Unrivaled

Rose is the first ever Unrivaled Champion after a 62-54 win over Vinyl on Monday.

Vinyl pulled off the biggest upset of the season on Sunday when it downed Lunar Owls, which had just one loss coming into the postseason. Rose punched its ticket to the championship game with a win over Laces behind Chelsea Gray's 39 points.

Gray had a bit of a slow start on Monday but turned things around in the second half, finishing with 18 points on 7-of-21 from the field. Still, Gray got it going when her team needed her most, hitting a jumper to make it 59-52 and putting Rose just three points away from the target score.

That set up a Brittney Sykes and-one for the win a few players later.

Sykes finished with 21 points while Azurá Stevens posted 19 points and 18 rebounds with Angel Reese out.

The full Unrivaled bracket can be found here.

Rose got some bad news ahead of the playoffs as it was announced Reese would have to miss the postseason because of a hand injury, but the team managed to stay afloat without its defensive anchor.

She was in full support of her squad as they got the win on Monday.

Lunar Owls was the best team throughout the regular season, but Rose found its rhythm towards the end of the year and carried it into the postseason. Much of Rose's success can be attributed to Gray.

Though Gray missed out on Unrivaled MVP to Lunar Owls' Napheesa Collier, she ended up with the ultimate prize of a championship. Gray was also named Unrivaled Playoffs MVP, adding another accomplishment to her impressive resume.

Vinyl, which came into the playoffs as the No. 4 seed, shocked fans on Sunday with its win over Lunar Owls, and the momentum was certainly in its favor on Monday. Ultimately, Vinyl didn't have enough to end the season with a win despite Rhyne Howard's 22 points.

The first year of Unrivaled brought the stars of the WNBA together in a unique season and it proved to be a can't-miss event. With the inaugural season in the books, the stars from Unrivaled will now prepare for the WNBA season ahead, which should be another exciting one.

Unrivaled Basketball kicked off its first playoff bracket Sunday, with four teams vying for the opportunity to advance to the championship game on Monday.

The Rose and Laces were up first while the Vinyl had the unenviable task of attempting to do what no other team had been able to in this inaugural Unrivaled season: slow down the seemingly insurmountable Lunar Owls.

Who emerged victoriously and what can fans expect from the season's finale?

Find out with this championship preview.

Semifinal Results

Rose defeated Laces (63-57)

Vinyl defeated Lunar Owls (73-70)

Championship Game – Monday, March 17

Rose vs. Vinyl (7:30 p.m. EST, TNT and Tru TV)

Championship Preview

The Vinyl pulled off the biggest upset of the Unrivaled season, besting the Lunar Owls in Sunday's semifinals on the strength of Dearica Hamby's 15 rebounds and the game-winning two-point shot.

Rhyne Howard's 23 points in 27 minutes and Jordin Canada's 21 points added to the underdog victory over newly named league MVP Napheesa Collier and Co.

Now, Hamby, Howard, and Canada will battle Unrivaled Defensive Player of the Year Angel Reese, electrifying scorer Chelsea Gray, and Azurá Stevens for a chance to etch their names in history as the inaugural Unrivaled champions.

Gray put up 39 points in 26 minutes Sunday against the Laces, dominating the scoring while Stevens amassed 11 rebounds, controlling the boards and ensuring her team had second and third opportunities to find the basket.

The Rose has excelled at rebounding this season, with Reese leading the league with 12.1 per game. With Stevens picking up where the former LSU Tiger left off (Reese did not play Sunday), the team has the pieces in place to match the Vinyl defensively and tally the rebounds necessary to push past the Vinyl and slow down their suddenly red-hot starting trio.

It would be easy to say that the Rose has been the second-best team in the league all season and thus, should be favored to win Monday's title game. The Vinyl, though, just knocked off the best team in the league to set up the championship clash, suggesting it will come down to the best team on the court, not some preordained winner or numbers on a stat line.

Whichever team's stars are hottest, and whoever can take advantage of second chances and manipulate the defense to find buckets, will take the title as the first Unrivaled champions.

The first-ever Unrivaled League championship game is set after an upset in the semifinals on Sunday.

The Vinyl, the No. 4 seed, took down No. 1 Lunar Owls, which came into the matchup with just one loss on the season. With the win, Vinyl punched a ticket to the championship game against Rose on Monday.

Napheesa Collier, who was named Unrivaled MVP on Sunday, had a scoring outburst with 36 points and three other members of the Lunar Owls were in doubt digits, but it wasn't enough for the win.

Rhyne Howard led the way for Vinyl with 23 points while Jordin Canada added 21 and Dearica Hamby posted 16.

The Lunar Owls held a comfortable double-digit lead in the fourth quarter, but Vinyl fought back with its season on the line. Ultimately, the Vinyl had just enough to complete the comeback, capping it off with a game-winning layup for Hamby.

The Lunar Owls were the best team in Unrivaled all year, so naturally fans were shocked by the loss.

Heading into the postseason 13-1, the Lunar Owls appeared to have a clear path to the championship, but the Vinyl weren't ready for their season to end just yet.

The Vinyl have had an up-and-down season, but they came to play when it mattered most,and they're now just a win away from winning the first Unrivaled championship.

