason development league.
