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Mercury players praise new ‘Unrivaled’ women’s basketball league coming in 2025

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Mercury players praise new ‘Unrivaled’ women’s basketball league coming in 2025

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A 3-on-3 women’s professional basketball league called “Unrivaled” is scheduled to begin play in January 2025.

Breanna Stewart, the New York Liberty’s 2023 WNBA MVP, and Minnesota Lynx three-time All-Star Napheesa Collier are the founders. They announced the league on Thursday.

The league will have five players for each of the six teams competing on a “compressed full court” style of play and will offer “the highest average salary” in women’s pro sports, in the six-figure range, according to a news release.

Phoenix’s Morgan Bertsch and Sug Sutton spoke during the team’s shootaround media availability Friday about how WNBA players’ futures look bright playing domestically during the league’s off-season, not needing to taking their talents overseas. The team was in Minnesota ahead of Friday night’s game against the Lynx to conclude a three-game road trip.

“I think it’s been a long time coming. This league (WNBA) and these players need to be invested in,” Bertsch said. “A lot of us have had to go overseas to kind of get that level of money, and so to be able to get that and be able to stay home, I think it’s a great opportunity and I’m excited to see what it looks like.”

Here are some of Unrivaled’s most notable investors: U.S. women national soccer team stars Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe; Stewart and Collier’s former college coach Geno Auriemma of Connecticut; Phoenix Suns’ legend Steve Nash and former NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony; five-time LPGA champion Michelle Wie West; actor Ashton Kutcher; and ex-ESPN president John Skipper, who’s “spearheading league media rights” with his co-founded company Meadowlark Media.

“I think it’s just a great opportunity to really be investing in women’s sports and women’s basketball specifically, especially with the increased eyes and obviously increased investors and things that this W season has brought, I think it’s perfect timing,” Bertsch said.

Bertsch added that many WNBA team reserves like herself have to play year-round and overseas during the league’s off-season in the fall through early spring. They’re not being paid six-figure salaries ranging from more than $150,000 to $245,000, such as Phoenix’s top players and veteran stars including Sophie Cunningham, Brittney Griner, Rebecca Allen, Natasha Cloud, Diana Taurasi, and Kahleah Copper.

However, many of the league’s top players have played overseas during the off-season as well, such as Griner and Taurasi in Russia.

Most WNBA’s rookies or veteran players don’t have the big bank accounts from college NIL and major brand endorsement deals like recent draft picks, including Los Angeles Sparks’ Cameron Brink, Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese, or the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark, who were lottery picks this year.

In March, Clark, who’s Fever salary is $76,535, was offered by the NBA’s rival Big 3 league founder Ice Cube to join his 3-of-3 league and play eight games for $5 million this summer.

Bertsch and Sutton are getting those calls for lucrative deals.

Bertsch is signed to Phoenix on a one-year minimum deal for $64,154. She played in Spain’s women’s league Liga Femenina Endesa, and missed the Mercury’s training camp for her Spanish team’s playoff run.

Sutton has the same contract terms.

“That can take a lot of a toll on your body and your mind just never having a break, never having time to step away from the game,” Bertsch said.  “Like I said, that’s kind of the only way you can get living wage is if you go overseas.”

Bertsch is grateful for the luxuries of traveling Europe and learning new cultures. However, she said the grind abroad has caused her to miss family events in the states, like birthdays and “every single one of my family’s weddings” since she was drafted out of UC-Davis by the Dallas Wings in 2019. She didn’t make a WNBA team regular season roster until she joined the Chicago Sky last year.

Phoenix’s backup point guard Sutton, who’s never played overseas, and is in her second year from Texas since the Washington Mystics drafted her in 2020. She’s thankful to Stewart and Collier “making that move for us” with Unrivaled.

“I think all the young players and everybody that’s on this team today, we just continue to work hard and give the team everything that we have,” Sutton said. “The new league that’s coming, it continues to motivate us to continue to do better and be better for our team, and for us individually.”

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