Rose is heading to the first-ever Unrivaled League championship game.

Behind an outstanding performance from Chelsea Gray, Rose downed Laces 63-57 to advance to the championship game, where it will face the winner of Lunar Owls and Vinyl.

Down by 13 at the half, Rose needed someone to step up to keep their season alive. With Angel Reese out of the contest, Gray did just that. Gray went on a 21-0 scoring run on her own, hitting the game-winner and finishing with 39 points.

After the dominant second half, fans praised Gray for sending her team to the championship game.

Gray ended the Unrivaled regular season with a 33-point outing, and it's clear her momentum followed her into the playoffs. Perhaps motivated by missing out on MVP to Napheesa Collier of Lunar Owls, Gray had one of the best performances of Unrivaled so far on Sunday.

Things won't get easier for Gray and Rose now as they look to win a championship. They'll face either Lunar Owls, the team with the best record in the league, or a motivated Vinyl team.

Whoever Rose sees in the championship, it will be looking for another monster performance from Gray.

Star forward Napheesa Collier has been a dominant force throughout the inaugural season of Unrivaled, and now she's been rewarded for her efforts.

Collier was named the 2025 MVP after leading the Lunar Owls to the playoffs, the league announced prior to Sunday night's semifinal game against Vinyl:

Collier led Unrivaled with 25.7 points per game and added 10.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists while leading the Lunar Owls to a 13-1 record. In addition to being one of the faces of the 3-on-3 league, she is also a co-founder alongside Breanna Stewart.

The MVP win adds even more to Collier's banner year. She also was victorious in Unrivaled's midseason 1-on-1 tournament, beating Aaliyah Edwards in the final to take home the $200,000 grand prize. She gave half the prize to Lunar Owls staff members and trainers.

Collier, who stars for the Minnesota Lynx, is also coming off a dominant 2024 campaign in the WNBA in which she was named Defensive Player of the Year and finished as runner-up for MVP. She led the Lynx to an appearance in the WNBA Finals, but the team lost to the New York Liberty in a competitive five-game series.

ESPN's Kendra Andrews reported that Collier is questionable for the semifinal matchup against Vinyl due to a left ankle issue, but she will certainly be hoping to cap off her incredible year with a title.

Angel Reese will be sidelined for the Rose's Unrivaled Semifinal game against the Laces due to a hand injury, according to ESPN's Kendra Andrews.

Rose was injured during the Rose's final regular-season game last Monday after grabbing an offensive rebound in the second quarter and getting hit on the wrist. On the following possession, she clutched her wrist after making a shot off the backboard. She started the second half with a wrist strap but exited the game midway through the period.

The 22-year-old spent the last week undergoing evaluations before being ruled out with an injury to the same wrist she injured last year. She had surgery on the wrist in September to repair a small crack in the bone, which cut her rookie season short.

Reese shared a post on social media last September, explaining the procedure, during which a small screw was placed in her wrist to prevent further cracking and confirmed that the surgery was successful.

"Basically, the doctors told me that I could either not get surgery or have surgery. The risk of not having surgery -- I could literally have arthritis at 22 years old. That wasn't an option. The bone could literally crack and completely shatter. Right now, it's like a hairline. ... They're going to put a small screw in it. And I wasn't going for it getting any bigger," Reese said. "Long term, I literally could have not played anymore because this is a very hard place to heal because the blood flow is little to none."

The announcement of Reese's injury comes just hours after Unrivaled revealed she was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year.

Reese averaged 13.1 points and led the league in rebounds, with 12.1 rebounds per game in 14 games for the Rose, who enter Unrivaled's semifinal game on Sunday with an 8-6 record.

Her defense played a key role in leading the Rose to a regular-season finish with the best scoring defense in Unrivaled, allowing only 65.2 points per game on average. Additionally, the 6-foot-3 star recorded eight double-doubles.

Angel Reese was named the Defensive Player of the Year for the inaugural season of the Unrivaled women's basketball league on Saturday.

Reese, who plays for Rose, averaged a league-leading 12.1 rebounds in her 14 appearances to go along with 13.1 points, 1.9 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.6 blocks.

With Reese leading the way defensively, Rose finished in second place in the regular-season standings, going 8-6.

The 22-year-old Reese starred collegiately at Maryland and then LSU, leading LSU to a national championship and earning NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player honors in 2023.

Reese went seventh overall to the Chicago Sky in the 2024 WNBA draft, and she made a sizable impact as a rookie.

Although a fractured wrist ended Reese's WNBA rookie season after 34 games, she was named an All-Star and a member of the All-Rookie Team.

Reese led the WNBA with 13.1 rebounds per game to go along with 13.6 points, 1.9 assists and 1.3 steals per contest.

By virtue of her high-level production, Reese finished second to Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark in the WNBA Rookie of the Year voting, and she even received MVP votes, finishing 12th.

Reese has not missed a beat in Unrivaled, and she has Rose firmly in the mix to win the first-ever Unrivaled championship.

As the No. 2 seed, Rose will face the third-seeded Laces in the semifinals of the playoffs Sunday, and the winner of that game will take on the winner of the top-seeded Lunar Owls vs. the No. 4-seeded Vinyl in the championship game on Monday night.