{"id":112437,"date":"2026-01-06T06:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T06:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/112437\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T06:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T06:30:08","slug":"unrivaled-gives-fans-more-access-to-wnba-stars-like-dallas-wings-phenom-paige-bueckers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/112437\/","title":{"rendered":"Unrivaled gives fans more access to WNBA stars like Dallas Wings phenom Paige Bueckers"},"content":{"rendered":"

MEDLEY, Fla. \u2014 If not for the existence of new 3-on-3 women\u2019s basketball league Unrivaled, <\/a>fans would never get the opportunity to see Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers go off for 24 points in January.<\/p>\n

In another era, the WNBA\u2019s 2025 Rookie of the Year would be playing basketball overseas somewhere and not stateside in front of a televised audience on TNT. But the Miami-based league, which opened its second season on Monday at Sephora Arena, has given fans more access to their favorite players outside of the WNBA circuit, which runs from May through October.<\/p>\n

Bueckers, who signed a three-year deal with Unrivaled<\/a> before the Wings selected her No. 1 overall in the 2025 WNBA draft, opened scoring for Breeze BC on Monday night and helped lead the expansion team, one of two Unrivaled added for 2026, to a 69-62 win over Phantom.<\/p>\n

She finished with 24 points on 7-of-15 shooting, six assists, five rebounds and two blocks in her league debut.<\/p>\n

Sports Roundup<\/p>\n

Get the latest D-FW sports news, analysis and opinion delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, Kevin Sherrington’s A La Carte.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

It was a typical performance for Bueckers, who averaged 19.2 points, 5.4 assists and 3.9 rebounds during her WNBA rookie campaign and ranks second among Unrivaled\u2019s 54 participating players in scoring after the first day of games, which also featured her Wings teammates<\/a> Arike Ogunbowale, Maddy Siegrist and Li Yueru.<\/p>\n

Bueckers\u2019 outing was a treat for fans, who last saw her in game action for the Wings\u2019 regular season finale on Sept. 11. Monday showed that she can dominate in any format, and Unrivaled is certainly unique.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are used to the 5-on-5, so to be able to watch 3-on-3 and different players and the different setting, and a different format \u2014 it\u2019s just really, really fun,\u201d Bueckers said in her postgame news conference. <\/p>\n

Unrivaled teams play on a 72-by-49.2-foot court, with just three players from each club taking to it at a time, and it\u2019s in front of an intimate crowd of around 1,000 people. Just one free throw is granted when a player is fouled, with one shot being worth two points for a foul on a 2-point shot or three points on a three-point attempt. Free throw attempts after a foul on a made basket is worth one point.<\/p>\n

Games have three 7-minute quarters. The final quarter utilizes a winning score to end the contest, adding 11 points to the higher score between teams at the end of the third quarter. Bueckers\u2019 Breeze led Phantom 57-51 to end the third quarter. The winning score was 68.<\/p>\n

There is no overtime in Unrivaled, games can end on a free throw and an 18-second shot clock is used. The WNBA uses a 24-second shot clock.<\/p>\n

Bueckers, also an investor<\/a> in the league where she will reportedly make more in her first year than her entire four-year WNBA rookie salary, said she certainly felt that change in pace.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, I felt the conditioning aspect of it,\u201d Bueckers said. \u201cThis is so fast-paced \u2026 The conditioning is an aspect I think that we\u2019re all getting used to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unrivaled facility a work in progress, but offers glimpse into Wings\u2019 future in Dallas<\/a>Paige Bueckers, Wings teammates eye key opportunity as Unrivaled begins its second season<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Wings coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MEDLEY, Fla. \u2014 If not for the existence of new 3-on-3 women\u2019s basketball league Unrivaled, fans would never…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,14421,14446,154,1072,14422],"class_list":{"0":"post-112437","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-headlines","10":"tag-dallas-news","11":"tag-dallas-wings","12":"tag-paige-bueckers","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-wings","15":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}