UConn women’s basketball star Paige Bueckers is signing an NIL deal with Unrivaled Basketball, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania. Bueckers will be the first NCAA player to join the 3-on-3 league, which will take place during the WNBA offseason.
UConn’s Paige Bueckers is signing an NIL deal with the new women’s basketball league Unrivaled that makes her the first NCAA athlete to receive ownership equity in a league. Bueckers is expected to play in Unrivaled, along with the WNBA, after her college career is over. pic.twitter.com/NkPImheHig
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 1, 2024
Bueckers is the latest big name to join Unrivaled, which was founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier and will include six-figure salaries for all players. Players, including Bueckers, also receive ownership equity in the league.
Per Charania, Bueckers will play in Unrivaled after her college career ends, in addition to joining the WNBA. Bueckers opted to stay for a fifth season at UConn in February, after missing her junior season with an ACL tear.
In July, Unrivaled began announcing the players that will make up its 30-player league, which the league says will include 10 WNBA All-Stars. The league named a slew of WNBA stars including Jewell Loyd, Chelsea Gray and Arike Ogunbowale, in addition to Stewart and Collier, to start off, then rounded out the first 10 with Kelsey Plum, Rhyne Howard, Kahleah Copper, Jackie Young and finished with rookie phenom Angel Reese.
Unrivaled has said that it hold off on announcing any more players until after the Olympics, where seven of its first ten are competing. As a result, the league has not made any official announcement about Bueckers.
League play will take place over three months in Miami, starting in January and finishing before the WNBA season resumes.
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