{"id":410045,"date":"2026-01-16T03:15:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T03:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/410045\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T03:15:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T03:15:07","slug":"athletes-unlimited-roster-features-mix-of-wnba-veterans-emerging-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/410045\/","title":{"rendered":"Athletes Unlimited roster features mix of WNBA veterans, emerging stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Athletes Unlimited roster features mix of WNBA veterans, emerging stars<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Athletes Unlimited announced its final roster Thursday for the fifth season of its women\u2019s professional basketball league, a group that again features a strong contingent of established WNBA talent led by Tina Charles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The 40-player field includes 20 returning players and 20 newcomers<\/a> for the season, which begins Feb. 4 and runs through March 1 at Municipal Auditorium, according to the Associated Press. Among the returners are Charles, the WNBA\u2019s all-time leader in rebounds and made field goals, along with veterans Ariel Atkins, Alysha Clark, Kia Nurse, Odyssey Sims, Aerial Powers, Kiah Stokes, Brianna Turner, Isabelle Harrison and Bria Hartley.<\/p>\n

Lexie Brown, chair of the AU Pro Basketball Player executive committee, will also be joined by her father, Dee Brown, who will serve as a player enhancement specialist alongside Danielle Viglione. The coaching staff includes Zak Buncik, Edniesha Curry, Chaz Franklin and Kia Vaughn.<\/p>\n

The roster also features younger players and recent standouts such as Aneesah Morrow, NaLyssa Smith, Jacy Sheldon, Te-Hina Paopao, Zia Cooke, Deja Kelly, Kaitlyn Chen, Jaylyn Sherrod and Aaliyah Nye.<\/p>\n

Megan Perry, vice president of basketball for Athletes Unlimited, said the depth of the roster reflects the league\u2019s continued growth.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe depth across all 40 spots is exceptional, and it\u2019s going to make this one of the most challenging and compelling seasons we\u2019ve had,\u201d Perry said.<\/p>\n

Athletes Unlimited has steadily increased WNBA participation<\/a> since launching in 2022, when just over one-third of players had league experience. By 2024, that figure had risen to more than 70%, marking the league\u2019s expanding role as a competitive offseason option for professional players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Athletes Unlimited roster features mix of WNBA veterans, emerging stars appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-410045","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\/410045","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=410045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}