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The new Unrivaled 3×3 league revealed its rosters, coaches, and TV info for its first season on Wednesday. Unfortunately, there was one thing that was missing and it irritated a lot of women’s basketball fans.
Part of the reason for that irritation stemmed from a post Unrivaled shared Wednesday morning on X (Twitter), which some fans saw as a hint that that missing thing, Caitlin Clark, had finally joined the upstart women’s basketball league.
Not only did the letter include a prominent sponsorship of the Club Selection show by State Farm – one of Caitlin Clark’s main endorsement deals – it also listed the time of the show as 11 a.m. to 11:22 a.m. ET. Get it? Caitlin Clark (and A’Ja Wilson, for that matter – who also has a deal with State Farm) wears number 22.
My boss told me to tell you to send this to your boss 😊 Tune in to the Club Selection presented by @StateFarm tomorrow at 11AM ET pic.twitter.com/sqSE5srLAD
— Unrivaled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb) November 20, 2024
Once the 22-minute video was completed, however, neither Caitlin Clark nor A’Ja Wilson saw their names called, leaving many basketball fans feeling like they had been duped.
“Unrivaled teased and clickbaited so hard,” one fan commented.
“Unrivaled really dragged all this out for clicks only to have 2 unnamed wildcards… beyond frustrating,” another wrote.
That’s right. Unrivaled only revealed 34 of the 36 players, leaving two “wild card” spots open on the Lunar Owls and the Phantom.
Should Clark or Wilson end up on one of those two teams, it would immediately make them two of the favorites.
The Lunar Owls, who will be coached by D.J. Sackmann, already have Skylar Diggins-Smith, Allisha Gray, Napheesa Collier, Natasha Cloud, and Shakira Austin on their roster. While the Phantom, coached by Adam Harrington, has a roster consisting of Jackie Young, Marina Mabrey, Satou Sabally, Tiffany Hayes, and Brittney Griner.
Also missing? Sabrina Ionescu and Paige Bueckers, who signed a NIL deal with the league earlier this year.
The rest of Unrivaled’s team rosters break down as follows:
• Mist (Phil Handy, coach): Jewell Loyd, DiJonai Carrington, Breanna Stewart, Courtney Vandersloot, Rickea Jackson, Aaliyah Edwards
• Rose (Nola Henry, coach): Chelsea Gray, Kahleah Copper, Angel Reese, Brittney Sykes, Lexie Hull, Azurá Stevens
• Vinyl (Teresa Weatherspoon: coach): Arike Ogunbowale, Rhyne Howard, Aliyah Boston, Jordin Canada, Rae Burrell, Dearica Hambym
• Laces (Andrew Wade, coach): Kelsey Plum, Kayla McBride, Alyssa Thomas, Courtney Williams, Kate Martin, Stefanie Dolson
Unrivaled begins play on Jan. 17. Games will be available to watch on TNT, TruTV, and Max thanks to a multi-year deal with TNT Sports.