One of the major liabilities of a strike is that players lose access to franchise facilities, top medical professionals, trainers, and physiotherapists. They can\u2019t continue practicing and sharpening their skills. It could negatively impact long-term careers. That is especially applicable to injured players who will have their rehabilitation process altered. It also increases injury risk when the players eventually return to court.<\/p>\n
In 2011, after a rapid transition to training camp and preseason practices from the NFL lockout, 10 Achilles tendon injuries occurred over the first 12 days of training camp. Two additional injuries occurred in the subsequent 17 days, which included the first two weeks of preseason. So, having the new Unrivaled facility in Miami to practice and train is a huge deal for the players.<\/p>\n
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Basketball: Unrivaled-Mist at Lunar Owls Jan 17, 2025 Miami, FL, USA Players warm-up before the game between the Mist and the Lunar Owls of the Unrivaled womens professional 3v3 basketball league at Wayfair Arena. Miami FL USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xJimxRassolx 20250117_map_zg8_026<\/p>\n
The state-of-the-art production establishment includes meeting rooms, training facilities, a cafeteria with nutritionists, and a childcare room for the athletes\u2019 families to use while they train. However, there are a couple of wrinkles in this plan. Even though the players have equity in the league, it does not necessarily grant them automatic access. It can depend on their management policies, partner arrangements, staffing, scheduling, and liability coverage, none of which are publicly available.<\/p>\n
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In addition, Unrivaled has very limited WNBA players. Around 36 players have equity in the league, 18 others don\u2019t. This raises major questions: Do only the players with equity get access? What about the 100+ WNBA players who aren\u2019t a part of Unrivaled? WNBPA could prefer avoiding this scenario since it paints them in a bad light.<\/p>\n
They are supposed to be campaigning for each player\u2019s rights. It fuels the \u2018conflict of interest\u2019 accusation since the same players are fighting for a CBA in the WNBA, while owning and operating a competitor is controversial. If Unrivaled decides to have another season during a lockout, that narrative would gain steam further. Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart would be using the WNBA\u2019s situation to further grow their own league. Natasha Cloud further expressed happiness at the arrival of Project B, despite being an Unrivaled athlete.<\/p>\n
Unrivaled\u2019s Natasha Cloud Welcomes Project B\u2019s Breakthrough<\/p>\n
Project B poses a significant threat to Unrivaled. Project B is slated to host seven two-week tournaments across Asia, Europe, and the Americas from November 2026 to April 2027. The league has already announced its last stop in Tokyo, Japan, which will be from March 26 to April 4, 2027. It\u2019s offering higher salaries (reportedly seven-figure salaries starting at $2 million annually, with their earnings for multiyear deals reaching eight figures), an international audience, and 5 v5 basketball instead of 3 v 3. However, to Natasha Cloud, its emergence is a positive sign.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI know it\u2019s a touchy topic of like Project B, but at the same time, I\u2019m so happy these entities are coming out here because now W you have to move because there are challengers to you. You are not the sole entity of the best basketball players in the entire world anymore,\u201d She said. \u201cThere are other leagues out there that want to compete with you, and are you going to stand on business or are you not? Because what project is offering these players, there\u2019s going to be some f***** that sit out.\u201d<\/p>\n
For years, the WNBA faced little real competition. That has changed, and it\u2019s no coincidence. Women\u2019s basketball has seen a major spike in popularity and global interest. It is giving the players more leverage in the negotiations. It will force the WNBA to improve its product or possibly face extinction. Let\u2019s be clear, WNBA is still ahead of both Unrivaled and Project B. But their existence is a motivational push for the big dog in the market to change. <\/a><\/p>\n The post NY Liberty\u2019s Natasha Cloud Points to Players\u2019 Backup Plan Amid Potential WNBA Lockout<\/a> appeared first on EssentiallySports<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fans believe the lack of information around the CBA negotiations is deliberate. Most think the CBA will ultimately…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[3444,435,12548,3250,7788,7380,436,148767,4805,99,18419,434,21995],"class_list":["post-412421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-atlanta-dream","tag-breanna-stewart","tag-cba","tag-napheesa-collier","tag-natasha-cloud","tag-negotiations","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-project-b","tag-sophie-cunningham","tag-sports","tag-unrivaled","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-players"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412421","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=412421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}