Get to know Athletes Unlimited, the other WNBA offseason alternative

There’s been a lot of buzz around Unrivaled, a new professional 3×3 basketball league set to take place during the WNBA offseason. Unrivaled, co-founded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, will split 30 WNBA players into six teams, and host games for 8 weeks in Miami, beginning in January. The league has generated a ton of buzz in recent weeks, in part due to its innovative pay structure, TNT media deal, and long list of stars set to participate.

But, while Unrivaled is unprecedented in a number of ways, it’s actually not the first US-based basketball league that WNBA players can partake in during the offseason. Since 2021, Athletes Unlimited has also provided players with an offseason alternative, featuring standouts like Allisha Gray, Kelsey Mitchell, Natasha Cloud, Lexie Hull, and others. While those players won’t be participating this upcoming season (Cloud, Gray and Hull are playing Unrivaled and Mitchell overseas), the 5-on-5 league will once again include 40 women’s basketball players, some of whom hail from the WNBA.

During the 2024 season, 29 of 40 participating players had WNBA experience, so while the league aims to provide opportunities for WNBA players, it’s also a chance for pros who aren’t currently in the league to play. Previous AU seasons took place in Las Vegas and Dallas; this season, the league will take place in Nashville from February 5th to March 2nd. Athletes earn a minimum of $20,000 for the five-week season, which could increase to $50,000 with bonuses. Those figures aren’t competitive with Unrivaled or with overseas offerings, but AU Pro Basketball is also a much smaller commitment.

How Athletes Unlimited Works

One of the unique aspects of Athletes Unlimited is that the league maintains a running leaderboard that tallies points for each individual player. Players earn points when their team wins a game or quarter, when they make a positive play, or if they are voted on by players and fans as one of the top 3 MVPs of a game. Players can also lose points for a negative play.

Plays like assists, steal, blocks, rebounds, points all add points to an individuals’ total, while missed shots, turnovers, and fouls all deduct points.

Each week, the top four players become captains and draft their teams from scratch for the following week’s games. At the end of the month, the player with the most individual points is crowned as the league’s individual champion; in 2024, it was Allisha Gray who claimed the 2024 AU Pro Basketball title.

Six participating athletes have already been announced

Athletes Unlimited will ultimately include 40 players. So far, six names have been announced: Lexie Brown, Sydney Colson, Alissa Pili, Dorie Harrison, Isabelle Harrison, and Jordan Horston.

Lexie Brown

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Lexie Brown, a Los Angeles Sparks guard, is the chairperson of Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball’s Player Executive Committee. Brown will be in her fourth season of AU, and has averaged 12.6 points, 3.8 assists, and 3.7 rebounds throughout her AU career.

Sydney Colson

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Sydney Colson, a Las Vegas Aces guard, is also a member of Athletes Unlimited and previously served as the Player Executive Committee’s chairperson. Colson has averaged 10 points and 6 assists per game in her three-year Athletes Unlimited career.

Alissa Pili

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Alissa Pili, a Minnesota Lynx rookie, will play in Athletes Unlimited for the first time. Pili was the 2023 Pac-12 Player of the Year at Utah, and was the No. 8 pick in the 2024 draft. While she played limited minutes on the Lynx in her first season as a pro, she showed flashes of readiness, including a 20-point outing in a win over the Mercury in May.

Isabelle Harrison

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Chicago Sky forward Isabelle Harrison returns to Athletes Unlimited for her fourth season. Harrison has averaged 18.9 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in her AU career, and was named Defensive Player of the Year in 2022. In her 7-year WNBA career, Harrison has averaged 8.2 points and 4.7 rebounds in 19.9 minutes per game, with playing stints for the Phoenix Mercury, San Antonio Stars, Dallas Wings, and Chicago Sky.

Jordan Horston

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Seattle Storm forward Jordan Horston also joins Athletes Unlimited this winter. The 2023 No. 9 pick averaged 6.8 points and 4.3 rebounds in 22.3 minutes off the bench this season. This will be Horston’s first season with Athletes Unlimited.

Dorie Harrison

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Dorie Harrison, Isabelle’s sister, returns for her second Athletes Unlimited season. Last year, she averaged 2 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.

It remains to be seen who else will join alongside these six — but the list of Athletes Unlimited commits is expected to grow in the coming weeks.