The two-time Olympian is changing the game with her new league, Unrivaled.
Women’s basketball isn’t just having a moment — it’s building a movement. Fans are packing arenas, marquee brands like Nike, Fenty and Gatorade are racing to sign partnership agreements, and the WNBA is breaking viewership records.
And one athlete is making sure players capitalize on this momentum: four-time WNBA All-Star Napheesa Collier.
The multi-hyphenate forward, entrepreneur, and mother is one of the biggest threats on the court. She earned the title of WNBA Rookie of the Year in 2019 and, in the years since, nabbed two Olympic gold medals.
But it’s not always perfect. In the 2024 WNBA Finals, Collier’s Minnesota Lynx fell to the Liberty, despite having defeated their opponent multiple times throughout the season. “It was the first and biggest hard loss of my career,” says Collier. “It was such a terrible feeling. I just want to make sure I'm doing everything in my power to help my team not be in that position again.”
That includes propelling the sport in boardrooms. In May 2024, she and New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart co-founded Unrivaled, a three-on-three basketball league featuring 36 professional athletes. The league has raised more than $35 million and secured marquee partners such as Samsung, Sprite, Sephora, and State Farm and investors like Alex Morgan, Coco Gauff, and Steph Curry. For the inaugural eight-week season, running January through March, players earned an average salary of roughly $220,000 (nearly the maximum base salary in the WNBA), and equity was included in the compensation package, according to ESPN.
There are even one-off contests, with additional winnings at stake. In this year’s Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, a best-of-three series featuring 30 players, Collier came out on top and took home a $200,000 prize. It was a hefty sum. “My entire WNBA salary is what I just got in 30 minutes of playing one-on-one," she said after her win. She split the prize money with the training staff and coaches working with her Unrivaled team, the Lunar Owls.
With Unrivaled offering extra playing time throughout the year, a more competitive and athletic WNBA league is the natural byproduct, according to Collier. Case in point: Four weeks into the 2025 WNBA season, the Lynx and Liberty each carried an undefeated record of 9-0 (before the Seattle Storm killed the former’s run).
“This WNBA season will have a much faster start,” Collier says. “Usually, in the beginning, people are getting back in shape, even though you're supposed to come in shape. Unrivaled provides skill-building — that’s what we built the league [for]. Hopefully, players got better in their time away. The numbers are going to be really interesting in comparison to other years.”
Even though she was named Unrivaled’s “most valuable player” in the inaugural season, don’t call it “Collier’s league.” “Everyone [at Unrivaled] is an owner. This is everyone's league,” she says. “We're trying to lift everyone up so we can make more money and change the game. When I step on the court, I'm not approaching it like I need to prove something because I'm a co-founder. I’m just trying to better my game here.”
It’s arguably a better fan experience at Unrivaled’s arena in Miami, too. There’s in-game storytelling, thanks to a partnership with Samsung, with LED screens showing player highlights and content that threads collegiate fandoms with a player’s current professional standing. It’s a feature designed to make it easier for fans, especially those new to the universe of women’s basketball, to connect with athletes and understand the modified rules of the Unrivaled league. (Games are also played on a smaller court, within a one-hour broadcast window.)
These business-driving touches could only have come from a basketball player focused on the long game. “We want to build a legacy here,” Collier says. “When my daughter's old enough to play and if she decides to play, I want to make it so she’s able to do that.”
Her desire to win showed up on the court during Unrivaled’s first-ever season this spring. Collier played with something to prove, and her Lunar Owls dominated the league with a 13-1 record. They were delivered a stunning upset by the Rose BC in the semi-finals, ending their run. Two back-to-back championship losses are sure to sting; they’re also likely to add fuel to Collier’s fire.
“It's something that will stay with me forever and I think that's a good thing, to use it as motivation,” Collier says about her loss to the Liberty in the 2024 finals. “I'm not wallowing in it, but I'm not going to ever get over it. I'm going to use it to push me. As much as it sucked, I think this is going to make me a better basketball player.”
Collier is committed to the game. She has a long history of winning, and perfection isn’t the kind of thing she’s going to allow to define her legacy. Hard work is.
“Whether you feel good or not,” says Collier, “you have to do the work.”
Photos courtesy of Unrivaled.