{"id":405730,"date":"2026-01-14T02:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T02:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/405730\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T02:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T02:14:10","slug":"chelsea-gray-paige-bueckers-and-way-too-early-unrivaled-award-favorites-for-mvp-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/405730\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea Gray, Paige Bueckers and way-too-early Unrivaled award favorites for MVP and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few teams at Unrivaled<\/a> have already established themselves as favorites to win it all, only a week in to the season. We’ve already seen a new record for the most points in a game, which has been challenged every day, as well as for most blocks in a game. All signs are pointing toward the league only getting more competitive<\/a> as time goes on. <\/p>\n

With that being said, and with each squad having played three games so far, there are already players making compelling cases<\/a> for end-of-season accolades. Here are my early predictions for the Unrivaled honors. <\/p>\n

Most Valuable Player\"Erica<\/p>\n

Vinyl v Rose – Unrivaled 2026 | Leonardo Fernandez\/GettyImages<\/p>\n

Chelsea Gray<\/p>\n

The obvious frontrunner for Unrivaled MVP right now has to be Chelsea Gray. She leads the league, averaging 31.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 5.7 assists. Gray is also responsible for two of their three game-winning shots so far. Both shots were from beyond the arc, where she has been absolutely unstoppable, shooting 61.5 percent on the season. She’s quite literally just getting started. In my opinion, this award is hers to lose. <\/p>\n

Dearica Hamby<\/p>\n

Hamby just set a new Unrivaled scoring record in only her third game this season. She had a 40-piece against Hive BC, to go with her 10 rebounds. Last year, Hamby was a favorite to win Unrivaled MVP, coming in closely behind the winner<\/a>, Napheesa Collier. The way she has been playing so far shows she has not forgotten about that and wants to prove herself this year. <\/p>\n

Paige Bueckers<\/p>\n

Breeze BC is sitting at 2-1, and looking like a favorite to win the title. With Paige Bueckers at the helm, this squad seems cool, calm, and competitive. She is averaging 18.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 7.0 assists. The combination of her defense, playmaking abilities, and scoring \u2014 especially her midrange jumper \u2014 makes her a compelling option for MVP. If Breeze BC continues to excel, PB could win this honor. <\/p>\n

Defensive Player of the Year\"Saniya<\/p>\n

Breeze v Hive – Unrivaled 2026 | Leonardo Fernandez\/GettyImages<\/p>\n

Saniya Rivers<\/p>\n

I, for one, will be watching this one closely. I think Rivers has a real chance at Unrivaled DPOY. In Hive BC’s matchup against Breeze BC, Rivers set a new Unrivaled single-game block record with 6. In that game, she also had 7 rebounds. She is averaging 2.7 blocks per game this season. Watching Rivers play defense is so exciting. She knows how to get up and disrupt even the tallest bigs in the paint. She is also so quick to get back on defense. There’s real potential in Rivers as Defensive Player of the Year. <\/p>\n

Alanna Smith<\/p>\n

Alanna Smith is also an incredibly feasible option here. She is coming off winning Co-DPOY this past WNBA season, and she has brought those talents to Unrivaled. In the season opener, Smith had 5 blocks. She is also averaging 4.3 rebounds per game. She is only averaging 9.0 minutes on the court per game. If Smith continues making the most of her time defensively, she could come away with these accolades. <\/p>\n

First and Second-Team\"Maddy<\/p>\n

Laces v Lunar Owls – Unrivaled 2026 | Rich Storry\/GettyImages<\/p>\n

I think it’s safe to assume each of my MVP predictions \u2014 Chelsea Gray, Dearica Hamby, and Paige Bueckers \u2014 will make it on to at least one of these teams. But who are the other options? <\/p>\n

Marina Mabrey or Aaliyah Edwards<\/p>\n

The Lunar Owls are struggling, but I am hoping they will be able to turn it around with the return of Skylar Diggins to the lineup. If not, I still think one of Mabrey or Edwards<\/a> makes first or second-team. They are absolutely running each game with little to no help. Mabrey is averaging 27.0 points to Edwards’ 24.7 points per game. In their latest matchup, the duo was responsible for 64 of the Lunar Owls’ 72 total points. If they keep this up and they’re not rewarded with wins, I hope they at least are with accolades.<\/p>\n

Brittney Sykes<\/p>\n

Sykes has had a strong start to the season. She is averaging 24.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.0 steals per game. Against Mist BC, she recorded 25 points, including draining 5-of-7 from three and 5 steals. Her ability to drive to the basket has been unmatched so far. Slim is a strong contender for being on Unrivaled’s first team this season. <\/p>\n

More women’s basketball news and analysis:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A few teams at Unrivaled have already established themselves as favorites to win it all, only a week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-405730","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}