Paige Bueckers, Unrivaled Land NIL Contract; 1st NCAA Athlete with Ownership Equity
Tyler Schank/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
Connecticut star Paige Bueckers has signed a first-of-its-kind name, image and likeness deal with the new Unrivaled Basketball league.
Per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, Bueckers’ deal makes her the first college athlete with ownership equity in a professional league.
The Huskies point guard will also play in the Unrivaled league, as well as the WNBA, after her college career ends.
Unrivaled is a three-on-three women’s basketball league that will begin play in January 2025. It will feature 30 players on six teams in a three-on-three, compressed full-court style of play.
WNBA stars and former UConn teammates Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne in July 2023 they were founding a new league that would give players a domestic alternative to play during the WNBA offseason.
“It’s the ability for players to stay home, to be in a market like Miami where we can just be the buzz and create that with the best WNBA players,” Stewart told Shelburne. “We can’t keep fighting [the WNBA’s prioritization rule]. It is a rule that takes away our choices, which should never be a thing, especially as women, but it is still a rule.”
In May, the league announced it received financial investments from various athletes and celebrities that includes former NBA MVP Steve Nash, former NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony, U.S. soccer legends Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe and actor Ashton Kutcher.
The announcement also noted Unrivaled would offer the “highest average salary in women’s professional sports league history.”
Charania noted the league cap for all 30 players will be at least $7.5 million—an average of $250,000. WNBA supermax contracts for the 2024 season are $241,984, per Her Hoop Stats.
Stewart, Collier, Chelsea Gray, Arike Ogunbowale, Jewell Loyd, Kelsey Plum, Rhyne Howard, Kahleah Copper, Jackie Young and Angel Reese have already been confirmed to play in the league’s debut season.
Bueckers announced in February she was using her fifth year of eligibility to return to Connecticut for the 2024-25 season. The two-time Big East Player of the Year has led the Huskies to the Final Four three times and an appearance in the 2022 national title game.
